|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Blue Green Alagae |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria)
Blue-Green Algae contains B-complex vitamins, beta-carotene, gamma-linolenic acid, iron, and protein. It is a wild blue-green micro algae that grows in the tropics on salty, alkaline lakes and is grown commercially in countries such as Thailand, Japan, Mexico, and part of the United States. How This Supplement Works in Your Body:
How to Use:
Cautions:
Consult your doctor if you:
Pregnancy:
Breastfeeding:
Infants and Children: If you are not
pregnant and do not consume amounts larger than a highly regarded
manufacturer recommends on the package, no problems are expected.
Safe dosage:
Toxicity:
Side Effects:
Spirulina for Arsenic Poisoning Spirulina, a green-blue algae developed by Bangladeshi and French scientists several years ago, has been found to have "very good effects" on people suffering from arsenic poisoning caused by the recently-discovered contamination of much of the groundwater in Bangladesh. Up to this point, doctors in Bangladesh have been virtually helpless in treating dying arsenic patients. Bangladeshi researchers conducted a three-month hospital-based study in which 33 patients were given spirulina and 17 were given placebo doses. 82% of those taking Spirulina showed tremendous improvement. Experts fear that more than 18 million people are likely to face eventual death from the poisoning, which at acute stages causes liver, lung, intestinal, stomach and kidney cancers. Bangladeshi authorities say that approximately 70 million people, out of a population of 120 million, are at "great risk" from arsenic poisoning and a search for alternative water sources is under way. Arsenic was found in tube-wells in 59 of 64 districts. Ironically, the use of contaminated well water became much more prevalent recently due to a large concerted effort over the past several decades by the Bangladeshi government and private organizations in an attempt to prevent water-borne diseases that can come from drinking bacteria-infested surface water. The campaign was so successful that now approximately 97 percent of the population has access to tube-well water. Leading dermatologists, who joined a major health conference in Dhaka this week, unanimously recommended Spirulina to treat arsenic patients. The cause of the arsenic contamination is currently unknown.Volatile components of a commercial sample of the blue-green algae Spirulina platensis Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Mar/Apr 2003 by Aguero, Juan, Lora, Janet, Estrada, Ketty, Concepcion, Francisco, Et al Abstract An investigation of Cuban Spirulina platensis volatile compounds was done using GC/MS. The isolation techniques applied were: steam distillation, Likens-Nickerson simultaneous distillation-solvent extraction, static and dynamic headspace analysis and liquid-liquid extraction. The characterization of volatile components of S. platensis in Cuba, has not been attempted before and was the main objective of this work, with more than 50 compounds successfully identified of which beta-ionone epoxide, heptadecane and dihydroactinodiolide were the most abundant. Key Word Index Spirulina platensis, algae, volatile concentrate, headspace volatiles, extract volatiles. Plant Name Spirulina platensis. Source S. platensis growth in Cuba was given by Genin S.A. (Havana, Cuba) as a quality-certified micronized green powder. Previous Work Several species of S. plate(isis are successfully expended as food-health products for diet supplements o4ng to its high protein content (50-70%) and the presence of anti-oxidant compounds (beta carotene and y-linolenic acid) (1,2). A recent survey (3) showed that algal supplements and cosmetics containing them are the highest volume natural products sold un the United States, where Spirulina species have the main role. S. platensis has been formulated as tablets (500 mg) where their composition should take into account the need to mask the off-flavor (like crude fish) and make them acceptable for consumption. Another approach attempted has been strain genetic manipulation in order to increase the content of valuable components and/or avoid the production of undesirable volatile components. The characterization of the volatile components of S. platen.sis, the main algal species growing in Cuba, has not been attempted before and was the main objective of this work. A literature search showed only a few reports