ENERGYbits® for Brain Health

August 29 2023, by Catharine Arnston, 11 min reading time

Algae for Brain Health

Do you experience the following and think it’s “normal”?

Finding it difficult to focus sometimes
Brain fog, or feeling like your brain isn’t as agile as it used to be
Forgetfulness, such as forgetting where you left your keys.

These could be signs of age-related cognitive decline that most people consider normal, but these are not healthy. The good news is that there’s a lot you can do to slow down the decline and even regrow your brain over time with the right nutrition and lifestyle choices. In this article, we’ll cover how algae can powerfully support your brain health and mitigate cognitive aging.

You don’t necessarily have to be old to experience these symptoms. Research suggests that many of our cognitive abilities peak around age 30 and then slowly start to decline with age <1>. Therefore, you could feel them as early as your late 20s and early 30s, especially due to our modern nutrition and lifestyle nowadays. Correspondingly, the volumes of many parts of your brain are slowly shrinking.

How can algae tablets help to slow down age-related cognitive decline?

Lifestyle accelerators of age-related decline in cognition and brain health include <2>,<3>:

Nutrient deficiencies and suboptimal nutrient levels
Unhealthy mitochondria
Lack of exercise and other activities that increase proteins that stimulate brain growth
Chronic inflammation
Unhealthy blood sugar control
Toxic exposures and suboptimal ability to detox them
Excess oxidative stress

These are all factors that you can easily change, and the sooner the better.
Spirulina and chlorella algae can help address many of these factors, which explains why they’re so beneficial for your brain <4>.

Now, let’s look into how algae tablets can give your brain a boost and slow down age-related cognitive decline.

Boosts brain mitochondria and provides powerful antioxidants

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells. They control everything from cell communication and energy (ATP) production to aging, especially in your brain. If your mitochondria don’t function well, your neurons will accumulate oxidants. This can also cause fatigue, brain fog, forgetfulness, and losing your mental sharpness.

Chlorophyll in RECOVERYbits® can boost your ATP production

Plants and algae convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis using the green pigments called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a pigment that absorbs light and is what gives plants their green color. Research has found that not only plants but mammals that consume chlorophyll can convert sunlight into ATP energy as well.

When animals eat a diet rich in chlorophyll, the metabolites of the chlorophyll accumulate in tissues and their mitochondria. These chlorophyll metabolites can absorb light just like chlorophyll itself. When researchers shone light onto animal tissues containing chlorophyll metabolites, they found that the tissues had higher concentrations of ATP compared to animal tissues without chlorophyll metabolites <5>. Therefore, eating raw chlorophyll-rich foods such as our algae tablets can increase ATP production in your mitochondria. It’s one of the reasons you’ll feel energized by ENERGYbits®, RECOVERYbits®, and VITALITYbits®.

Powerful antioxidants protect cells and mitochondria

Most of the energy that your neurons use is produced in the mitochondria. ATP production leads to a generation of byproduct oxidants. Since your mitochondria never take a break, they are continuously exposed to damaging oxidants.

While these oxidants are very damaging to your mitochondria, cells, and tissues, your cells have some natural antioxidants such as glutathione and superoxide dismutase enzymes. However, your combined cellular antioxidant capacity decreases with age. This is why it becomes even more important to consume foods high in antioxidants.

Also, the high oxidant levels can interfere with energy production or may even slow it down or cause it to grind to a halt. The oxidants can also damage the blood vessels that deliver nourishing blood to your brain, further worsening your brain function.
Spirulina algae are very rich in antioxidants. Our ENERGYbits® and VITALITYbits® are raw and high in antioxidant nutrients such as glutathione, carotenoids, zeaxanthin, and vitamin E.

Our raw algae tablets also contain an active antioxidant enzyme called superoxide dismutase (SOD) that helps to break down oxidants. In fact, spirulina algae has the highest concentration of superoxide dismutase of all foods. SOD is an enzyme that can freely enter your mitochondria and deliver antioxidant benefits.

Increases brain fertilizers (BDNF) and balances inflammation

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a “brain fertilizer” protein that stimulates the growth, survival, and adaptability of your neurons. It decreases significantly with age, especially with lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise and inadequate sleep <6>. The more BDNF you have, the healthier your brain tends to be.

Unhealthy diets such as meals high in unhealthy fats and sugar can cause a leaky gut, allowing the bacteria toxin called lipopolysaccharides (LPS) into the bloodstream. LPS can cause whole-body inflammation that ruins your mood and cognitive function, partly by reducing BDNF. In one animal study, rat pups were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and then given spirulina algae. The spirulina algae protected the rat pup brains and stopped the decline in brain stem cell growth.

