Spirulina Tablets, 500mg

Description

Spirulina tablets at 500 mg of pressed organic spirulina with no binders, and nothing else in the tablet. Spirulina is Arthrospira platensis, a cyanobacterium rather than a true alga, and it is sold by the gram because the protein and pigment content only becomes meaningful at that scale. A 3 gram intake is six of these spirulina tablets, which is worth working out before you buy.

What is in the bottle

Why microcystin testing matters on spirulina tablets

Spirulina is grown in open ponds, and open ponds can be colonised by other cyanobacteria that produce microcystins, a group of liver toxins. Published surveys of retail spirulina have found detectable microcystins in a proportion of samples, which is the single most important reason to buy a lot with a number attached.

We test for them on every lot and publish the result with the lot number rather than printing the word tested on a box. A contaminant screen you cannot read is a marketing statement. The argument is set out in check the lab before you check the numbers.

No cell wall to crack

Chlorella has a cellulose cell wall that has to be mechanically broken, which is why that product carries a processing step on the label. Spirulina has no such wall, so there is no broken cell version of it and any bottle advertising one is selling you a step that was never needed.

Both organisms sit side by side on the greens and wholefood page with their assays printed, because they get shelved together and are not close relatives at all.

What the published trials used

Human studies have mostly given 1 to 10 grams a day over four to twelve weeks, measuring blood lipid panels, haemoglobin, immune markers and exercise test results. The trials are small, the preparations vary and no standardised material runs across the literature, which makes comparing one study with another difficult. That is a description of the evidence base rather than a claim about this bottle.

Counting spirulina tablets against a powder scoop

This is the figure that decides the price of the category. The studies used grams, and at 500 mg a tablet a 3 gram intake is six spirulina tablets, while a 5 gram intake is ten. A bottle of 180 tablets is therefore thirty servings at six a time, not 180 of anything.

Count per serving and servings per container are printed next to each other on every listing for that reason. A bottle of spirulina tablets with an impressive count on the front can be a two week supply once the arithmetic is done, and the per gram price is the only number that survives the comparison.

The phenylalanine note

Spirulina is roughly 60 percent protein, so it contains phenylalanine in proportion. Anyone with phenylketonuria needs to count it like any other protein source rather than treat it as a green powder. That belongs on a label and rarely appears on one.

Tablets or powder

Pressed tablets cost more per gram than loose powder, because pressing is a step, and they are the only format most people will keep taking given the flavour. Six tablets is a real swallow. The powder is cheaper and tastes of what it is, and both are stocked without a recommendation either way.

Testing

An independent laboratory assays protein content, confirms identity and screens lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, microcystins and microbials on every lot. Failing material is withdrawn and the report stays up. For free nutrient reference figures, the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements fact sheet library is the place to look. Your batch certificate is published with the listing. Thirty tablets is 15 grams, so a bottle of spirulina tablets at 500 mg each lasts a fraction of the time a tub of the powder does at the same daily intake.