Spirulina for COVID-19 Original paper

In this randomized controlled trial in participants hospitalized with COVID-19, supplementing with spirulina reduced the risk of mortality and improved biomarkers of immunity and inflammation.

The efficacy of supplementation with spirulina in participants with COVID-19.

The primary outcomes were mortality and the number of participants discharged from the hospital during the 7-day observation period. The secondary outcomes were markers of immunity and inflammation, including interferon gamma, TNF-alpha, interleukin 6, interleukin 10, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1.

189 participants (average age of 49; 52% men, 48% women) with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in 1 of 2 hospitals in Tehran, Iran.

About half of the participants were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

In this 6-day randomized controlled trial, the participants were assigned to receive standard care only (the control) or standard care plus daily supplementation with spirulina (15.2 grams).

Blood samples were collected on days 1, 3, 5, and 7. The participants who were admitted to the ICU were analyzed separately from the participants who were not admitted to the ICU.

There were fewer deaths in the spirulina group than the control group, both for non-ICU participants (0 vs. 4 deaths) and ICU participants (0 vs. 11 deaths). There were also more participants discharged from the hospital in the spirulina group than the control group for non-ICU participants (98% vs. 39%), but there was no difference between groups for ICU participants.

For the secondary outcomes, there were improvements in markers of immunity and inflammation in the spirulina group. In the non-ICU participants, there were lower levels of interleukin 6, TNF-alpha, and interleukin 10, and a higher level of interferon gamma in the spirulina group than the control group; in the ICU participants, the level of interleukin 6 was lower and the level of interferon gamma was higher in the spirulina group than the control group.

A limitation of this study is that the participants in the control group did not take a placebo.

Some of the participants were dissatisfied with the number of spirulina capsules they had to take each day, which was 19 in total. This issue caused several participants to drop out of the study.