In a second follow-up study, researchers gave spirulina algae to the lactating mothers and found that the neuroprotective effects were passed on to the LPS-treated rat pups. When the LPS-treated pups fed on milk from their spirulina-fed mothers, their inflammation was reduced and low BDNF was reversed <7>.

Researchers also suggest that the brain-fertilizing components of spirulina algae can enter the brain to deliver benefits there <8>.

Provides brain nutrition

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared spirulina algae as the best food for the future due to its high content of proteins and micronutrients <9>. It is 60-70% protein and contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, B vitamins, and minerals.

Subclinical deficiencies in B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids can present as problems with memory, concentration, and learning. Your brain needs B vitamins to process neurotransmitters, produce energy, clean up day-to-day waste, and more. Whereas, omega-3 fatty acids modulate inflammation and are a key building block for healthy neurons.

For example, vitamin B12 deficiency which affects 1.5 – 15% of people is associated with cognitive impairment. Supplementation with vitamin B12 at a dose of 1 mg/day was able to correct the deficiency and improve cognition in several studies. In one study, 63 patients with vitamin B12 deficiency took 1 mg of vitamin B12 daily for a week and then 1mg tablet once a week for 6 months. At the end of the 6 months, their cognition had improved as measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) <10>.

The daily recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for vitamin B12 is 2.4 mcg for an adult. One salmon filet (100g) provides about 3.23 mcg of B12, while one serving of a spirulina algae tablet (ENERGYbits®) provides 15 mcg and a serving of chlorella algae tablets RECOVERYbits® provides 23 mcg.
Although meeting the RDA is important, the synergy between all the vitamins and minerals in whole foods makes it more valuable and bioavailable. In algae tablets, the full spectrum of natural and methylated B vitamins work together in synergy as they present in natural ratios <11>.

Supports healthy blood sugar control

Your brain is your most energy-intensive organ and needs a steady supply of glucose. If your blood sugar control is suboptimal, it’s inevitably going to affect your brain. The modern diets like donuts and coffee for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and pasta for dinner tends to create blood sugar rollercoasters. Each meal raises post-meal blood sugar, which then raises insulin. The high insulin then quickly lowers your blood sugar, often below optimal levels.

Low blood sugar can make you hangry. You’ll be tired, irritable, brain-fogged, make bad decisions, and crave carbs. Whereas high blood sugar can increase damaging oxidative stress and age all your tissues, including your brain.

Ideally, exercising and introducing protein and fiber to each meal is the most successful way to optimize your blood sugar. Also, adding nutrients that will help with blood sugar control can help tremendously.

Research indicates that spirulina and chlorella can support healthy blood sugar control and reverse some of the damage caused by blood sugar rollercoasters <12>.

In a study, twenty-five subjects with insulin resistance received spirulina (2 grams a day). After 2 months of treatment, their blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C levels had significantly lowered compared to the control group <13>.

Another, more recent randomized controlled trial, investigated the effect of spirulina on blood sugar control in healthy subjects. They tested spirulina added to foods at different doses in two separate trials. In the first study, subjects ate cookies with 3.12 g of spirulina added to them. In the second trial, the subjects consumed a sugary drink with 4 g, 6 g, and 8 g of spirulina added to it. The cookies with spirulina didn’t have any beneficial effect on glucose levels, while the drinks with higher doses of raw spirulina did. Compared to the control group, the drinks with 4 g and 8 g of spirulina lowered glucose 120 min after the subjects consumed the drink <14>.

This indicates that the effect of spirulina may be dose-dependent. In other words, you may need 2 – 3 servings of ENERGYbits® to reap this benefit. Since it’s a food, these are safe doses that you can enjoy without worrying about toxic effects.

Similar to spirulina, chlorella can also support healthy blood sugar control. Seventeen subjects took chlorella tablets for 4 months. At the end of the trial, they had reduced fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and body fat compared to the control group <15>.

Detoxification support

Day-to-day toxic chemicals found in pollution, perfume, cleaning products, food, and cosmetics are no doubt damaging to your brain. By providing B vitamins and powerful antioxidant support, especially glutathione, our algae tablets provide you with the key nutrients that tend to get depleted with detoxification.
The high density of chlorophyll means that ENERGYbits® is also a powerful chelator that can support your body to remove toxic heavy metals from usual exposures like pollution and seafood <16>.

Try ENERGYbits® to slow down cognitive decline

Although age-related cognitive decline seems “normal” or “part of aging”, you can slow it down and even improve your cognition as you age. The sooner you start, the better.

Our raw and pure algae tablets contain powerful nutrients that can support you in your brain anti-aging journey by: