Pond Scum: It’s What’s For Dinner

Everyone is going green these days. In the interest of reducing the supposed man made effects of the supposed crisis called !GLOBAL WARMING!, we are all encouraged to take actions to reduce our carbon footprints. I’m fine with adopting a lifestyle that minimizes reliance on fossil fuels and encourages conservation and environmental responsibility, but don’t get me started on the whole !GLOBAL WARMING! thing. That’s a debate for another day when I’m feeling particularly dry and ready to spit out statistics that would turn An Inconvenient Truth into A Wildly Speculative Lie.

Where was I? Oh yeah, going green. Even our supplement industry is going green. One of the more popular lines of nutritional supplements these days are the pills and powders made from blue-green algae and it’s cousins spirulina and chlorella.

There’s alot of marketing out there that claims that blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella are wonder foods that will:

• increase energy
• enhance mental clarity
• oxygenate and purify the blood
• improve the immunity system
• eliminate toxins from the body
• nourish the nervous system

Wow!  Sounds like a real miracle “superfood”.  Let’s do our homework, and my apologies if this brings back scary memories of high school biology.

Blue-green algae, chlorella and spirulina are all in the algae family, a huge class of organisms that range in size from microscopic single cell organisms to hundreds of feet long (multi-celled seaweed). More than 200 species have been harvested and used as food since prehistoric times in virtually every landmass that has a coastline. They are also commonly used as fertilizer.  Algae are abundantly available in fresh and salt waters, high in minerals, and can be good sources of protein, carbohydrates, fiber, essential fatty acids and vitamins.

Sounds good Teach.  But where can I find some of this healthy algae stuff?

Well, blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella actually grow in stagnant fresh-water lakes and ponds.  They can be easily harvested because they collect in large clumps on the surface and can be skimmed off.  Yes, Johnny, this is what is commonly referred to as “pond scum”.  The green ooze that we see covering the surface of still lakes and ponds.

Okay, not the most appetizing source of nutritional goodness, but neither is the thought of squeezing fish for their oils.  The real question is, is the ooze really healthy?

If you recall, I previously wrote about the nutritional value of omega-3 fatty acids and their popularity’s effect on fish populations.  In addition to being found in cold water fish, high concentrations of omega-3s can be found in the algae that grows on the floors and reefs of the earth’s cold water oceans.  Makes sense, right?  We eat the fish that eat the plankton that eat the algae.

However, the algae that grows on the surface of ponds and lakes does not contain any significant concentrations of omega-3s or any other beneficial fatty acid.  Again, it does contain protein, carbohydrates, and other beneficial ingredients, but no high concentrations of omega acids. The nutritional makeup of the algae is similiar to soybeans.

Ancient tribes in Central and South America used to harvest the algae from their lakes, dry it in brick form, and use those bricks for food.  But based on the concentration of ingredients, you would need to eat a pound of blue-green algae to equal, say, a pound of soybeans.

And that’s why it makes no sense to buy blue-green algae in pill or powder form.  Dried soybeans sell for roughly 89 cents per pound.  A pound of dried blue-green algae in pill form would cost you hundreds of dollars at your local GNC.

Blue-green algae does not contain any “miracle” substances and has the nutritional value of an equivalent amount of soybeans.  And at 100x the price.

Not a very good use of your supplement dollars.

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