Today we return to Examine.com and a summary of a study on spirulina and blood pressure, where they once again show us how clueless researchers and “scientists” are about everything.
What was studied?
“The effect of supplementing with spirulina on blood pressure.”
Spirulina is a genus of cyanobacteria, and not algae as many people believe. Cyanobacteria are a group of bacteria that have photosynthetic capabilities, similar to plants, and are often referred to as “blue-green algae” due to their blue-green pigmentation. However, this term is misleading, as they are not true algae. These species are filamentous, multicellular cyanobacteria that grow in colonies, typically in alkaline, brackish, or saline waters in tropical and subtropical regions. They are characterized by their ability to fix nitrogen from the air, making them a valuable food source for many organisms.
As a cyanobacteria, spirulina absorbs all kinds of metals, as in minerals and heavy metals from its water source. In their inorganic form, all these minerals and metals are toxic to humans, especially heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, which can be present in the water due to various factors, including agricultural runoff and pollution. Therefore, most spirulina used to make useless supplements are grown in allegedly “controlled environments” to avoid heavy metals, supposedly making them a tiny bit “safer” (less toxic) than spirulina found naturally in lakes.
Of course, all the identifiable “nutrients” found in spirulina such as amino acids, vitamins and minerals are in their inorganic form and has to be converted in the human body into an organic bioactive form to be of any use, and as you should know, this process causes a lot of oxidation, toxic residues, and the conversion rate is low, leaving a lot of remaining inorganic compounds in the body that can really cause damage.
This is one of many functions of the bacteria in our bodies, to feed and clean up deposits of inorganic material that is toxic to us and causes damage — especially when we are compromised and cannot detox properly, which leads to accumulation of these inorganic toxic compounds. And that is also one of the reasons for the “common cold” or “the flu,” as in detoxing with the help of bacteria.
Who was studied?
“A total of 387 participants (average ages of 38 to 57) with different health conditions, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, chronic pain, or high blood pressure.”
Do you see a problem here? Such serious health conditions are due to a very poor diet high in plant-based and processed foods and a heavy toxic load (usually from the very same poor diet,) which means that these people have trouble detoxing. Adding more toxins through a spirulina supplement will not help with these underlying problems, it will only add to the toxic load, especially that of inorganic metals and minerals.
How was it studied?
“A meta-analysis of 8 randomized controlled trials was performed. Three studies were conducted in Iran, and 1 study each was conducted in Poland, South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Spirulina was provided as a sauce, in pills or capsules, or as an aqueous extract. The dosage ranged from 1 to 8 grams per day, and the intervention duration ranged from 2 to 13 weeks.”
That’s a lot of varying variables, especially the dosage varying from 1 gram to 8 grams. A very poor choice of trials for a meta-analysis. It’s like looking at a poison such as methylmercury and see if there’s any differences in a deadly outcome going over the deadly dosage of 60 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight and administering 60 mg/kg up to 480 mg/kg.
What were the results?
“Compared to a placebo, spirulina reduced systolic blood pressure (−4.41 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (−2.85 mmHg).
Subgroup analysis indicated that spirulina was more effective in participants who were older than 50 (−6.4 mmHg systolic; −4.7 mmHg diastolic) than in younger participants (no effect on blood pressure).”
Normal systolic blood pressure is below 120 mmHg, and even a small increase (e.g., 120-129) is considered elevated blood pressure. A decrease of −4.41 mmHg or −6.4 mmHg would not bring the systolic pressure below 120 mmHg, and therefore, it would not be considered a significant change.
So, those reductions are small and pretty much insignificant, especially since they did not help or remedy the problems that caused elevated blood pressure in the first place. It’s only a band aid and whatever causes the rise in blood pressure is still present, continuing doing damage.
With that said, to understand this small lowering effect, you need to understand the effect of toxic exposure when the body is compromised and cannot detox properly.
Certain toxins can cause vasodilation (widening of blood vessels,) leading to decreased peripheral resistance and lower blood pressure. This is because some toxins, such as metals and heavy metals (e.g., lead, silver, mercury, arsenic,) can activate nitric oxide synthase, increasing the production of nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator.
And while some manufacturers of spirulina supplements claim that they grow their crap in controlled environments, many studies have shown contamination of spirulina supplements and that they contain quite large amounts of just these exact heavy metals, as in lead, mercury, and arsenic.
Again, even if manufacturers claim that their spirulina is pure, tests have shown over and over again that they contain a lot of these heavy metals. So, this could likely be one of many factors.
Also, spirulina contains a lot of extremely toxic defense chemicals known as phenolic compounds. It also contains a lot of the pigment-protein complexes phycocyanins, used as dye. Phycocyanins are classified as antioxidants, but that is in plant-based organisms and in humans they are not bioavailable nor bioactive, and therefore will be inherently toxic.
So, spirulina will add to the toxic load, and in somewhat healthy individuals, it will cause a stress and detoxification response, which will not lower blood pressure and is likely why the meta-analysis showed no result on blood pressure in the younger population, as they still were able to neutralize some of these toxins, while the older population with likely a higher toxic load and more nutrient deficiencies could not, or at a very slow pace. This also means that these individuals will have trouble converting inorganic nutrients and compounds into something usable for the body, leaving more inorganic compounds circulating in the body, increasing the toxic load even further.
And when the body is unable to detoxify properly, the accumulation of circulating toxins can exacerbate the effects on blood pressure in either direction depending on the toxins. This can be from decreased cardiac output due to toxic interference on the heart and the autonomic nervous system. Or it can be that some of the toxins interfere with the kidneys, and the kidneys play a crucial role in regulating blood pressure through the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.
In other words, there can be several reasons for a lowered blood pressure after consuming spirulina or other similar toxic compounds, also depending on the individual and his/her health status. However, all this is irrelevant as we know that spirulina contains toxins that are harmful and we also know that lowering the blood pressure a tiny bit by ingesting something does absolutely nothing to fix the underlying problems for their health issues and the high blood pressure. So, all these studies are totally worthless and inapplicable, and doing a meta analysis of them simply shows an extreme lack of intelligence and understanding.
The only way to safely and permanently lower chronically elevated blood pressure is to fix the underlying health issues, which can only be done by feeding the body the right and bioavailable nutrients (animal foods,) removing the toxic exposure from the diet and environment, and letting the body detoxify and heal by never eating late in the day and preferable doing some fasting.
If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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