Ergogenic and antioxidant effects of spirulina supplementation in humans.

What this study found

Spirulina supplementation improved endurance performance and shifted substrate use toward greater fat oxidation compared with placebo. Time to fatigue after the 2-hour run was 2.70 vs 2.05 min with placebo (P = 0.048), carbohydrate oxidation decreased by 10.3% (P = 0.008), and fat oxidation increased by 10.9% (P = 0.003). Spirulina also increased GSH levels at rest and 24 h after exercise (P = 0.049) and blunted the postexercise rise in TBARS seen with placebo (group × time interaction P = 0.007). Protein carbonyls, catalase, TAC, and creatine kinase did not show meaningful between-group…

Study & population

Nine healthy, moderately trained men (recreational runners; mean age 23.3 years, mean V̇O2max 52.2 mL/kg/min) completed a double-blind, placebo-controlled, counterbalanced crossover trial.

Intervention

Participants received Spirulina platensis orally at 6 g/day for 4 weeks, taken as two 1 g capsules three times per day before meals.

Key limitation

The sample was very small (n = 9), and all participants were healthy men, which limits generalizability.

View full study detailsView sourceOpen PDF