Originally published July 31 2013
Chlorella protects against cadmium poisoning: NaturalNews Science
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) One of the most powerful cleansing and detoxifying "superfoods" known to man, chlorella is a fascinating single-celled algae variety that offers a plethora of unique benefits for human health and nutrition. And one such benefit, as illustrated in a 2008 study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, is its ability to expel toxic cadmium from the body and prevent it from poisoning the liver and other vital organs.
Researchers from South Korea's Hanyang University learned this after testing the effects of chlorella on groups of Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to cadmium (Cd). The team divided 40 rats into four groups, three of which were exposed to 10 parts per million (ppm) of cadmium. The first of the three groups was given no chlorella (Cd-0C), while the second and third were given five percent chlorella (Cd-5C) and 10 percent chlorella (Cd-10C), respectively. The fourth group was assigned as a control.
After evaluating the health of the rats after eight weeks -- all rats had unmitigated access to water during this time -- the team observed that the Cd-0C group, which was given no chlorella, had the lowest overall body and liver weight, a clear indicator of poor health. This same group of untreated rats was also observed to have significantly higher hepatic concentrations, or concentrations of poison in the liver.
Conversely, cadmium-exposed rats given chlorella had much lower levels of poison in their livers compared to the Cd-0C group, illustrating the power of chlorella to protect this vital organ from damage. Chlorella was also shown to stimulate the expression of metallothioneins, or MTs, which bind with metallic compounds like chlorella and help remove them from the body.
"[T]his study suggests that C. vulgaris (chlorella) has a protective effect against Cd-induced liver damage by reducing Cd accumulation and stimulating the expression of MT II in (the) liver," wrote the authors in their abstract.
You can read the full study abstract at NaturalNews Science:
http://science.naturalnews.com
A similar study published in the journal, Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, in 2009 found that chlorella also helps to reduce the oxidative stress caused by Cd poisoning. Researchers from Ewha Womans University, also in South Korea, discovered that CD-poisoned rats treated with chlorella fared better than untreated rats in terms of lipid peroxide concentration, superoxide radical generation, and xanthine oxidase activity.
You can read the results of this study here:
http://science.naturalnews.com
Chlorella can also help improve insulin resistance, lipid metabolism
Among its many other benefits, chlorella has also been shown by credible science to help improve both insulin resistance and lipid metabolism. Rats fed a high fat diet along with chlorella were shown in the first instance to better process and metabolize these fats, while rats in the latter instance handled sugar intake better when also supplemented with chlorella.
"The cell wall of chlorella is generally considered the thing that just grabs on to almost any toxin in the body, whether it is heavy metals, pesticides, organic chemicals," said Dr. Hank Liers, chief formulator of products sold by Health Products Distributors, Inc., in a 2007 interview with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger. "I think there are more research papers on chlorella than any substance known."
You can learn more about this substance by visiting the NaturalNews Science page on chlorella, which contains hundreds of scientific studies on the benefits of chlorella:
http://science.naturalnews.com
Sources for this article include:
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