about the volatile components of blue-green algae (4) and specifically of S. platensis (5-8). These reports focused on the identification of the hydrocarbon fraction. Therefore, several isolation and pre-concentration techniques were studied and identification was done by capillary gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Present Work Experimental: Sample isolation was done by dynamic headspace (DHS) (9), Likens-Nickerson simultaneous steam distillation-solvent extraction (SDE) (10), solvent extraction (11) and steam distillation (12) by suspending the S. platensis sample in distilled water (0.1-0.5 g/mL). Dynamic headspace trapping was done using a glass tube (250 mm x 5 mm) filled with Tenax GC (80-100 mesh) previously conditioned overnight at 250(deg)C with a nitrogen flow of 300 mL/min. Trapped volatile compounds were desorbed with diethyl ether (1 mL) and brought into a valve-- stoppered vial and stored at 4(deg)C until chromatographic analysis. Diethyl ether and mixtures of ethyl acetate/n-hexane (1:1) and chloroform/n-hexane were used for SDE, solvent extraction and steam distillation, respectively. Solvent extracts were dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate overnight, concentrated up to 1 mL in a Kuderna-Danish apparatus, brought into a valve-stoppered vials and stored at 4(deg)C until chromatographic analysis. Blanks with distilled water were prepared for all isolation and preconcentration techniques. Chromatographic conditions: Chromatographic analysis were done on a model TRIO 1000 GC/MS (Fisions, UK) equipped with an HRGC model Mega 2 (Carlo Erba, Italy). Samples (1 (mu)L) were splitless injected (splitless time: 20 s, injector temperature: 260(deg)C) into an OV-1701 fused silica capillary column (J&W, USA), 25 m x 0.25 mm, 0.1 (mu)m film thickness, with a helium flow of 1 mL/min. Initial oven temperature was 30(deg)C (10 min); an increase of 4(deg)C/min up to 200(deg)C was set for the analysis. Mixture components were delivered through a direct inlet interface (temperature: 220(deg)C) into the quadrupole ionic source of the mass detector (temperature: 220(deg)C) with an ionization energy of 70 eV (EI+). Mass spectra were recorded and processed with Lab Base software (VG, UK). Chromatographic peak homogeneity was checked with the eight largest mass peaks with a mass chromatogram; mixtures were discarded. Peak identification was done by: i. matches higher than 0.9 on the library search software; ii. unequivocal assessment through direct comparison,Sth NBS database;; and iii. Comparison with mass spectra and GC retention index of reference compounds when available. Quantification was made by internal normalization of peak areas corresponding to compounds identified in the steam distillate. Results and Discussion The chemical identification of volatile components from S. platensis growth in Cuba is shown in Table 1. The total number of volatile components of S. platensis growth in Cuba ranges above 100 and 54 could be identified, most of them for the first report in the literature for this algae. The high polarity of the volatile components of S. platensis did not allow proper identification by the DHS technique and identification wes only possible for the largest components (peaks 37-75). Blank result of the steam distillate showed the presence of 1,1,2,2-- tetrachloroethane as an impurity of the chloroform used for extraction and could be rejected during peak identification (peak 20). Peak identification from all samples demonstrated that experimental conditions did not produce analytical artifacts since composition of concentrates obtained at higher temperatures (SDE and steam distillation) were similar to those obtained with mild temperature (DHS and solvent extraction). Observed variations were mainly quantitative but not qualitative. The best results, in terms of the number of components resolved and identified, were obtained with the steam distillation technique. It should be noted that identified components were in the trace range (ppm or less) as for previous results with other matrices (9,10). However, high-- polarity components in small concentrations could not be identified adequately (band broadening) and they should be analyzed subsequently on a proper column (Carbowax) and with selective detection (NPD). The presence of volatile sulfur-compounds, known in flavor and other matrix analysis for their low odor threshold level (11) (peaks 3 and 19), furanone derivatives (peaks 1 and 