It is important that your body has a good pH balance; a body that is acidic causes stress on the body and creates diseases.  One of these diseases is osteoporosis because calcium is needed by the body to bring a neutral pH, and if this calcium is required in abundance and you could also be deficient in calcium then the body obtains it calcium from your bones, weakening them and causing osteoporosis.  Living in a polluted environment, consuming too much protein and carbs, having a lack of vegetables, causes an acidic body and fruits, eating processed foods, the use of toxic products on your skin, pharmaceutical drugs and alcohol.

Even the soaps and deodorants that are used are full of poisons, when you start to detox yourself of these poisons you can feel ill initially but then great after.  One way to alkalise your body, reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol, support immune function and protect against skeletal, muscular damage after exercise with the aid of spirulina.

Spirulina is the popular supergreen powder that is blue-green algae and has incredibly high chlorophyll content. Chlorophyll is an alkalising plant molecule that uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, and may help to increase your own oxygen levels.  It has been shown to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and prevent skeletal muscle damage after exercise. There has also been some interesting research into how spirulina assists your immune system.

In a recent research, they took blood samples from 12 healthy volunteers and studied the effect of spirulina of the white blood cells, which form part of our immune system, both when at rest and when stimulated in order to mount an allergic response. They found that spirulina seemed to increase the production of cytokines (interleukin 4, interleukin 1beta, and interferon), which stimulate an inflammatory response that would protect cells against pathogens such as parasites and infectious microorganisms.

Spirulina also assists allergies (rhinitis and therefore could possibly help relieve some of the symptoms of hayfever).  In other studies spirulina has shown an anti-inflammatory effect in conditions of chronic inflammation such as arthritis and allergic rhinitis. A recent double blind placebo-controlled study of 150 allergic rhinitis patients found that spirulina reduced the levels of interleukin 4, one of the cytokines that increased when aggravated in the immune system study. This reduction in interleukin-4 led to a lessening of symptoms.

So it would seem that spirulina works with your immune systems to respond intelligently to both chronic and acute conditions to help keep you healthy and strong, as well as keeping the body alkaline.

References:

1. Torres-Duran, Ferreira-Hermosillo, & Juarez-Oropeza. Antihyperlipemic and antihypertensive effects of Spirulina maxima in an open sample of mexican population: A preliminary report. Lipids in Health and Disease. Lipids Health Dis. 2007 Nov 26;6:33.
2. Park, H.; Lee, Y.; Ryu, H.; Kim, M.; Chung, H.; Kim, W. (2008). A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study to establish the effects of spirulina in elderly Koreans. Annals of nutrition & metabolism 52 (4): 322–328
3. Lu, H.K., Hsieh, C.C. Hsu, J.J., Yang, Y.K., & Chou, H.N. (2006). Preventative effects of Spirulina platensis on skeletal muscle damage under exercise induced oxidative stress. European Journal of Applied Physiology 98 (2): 220–226
4. http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/news/spirulina_study.html
5. Cingi, C., Conk-Dalay, M., Cakli, H., & Bal, C. (2008). The effects of Spirulina on allergic rhinitis. European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Larynology 265 (10): 1219–1223