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Reference for this?

matte_black 9y ago
Fairly common knowledge. In fact, because Spirulina absorbs heavy metals, it’s important to get Spirulina from clean sources as you may be ingesting Spirulina that already has absorbed heavy metals within it. Be careful.
- driverdan 9y ago
  That is not a source.
- freehunter 9y ago
  >Fairly common knowledge So complete nonsense then. Got it.
  - matte_black 9y ago
    I don’t know man. It was just something I knew from some time ago and there’s no end of google results that talk about this. Not really sure what other source you’re looking for. A research paper? Even those can be nonsense.
    - eric_h 9y ago
      > A research paper? Even those can be nonsense. An absense of research papers is far more frequently evidence of nonsense
      - oldandtired 9y ago
        Not really. All the absence of research papers indicates is that the subject has not been considered to be worth the time or money to do research in the subject. There is only so much time and only so much money and as a consequence, priorities are made as to what it should be spent on. Even replication of results is not deemed worthy enough to spend time and money on. We see this often enough where papers detailing the replication of an experiment are simply ignored in the journals for that field. This comes up in discussion in so many different fora across the internet. If unlimited funds were available for research into all and every subject, there is still the lack of time and researchers available to do all of the research necessary. So what happens is that whoever has the most influence and the available funds and time gets to dictate what gets done. This means that for other research, it depends on the efforts of those who have a burning interest and motivation to do the study. I, myself, have a whole series of experiments that I want to undertake. it will have to be by my time and money as it is a subject that I especially want to investigate. But that is still dependent on all the other commitments that I have. I, at least, have a couple of young people who are willing to help with the research when I get it progressing. The particular area has much hype but no widely available experimental results to back up any claims from either side of the discussion. I am designing the series of experiments to try, as best as I can, to get as detailed results as possible for future possible experiments and direction of research. In my own study, I have found only three other groups around the world that have even looked into the subject with any sort of experimental detail.
  - dang 9y ago
    Please don't respond by degrading the discussion even further, regardless of how right you are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
sulam 9y ago
Ironically the first scholarly result searching for heavy metals and spirulina covers the risk of ingesting them because it bioaccumulates. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824145/ The article does refer to several studies showing health benefits for spirulina, although none of them discuss using it to remove heavy metals from the body (it’s not even clear to me how such a mechanism could possibly work).
- matte_black 9y ago
  I am not a doctor, but it’s something to do with Spirulina binding with the metals. Or it could be that I’ve mistaken Spirulina for Chlorella. Because they bind with metals it’s important to get them from clean sources as I mentioned.
  - sulam 9y ago
    Heavy metals accumulate in organs inside your body. Algae and other plants have a mechanism that prevents oxidative metals from damaging them. Does this mean if you eat those plants, they’ll do the same for you? It seems incredibly unlikely since the first thing your body does to these plants is digest them. You are not a plant.

Reference for this?

Fairly common knowledge. In fact, because Spirulina absorbs heavy metals, it’s important to get Spirulina from clean sources as you may be ingesting Spirulina that already has absorbed heavy metals within it. Be careful.

driverdan 9y ago
That is not a source.
freehunter 9y ago
>Fairly common knowledge So complete nonsense then. Got it.
- matte_black 9y ago
  I don’t know man. It was just something I knew from some time ago and there’s no end of google results that talk about this. Not really sure what other source you’re looking for. A research paper? Even those can be nonsense.
  - eric_h 9y ago
    > A research paper? Even those can be nonsense. An absense of research papers is far more frequently evidence of nonsense
    - oldandtired 9y ago
      Not really. All the absence of research papers indicates is that the subject has not been considered to be worth the time or money to do research in the subject. There is only so much time and only so much money and as a consequence, priorities are made as to what it should be spent on. Even replication of results is not deemed worthy enough to spend time and money on. We see this often enough where papers detailing the replication of an experiment are simply ignored in the journals for that field. This comes up in discussion in so many different fora across the internet. If unlimited funds were available for research into all and every subject, there is still the lack of time and researchers available to do all of the research necessary. So what happens is that whoever has the most influence and the available funds and time gets to dictate what gets done. This means that for other research, it depends on the efforts of those who have a burning interest and motivation to do the study. I, myself, have a whole series of experiments that I want to undertake. it will have to be by my time and money as it is a subject that I especially want to investigate. But that is still dependent on all the other commitments that I have. I, at least, have a couple of young people who are willing to help with the research when I get it progressing. The particular area has much hype but no widely available experimental results to back up any claims from either side of the discussion. I am designing the series of experiments to try, as best as I can, to get as detailed results as possible for future possible experiments and direction of research. In my own study, I have found only three other groups around the world that have even looked into the subject with any sort of experimental detail.
- dang 9y ago
  Please don't respond by degrading the discussion even further, regardless of how right you are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

sulam 9y ago

Ironically the first scholarly result searching for heavy metals and spirulina covers the risk of ingesting them because it bioaccumulates. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824145/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824145/ The article does refer to several studies showing health benefits for spirulina, although none of them discuss using it to remove heavy metals from the body (it’s not even clear to me how such a mechanism could possibly work).

matte_black 9y ago
I am not a doctor, but it’s something to do with Spirulina binding with the metals. Or it could be that I’ve mistaken Spirulina for Chlorella. Because they bind with metals it’s important to get them from clean sources as I mentioned.
- sulam 9y ago
  Heavy metals accumulate in organs inside your body. Algae and other plants have a mechanism that prevents oxidative metals from damaging them. Does this mean if you eat those plants, they’ll do the same for you? It seems incredibly unlikely since the first thing your body does to these plants is digest them. You are not a plant.