69), considered in other foodstuffs as important contributors in terms of flavor properties (12,13), and pyrazine derivatives (peaks 23 and 30), which have been reported for cocoa beans and peanut butter preparations flavor (14,15) should be further considered for flavor analysis of S. platensis. The presence of a large amount of volatile carbonyl compounds (23 of the 54 identified components) was noticeable, where some of them, such as heptanal (peak 16) and some aromatic ketones (peak 44 and 57), have been described as being responsible for off-flavors (16,17). The identification of more than 50 volatile compounds from S. platensis growth in Cuba can be considered as the first step towards its quality improvement in terms of organoleptical properties, and further experimental work for flavor analysis must be continued. Acknowledgments Financial support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) through funds provided by Project 00403030 is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank J. C. Bracho for his assistance. References 1. Z. Cohen and M. Reungjitchachawali, Production and partial purification of gamma linolenic acid and some pigments from Spirulina platensis. J. Applied Phycology, 5, 109-115 (1993). 2. H. Duran Chastel, Production and use of Spirulina platensis in Mexico. Algae Biomass, 51-72 (1980). 3. S. Miller, Newsweek, 68,6 (1995). 4. G. Sandmann and P. Boeger, Volatile hydrocarbons from photosynthetic membranes containing different fatty acids. Lipids, 17, 35-41 (1982). 5. T. Rezanka, J. Zahradnik and M. Podojil, Hydrocarbons in blue-green algae. Folia Microbiol., 27, 450-454 (1982). 6. J. Han, E.D. McCarthy and W. Van Hooeven, Organic geochemical studies II. A preliminary report on the distribution of aliphatic hydrocarbons in algae, in bacteria and in recent lake sediment. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 59, 29-30 (1968). 7. E. Gelpi, H. Shneider, J. Mann and J. Oro, Hydrocarbons of geochemical significance in microscopic algae. Phytochemistry, 9, 603-607 (1970). 8. M.A. Borowtzka, Fats, oils and hydrocarbons. Micro-algal Biotechnology, 257-258 (1988). 9. AJ. Nunez, L.F. Gonzalez and J. Janak, Pre-concentration of Headspace Volatiles for Trace Organic Analysis by Gas Chromatography. J. Chromatogr., 300, 127-162 (1984). 10. A.J. Nunez and J.M.H. Bemelmans, Recoveries from aqueous model systems using semi-micro steam distillation solvent extraction procedure. J. Chromatogr., 298, 36-38 (1984). 11. C. Persson and C. Leck, Determination of reduced sulfur compounds in the atmosphere using a cotton scrubber got oxidant removal and gas chromatography with plame photometric detection. Anal. Chem., 66, 983-987 (1994). 12. R. Roscher, H. Koch, M. Herderich, P. Schreier and W. Schwab, Identification of 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone beta-D-- glucuronide as the major metabolite ofa strawberry flavor constituent in humans. Food. Chem. Toxicol., 35, 777-782 (1997). 13. T.C. Mueller, P.A. Banks, P.B. Bush and W.C. Steen, Liquid chromatographic determination of 5-(methylamino)-2-phenyl-4-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl3-(2H)-furanone in soil. J. Assoc. Anal. Chem., 73, 298-299 (1990). 14. M.M. Sanagi, W.P. Hung and S.M. Yasir, Supercritical-fluid extraction of pyrazines in roasted cocoa beans. Effect of pod storage period. J. Chromatogr., 785, 361-367 (1997). 15. K. Joo and C.T. Ho, Quantitative analysis of alkylpyrazines in regular-- and low-fat commercial peanut butter preparations. Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 61, 171-173 (1997). 16. VT. Lamikanra and H.P. Dupuy, Analysis of volatiles related to warmed over flavor of cooked chevron (goat meat). J. Food Sci., 55, 861-862 (1990). 17. T.C.Y. Narain and C.E. Johnson, Dynamic headspace concentration and gas-chromatography of volatile flavor components in peach. J. Food. Sci., 55, 1303-1307 (1990). Juan Aguero,* Janet Lora, Ketty Estrada, Francisco Conception, Alberto Nunez and Amaury Rodriguez Centro de Quimica Farmaceutica (CQF), Ave. 21 & 200, Rpto. Atabey, Aptdo. 16042, La Habana, Cuba J.A. Pino Institute de Investigaciones para la Industria Alimenticia (IIIA), Carr. al Guatao km 3 1/2, La Habana 19200, Cuba *Address for correspondence Received: November 2001 Revised: February 2002 Accepted: February 2002
Copyright Allured Publishing Corporation Mar/Apr 2003
Related Site: Treatments: Treatments Programs: Related Sites:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
