Spirulina as an Alternative Protein Source for Nutritional Supplements

Running head: NUTRITIONAL BIOCHEMISTRY
Nutritional Biochemistry
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Author Note

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Introduction
Microalgae are used for the human consumptions for centuries. The common micro-
algae used for consumptions of the humans include S. Platensis, Nostoc and Aphanizomenon.
The importance behind the use of micro-algae as a protein supplements is increasing among
the developing countries due to high rate of prevalence of malnutrition among the children.
The need for the diversification of the protein sources and development of new
unconventional protein sources has led to the development of micro-algae as an alternative
protein sources. The high protein concentration of various microalgae species makes algae as
an important alternative for the nutritional supplements (Trivedi et al. 2015). In the group of
micro-algae, Spirulina has received an increased attention from the researcher and the main
reason behind this is high protein content of Spirulina in comparison to other algal bodies
(Botebol et al. 2014). Barka and Blecker (2016) stated that protein structure plays an
importance role in the biological functioning of the body. The majority of the protein content
consumed by the human are extracted by animals or are from vegetable origin. The remaining
protein sources are extracted from non-conventional sources like micro-organisms cultivates
under various culture media. Spirulina is one of the richest source of the algal protein with
protein levels as high as that of the one extracted from the animal meat or vegetables. The
following essay aims to highlight Spirulina as an important protein source for the generative
of edible protein supplements that can be used as an alternative to plant and animal protein.
The essay will initiative with the basic overview of Spirulina and its importance as the
protein source for the generation of food supplements. This will be followed by a
comparative analysis of Spirulina with the vegetable and meat protein sources. Both the
advantages and disadvantages of Spirulina will be analyzed in detail in order to evaluate its
importance as a protein supplements. The essay will help to open doors in the food and

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nutritional industry towards the generation of cost-effective protein alternatives that will be
beneficial for the poor people in the developing or under-developed countries who are
suffering from protein deficiency or malnutrition.
Spirulina and protein source
During the past few years, microalgae are considered as a versatile raw material for
the development of bio-fuel like biodiesel, biogas, bio-ethanol. The favourable composition
of the microalgae as evidenced from the scientific publications has made it an important
source for the extraction of several raw-materials. However, several improvements are
required to be undertaken in order to devise micro-algae as a cost-effective energy source.
Thus scientific researchers have valued several other components of micro-algae biomass like
the pigments, proteins and dyes (Lupatini et al., 2017). The chemical composition of
microalgae has subdivided into 70 to 230 gram per kg of lipids, 50 to 230 grams per kg of
carbohydrate and 60 to 520 grams per kg of protein. Factors like the nutrient availability,
temperature, intensity of light falling over the culture of micro-algae and pH of the water
modulates the chemical composition of microalgae. Taking into consideration of the high
content of protein in the biomass of micro-algae, the extraction of protein supplements from
micro-algae is regarded as a cost-effective procedure (Lupatini et al., 2017). In this paper, the
main focus is on micro-algae Spirulina or Arthrospira. S. platensis is a filamentous
cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue green algae. It belongs to the class of cyanophyceaa
and family Oscillatoriaceae. S. platensis is the most common genus and this is followed by S.
fusiforme and S. maxima. Its high tolerance towards the adverse environmental conditional
and cost-effective cultivation process and it is known for its high nutritional value and this is
attributed for its high amino-acid composition along with high concentration of vitamins,
fatty acids and minerals. In additional to this, this micro-alga is potentially used for the

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treatment of numerous diseases and is also used as food alternatives like nutritional
supplements (protein supplements) (Stengel & Connan, 2015).
Advantages
Spirulina and Cost-effect source of protein supplements
Spirulina has the capability of growing under adverse climatic condition as it has high
tolerance towards alkaline or low pH environment. This ability to grow under adverse
climatic condition further makes the overall cultivation process cost-effective and thus
helping to generate protein supplements from the micro-algae at market competitive price and
easily affordable to the mass. The micro-algae Spirulina is surrounded by soft cell walls that
are easily to rupture. Thus the extraction of protein from the algae is easier from Spirulina
and adding to the cost-effectiveness of the process of generation of protein supplements
(Lupatini et al., 2017). This can be regarded as one of the advantage of Spirulina in
comparison to the other microalgae and vegetable protein supplements as both of them are
costly as evidenced from the prevailing market price (Lupatini et al., 2017). da Silva Vaz et
al. (2016) are of the opinion that the microalgae like the Spirulina, contain several bioactive
compounds that can act as a supplement and swill help to serve as energy needs of the
population. The biochemical composition of the microalgae can be manipulated by alteration
of the cultural conditions and through making modifications in the condition in the
environmental stress in order to induce the micro-organism for the production of the high
concentration of a bio-compound of interest. In addition to this, micro-algae do not require
arable or fertile land and can be easily grown under the regions where the land is used for
crop rotation or the land is less fertile and is not suitable for the cultivation of the majority of
the vegetables. This can be regarded as one of the important advantages of micro-algae
Spirulina over the other vegetables and the plant sources of protein.