spirulina

Spirulina is a cyanobacterial biomass used as a **dietary supplement / nutraceutical** rather than a conventional single-molecule pharmaceutical. In the provided sources it is administered mainly orally as powder, food supplement, or diet enrichment, and has been studied clinically and preclinically in settings including HIV-associated insulin resistance, relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, obesity-related metabolic dysfunction, intestinal flora regulation, allergic asthma models, Parkinson's disease models, and ulcerative colitis models. Its activity is generally attributed to a mixture of bioactive constituents including phycocyanin, phycocyanobilin, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, omega-3 fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, and antioxidant pigments, with reported antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and metabolic effects. Because "spirulina" refers to a natural multi-component nutraceutical material rather than a precisely defined pharmaceutical active ingredient with one validated molecular target, its mechanism is best described as pleiotropic reduction of oxidative stress and inflammatory signaling rather than selective target pharmacology.

Brand names

Spirulina MAXIMA

Other names

Spirulina platensisspirulina powderspirulina supplementspirulina-enhanced diet