“[Spirulina] fights cardiovascular disease by lowering harmful LDL cholesterol levels while promoting healthy HDL cholesterol levels,” says Jamie Hickey, a registered dietitian and certified personal trainer based in Philadelphia.
Indeed, a study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found adults with high cholesterol who consumed spirulina for three months experienced improvements in their triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol levels. By supplementing with 1 gram of spirulina a day for 12 weeks, participants lowered their triglycerides by 16% and LDL by 10%.
Additional research indicates that spirulina supplements can have a significant effect in reducing plasma concentrations of total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides while elevating HDL (good) cholesterol.
Spirulina can help encourage “significant reductions in body fat percentage and waist circumference,” says Walsh. When people who were overweight regularly ate spirulina for three months in a 2016 study, they experienced an improvement in their body mass index.