NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF SPIRULINA

Bibekananda Meher*, Anupama Roy, Navaneet Verma, Arun Kumar Mishra

The popular edible algae, Spirulina are use as food worldwide. It is riched with large number of nutrients. C-phycocyanin, a molecule which contains phycocyanobilin, an homolog of biliverdin, is one of the major proteins present in Spirulina, It is also a good source of essential fatty acids like gamma-linolenic, linoleic and oleic acids. Sea algae is riched with exceptionally high content of vitamin B₁₂ and tocopherol. Tocopherol is responsible for antioxidant action. It also contenins high concentration of minerals like Iron. It also posses different therapeutic potentials like: Anti-diabetic, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-anemic, anti-viral, and blood improvement, hepatoprotective, heavy metal detoxification from body. It can be cultivated in both normal and saline sea water. In present scenario to meet the demand of the increasing population it can be utilize as a good source of food supplement.