Spirulina, an FDA-Approved Functional Food: Worth the Hype?

Spirulina, a blue-green microalga is an eminent functional food due to its unique nutritional and disease-mitigating properties. The main objective of this article is to present an overview of the nutritional composition of Spirulina. Along with its therapeutic potential and applications in the food industry. Studies included in this review have suggested spirulina to be a rich source of complete proteins, essential fatty acids (EFAs), vitamins, minerals and various bioactive compounds like carotenoids, chlorophyll, and xanthophylls. This makes Spirulina a promising functional food for the treatment of ailments like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disorders (CVDs), COVID-19, neuroinflammatory conditions and gut dysbiosis. Additionally, data from numerous studies suggest its use in food formulations, primarily in sports supplements, bakery products, beverages, dairy products, snack sources and confectionaries. It has also been used by the National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) for astronauts on space missions to the Moon and Mars. Furthermore, spirulina's use as a natural food additive possesses enormous potential for further research. Owing to its high nutritional profile and disease-fighting potential, it lends itself to numerous food formulations. Therefore, based on the findings of previous studies, further progress can be made considering spirulina's application in the food additive industry.

A Systematic Review of Human Trials on Mycoprotein - Way towards a Sustainable Ecosystem.

Rapidly increasing global warming and world population calls for exploring untapped elements of biodiversity in a much broader sense. Though there exists much evidence on the importance of livestock and animal-derived protein, escalating challenges related to sustainability have led to finding alternatives to animal-derived proteins. Mycoprotein is an eco-friendly sustainable product.  This fungal-derived protein is high in fiber and protein content. For this particular review paper, literature was searched for human trials using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library. Fifteen trials, totaling 952 participants were included- 5 solely reported on cholesterol response, 3 for glycemic response and 2 for serum uric acid concentrations, while 4 studies reported the combined effect of health markers such as cholesterol, glycemic response, and uric acid concentrations and 1 study on gut health. The Jadad scale was used to assess the quality of studies. Five trails were identified to be of good quality scoring 3 or more. The results showed cholesterol lowering percentage to be ranging between 4.3 to 13%. Similarly, a significant increase of (+0.02) (P< 0.05) was observed in Lactobacillus spp from the baseline value following mycoprotein consumption. Results however were inconclusive for glucose and insulin response. Overall given the growing increase in sustainable proteins, this area should be explored further from a public health perspective.

Association of dietary patterns with anthropometric, lifestyle and socio-economic factors among women of selected communities from Karachi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To identify major dietary patterns and examine their association with anthropometric, lifestyle and socio-economic factors among women belonging to different communities living in Karachi. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Karachi from June 2014 to August 2015, and comprised women of Aga Khani, Dawoodi Bohra and Memon communities. Dietary data was collected through a 108-item food frequency questionnaire and dietary patterns were derived by factor analysis. Three dietary patterns were extracted: processed, mixed and traditional. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 322 participants, 108(33.54%) belonged to the Aga Khani community, and 107(33.23%) each to Dawoodi Bohra and Memon communities. Moreover, 58(53.7%), 39(36.4%) and 25(23.4%) in the three groups, respectively, had a university degree. Besides, 44(40.7%) women belonging to the Aga Khani community were married, compared to 53(49.5%) and 37(34.6%) in Dawoodi Bohra and Memon communities. The mean factor loading for mixed food pattern was 0.24 among women of the Aga Khani community, whereas respective values for Dawoodi Bohra and Memon communities were 0.005 and -0.25. The mean factor loading for traditional pattern was 0.77 in the Dawoodi Bohra community, in contrast to -0.24 and -0.52 among women belonging to Memon and Aga Khan communities. Processed food pattern was negatively associated with age in the Aga Khani community (p<0.001) and Dawoodi Bohra community (p=0.010). Mixed food pattern was positively associated with family size in the Aga Khani community (p=0.007), with watching television for 1-3 hours (p=0.007) and higher family income in the Dawoodi Bohra community (p=0.009). Traditional food pattern depicted a positive association for watching television >1-3 hours/day (p=0.028) and total calorie consumption/day (p=0.008) in Dawoodi Bohra community. A negative trend was noted for watching television (1-3 hours/day p=0.020; >3hours/day p=0.004) and physical inactivity (p=0.039) in the Memon community. CONCLUSIONS: Lifestyle and socio-economic variables were found to be associated with dietary patterns in all communities.