Superfood =....Algae?

In the past decade you may have noticed the rising popularity of "superfoods;" food groups that supply you with almost miraculous amounts of nutrients. A few well known superfoods are avocados and pomegranates, but can smaller substances can also deliver the same super-punch. Published by Chemistry World, a recently studied supplement called spirulina can deliver. Spirulina is a blue-green algae which has recently caught on in the superfood craze. Results of the study show that spirulina has atheroprotective activity. This means the bacteria can protect against atherosclerosis, a buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries. To investigate why spirulina has this superpower, Petr Nachtigal along with a team started studying it's structure. They found that spirulina has a structure similar to that of bilirubin, a chemical found in urine or bile which breaks down the heme found in red blood cells. This structural similarity was discovered by looking at the protein complex phycocyanobilin (PCB) in spirulina, which is strikingly similar to the structure of bilirubin. Studies also now show that PCB can also upregulate the process of HMOX1 mRNA expression in mice.


http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/09/atheroprotective-pathway-superfood-spirulina