How can you recognise good-quality spirulina?
Spirulina has been hugely popular for several years, but it pays to be extremely careful when buying it. Many sellers are taking advantage of the craze to offer very poor-quality spirulina – or even algae that look like spirulina but are not, and which can be very dangerous to your health.
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1. Information on the product’s composition
The terms “spiruline”, “spirulina”, “cyanophyceae alga spirulina”, “Spirulina platensis” or “Arthrospira platensis” must appear on the label, which guarantees the quality of the product. Tablets should contain more than 98% spirulina and no preservatives or colourings. Granules and powders, for their part, should be 100% spirulina. Follow this link if you would like to know more about what spirulina contains.
2. What good spirulina looks like
Spirulina should have a rich, dark, matt green colour.
A shiny appearance indicates that the spirulina has been ground, compressed and coated with a binding agent to stop it crumbling again.
There should be very little dust in the packaging. Dust is also a sign that the spirulina has been spray-dried and then compressed, losing some of its nutritional qualities in the process.
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3. What good spirulina smells like
This alga does have a distinctive smell, but it should not be unpleasant. An overly strong smell indicates a high level of oxidation and a degraded product.
4. Dissolution
Spirulina should dissolve:
– not too quickly, so that the product gets through the stomach and releases its active compounds in the intestine, where the body can absorb them
– not too slowly, otherwise the product will be poorly absorbed on its way through the digestive tract, and the body will take up smaller amounts of the nutrients it contains.
To benefit your health, it is therefore important to choose good spirulina.
5. Digesting spirulina
In rare cases, spirulina can cause mild wind during the first few days. That is why it is best to increase the dose gradually. Excessive wind, on the other hand, is usually a sign of an inferior or degraded product.
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