Scientific and Medical Evidence
Cardiovascular diseases
Empirical observations have shown that chlorella can act to reduce high blood pressure, high cholesterol and prevent arteriosclerosis. The reason for these actions could be the high amount of unsaturated fatty acids associated with antioxidants like chlorophyll, as well as the unique balance of nutrients in CVB.
OKAMOTO et al. reported that when hypertensive rats were treated with CVB, their blood pressure showed a decrease of 63 mm Hg one hour after intravenous administration and 47 mm Hg two hours after intraperitoneal administration. The normal blood pressure of rats also showed a drop of 32 mm Hg one hour after administration [38].
The anti-lipidemic and anti-atherosclerotic actions of CVB were studied by SANO et al. using Japanese white male rabbits. A 10-week load of a high-cholesterol diet remarkably increased serum total and beta-lipoprotein cholesterol levels, inducing aortic atheromatous lesion. In the group receiving chlorella and given a cholesterol-rich diet containing 1% Chlorella vulgaris powder, the increase in total and beta-lipoprotein cholesterol levels was suppressed. In addition, the development of aortic atheromatous lesions was significantly inhibited. Clofibrat used as a positive control in this experiment did not show any inhibitory action [39]. Similar effects were observed after oral administration of CVE to cholesterol-fed rats.
Increases in serum lipids were inhibited by CVE and CVB feeding to almost the same degree. Fecal steroid excretions (cholesterol, deoxycholic acid, and lithocholic acid) were also increased. The authors concluded that CVB/CVE feeding inhibited the absorption of exogenous steroids and promoted bile acid turnover in the liver to suppress the increase in serum cholesterol levels caused by the administration of a high-cholesterol diet (SANO et al., [40]).
