Measuring Serum Toxicity Markers to Evaluate the Safety of Commercially Available Spirulina Products in Mice

Feven Tezera Damessa,John-Mary Vianney,Musa Chacha,Jofrey Raymond

doi:10.12944/crnfsj.9.1.33

Abstract

Spirulina a multicellular, blue-green alga has drawn attention as a viable food supplement due to its suitable nutrient composition, however, there is a dearth of information regarding its safety. This study aimed to measure the heavy metal concentrations in commercially available Spirulina products and evaluate the safety using the in vivo method. A total of 54 mice were randomly divided into three groups; Group 1 (n = 18) served as a control and received a basal diet. Group 2 (n = 20) served as a test and received Spirulina powder (15%) blended with a basal diet. Group 3 (n = 16) serves as a standard and received a basal diet supplemented with nutritional supplements. The findings showed that the concentration of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, cystatin C, and troponin I after consuming the experimental diets was not statistically different between groups (p > 0.05). The concentrations of mercury (0.000036 mg/kg), lead (0.0047 mg/kg), cadmium (0.00048 mg/kg), and arsenic (0.0046 mg/kg) was very little to cause toxic effect and the levels were below the European Communities Commission (EC) recommended maximum heavy metal levels in foodstuffs. Therefore, consumption of Spirulina at a proportion of 15% does not exert any hepatic, renal, and cardiac toxicities in the mice. However, evaluating the safety of higher doses (> 15%) is required.

Highlights

Spirulinais a multicellular, photosynthetic, bluegreen alga that grows naturally in the marine and fresh water environment.[1]
For the healthy functioning of the body.[2]. It has a high content of polyphenols, phytosterols, carotenoids, polysaccharides, lectins, mycosporine-like amino acids, halogenated compounds, polyketides, protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and various other bioactive compounds.[3,4,5,6]
The findings showed that concentrations of mercury (0.000036 mg/kg), lead (0.0047 mg/kg), cadmium (0.00048 mg/kg), and arsenic (0.0046 mg/kg) measured in this study was below the European Communities Commission (EC) recommended maximum heavy metal levels of mercury (0.1 mg/kg), lead (0.1 mg/kg), cadmium (0.05 mg/kg), and arsenic (0.1 mg/kg) in foodstuff.[20]

Summary

Introduction

Spirulinais a multicellular, photosynthetic, bluegreen alga that grows naturally in the marine and fresh water environment.[1]. For the healthy functioning of the body.[2] It has a high content of polyphenols, phytosterols, carotenoids, polysaccharides, lectins, mycosporine-like amino acids, halogenated compounds, polyketides, protein, polyunsaturated fatty acids, minerals, vitamins, and various other bioactive compounds.[3,4,5,6] Spirulinacan be considered as one of the few sources of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid γ-linolenic acid (GLA) after human milk; the unsaturated fatty acids, oleic and linoleic acids as wellas the saturated fatty acids palmitic acids are other major fatty acids that Spirulina can offer to the human diet.[4] Due to its suitable nutrient composition, Spirulina is recently drawing attention to nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, food, and feed productions.[7]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion