Health Benefits of Chlorella
Chlorella is an all-natural super detox food that boosts your energy, supports fat loss and helps to detox heavy metals like lead and mercury from your body. Today we will be learning about chlorella the many health benefits of it.
What is Chlorella?
Chlorella is a fresh water green algae under the Latin name ‘Chlorella Vulgaris.’ Chlorella is often processed to break down the cell walls so that the nutrients become more bioavailable. Without this process of breaking down the walls, the use of chlorella would be in vain. Chlorella is chock-full of amino acids, peptides, vitamins and minerals in concentrated form. You would have to consume considerable amounts of food to get what a teaspoon of this superfood can provide.
Most of the green algae used to make this superfood is sourced from farms that are grown in Japan and Taiwan. Please do not confuse chlorella and spirulina. They tend to look alike and have similar compounds and uses but do have some nuances.
Chlorella is green while spirulina is blue. Chlorella is generally used for heavy metal detox and contains all 21 amino acids, whereas spirulina is known to contain the nine essential amino acids. Spirulina is used for its ability to detox heavy metals from the body. While both are algae, they differ in colour. Chlorella is green, while spirulina has a blue-green hue.
Chlorella comes in the form of capsules, tinctures, liquids or powders. We tend to favour powder as they are less tampered with than most other types.
Health Benefits of Chlorella
Chlorella has taken its spot among us as a superfood due to the following:
Chlorophyll20 — Protects your body against infections, aids with constipation, optimal blood pressure, liver cleanse, blood purifier and has an abundance of antioxidants such as lutein, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid and zeta-tocopherol.
Chlorella is also a great source of Vitamin K, Vitamin B12, Folate, Iron, Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, polysaccharides and proteins.
Great to detoxify the body of harmful heavy metals and pathogens.
Immune system boost.
Great for addressing insulin sensitivity and normalizing blood sugar.
Chlorella is additionally rich in the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), which has an incredible ability to regulate blood pressure levels among other benefits.
Stabilize and normalize cholesterol levels.
Due to its high antioxidant content, chlorella is excellent at warding off oxidative stress or at least keeping it at bay. Due to this, it has great benefits for your brain and reducing cognitive decline as well as your entire body.
Chlorella is excellent for stabilizing insulin sensitivity and fat metabolism.
Stimulates the production of good bacteria in microbiome and helps address skin conditions, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s and diverticulitis.
Chlorella helps mitigate the side effects caused by chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Increases white blood cell count, which is beneficial for cancer and HIV patients.
Lessens the symptoms of PMS and fibromyalgia.
Has the ability to treat halitosis (chronic bad breath).
Checklist When Buying Chlorella
Purchase from a trustworthy manufacturer (do your due diligence).
Make sure it’s labelled as broken cell wall chlorella (so it can be appropriately digested).
Only purchase organic. Make sure it doesn’t contain synthetic ingredients.
The product was extensively tested for its quality.
Possible Side Effects When Taking Chlorella
As with any new attempt or product, acclimation is essential. We always suggest you start with one quarter to half of the recommended dosage when starting and gradually increase every week. Allow your body to get used to any new vitamin, food and product that is foreign to your body. This should be a general rule applied to anything, not just supplements.
Some known, but rare, side effects of chlorella may include:
Diarrhea
Nausea
Gas
Stomach cramping
Green colour in bowel movements
Sensitivity to the sun
Again if any of these symptoms are felt, this does not mean you should throw your chlorella in the trash. Lower the dose or stop for a week and start over. We have been taking chlorella for many years now, and we can say we have never had an issue. We are not making any claims, but this is our experience.
Please consult your physician or natural doctor if you are:
Pregnant or breastfeeding
If you are using anticoagulants such as warfarin, aspirin or any other medicine that thins the blood, as chlorella can coagulate the blood due to its high Vitamin K content.
Dealing with a compromised immune system, since chlorella may increase the amounts of bad bacteria in your gut and trigger reactions
If you have a sensitivity or allergy to iodine, as this mineral is abundant in chlorella
Final words of caution: Chlorella contains high amounts of iron. Most women have a stable and adequate amount of iron and do not normally suffer from too much iron due to their menstrual cycles, which regulate the iron levels monthly. Men and postmenopausal women, on the other hand, do not have this safety valve and may be exposed to excess levels of iron. Excess iron may lead to health problems that are too numerous to list, but please make sure to have your serum ferritin and GGT levels verified every 6 months or so.
Normal levels of serum ferritin and GGT
Paragraph
Ferritin — 30 to 40 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) or 75 to 100 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L) for adult men and non-menstruating women
GGT — Below 16 units per liter (U/L) for men, or below 9 U/L for women
If your test results come back elevated, you should ease off the chlorella and possibly consider blood donations two to three times a year in order to remove excess iron from the blood.
Please note that all opinions here are strictly opinions and for informational purposes only. They are not to be used as a replacement for medical opinions and should not be used as the only metric for diagnosing any medical condition.
Be sure to check out the rest of the posts on Life Inspired by Nature.