Yaeyama Chlorella powder
The culture method of Yaeyama Chlorella is patented (Patent No. 3,277,372). It has been proven that chlorophyll contains a strong antioxidant and active oxygen function, with the presence of carotenoids such as β-carotene, α-carotene and lutein, which help our body to excrete dioxin.
Yaeyama Chlorella tablets
Chlorella is known as a high-protein food. The Yaeyama Chlorella contains much of the nutrients such as vitamins and minerals as well as proteins. In particular, it has the merit of containing much of the natural pigments, such as chlorophyll and carotenoids.
The Yaeyama Chlorella is a domestic, safe and secure product using the Yaeyama Chlorella powder cultivated on Ishigaki Island (Okinawa).
PRODUCTION PROCESS
Seed strain
The Yaeyama Chlorella strain was collected on Ishigaki Island and repeatedly separated and bred into a pure strain. The Yaeyama Chlorella strain is a high-quality, excellent seed strain selected carefully under strict inspections.
Seedling cultivation
The high-quality Yaeyama Chlorella strain is aseptically cultivated in the large seed fermentation equipment, which has been completely sterilized. It will be a seed for outdoor cultivation.
Outdoor cultivation
Yaeyama Chlorella is cultivated through photosynthesis by using the blazing sun and good quality water in the favorable climate of Ishigaki Island by the outdoor open cultivation system. It contains well-balanced proteins, vitamins, and minerals, and grows rich in CGF and chlorophyll.
Harvest
Chlorella becomes separated from the culture solution by using more than ten continuous centrifuges manufactured by α-Laval Company. Through repeated washing and separation using plenty of clean water, clean Chlorella that does not contain other microorganisms is obtained. In addition, we use stainless steel for machinery and equipment, such as piping, and exercise thorough sanitary supervision. Yaeyama Chlorella that sticks to the outdoor cultivation system and high quality is made this way.
Drying
We put emphasis on sanitation and built an indoor spray dryer unparalleled in the world. With our own blanching technology, highly digestive, colorful Yaeyama Chlorella powder is born. We pay very careful attention to the final step of Chlorella powder production and consider the quality, safety and stability of our reliable products. Each lot will be packed and degassed by a degassing and packing device developed in-house to prevent changes in quality. Changes in the color, scent, and taste can be prevented by this. You can see there is attention to quality.
Quality inspection
Yaeyama Chlorella powder receives rigorous quality inspections for each production lot. The ones that passed the criteria of the Food Sanitation Law, the Japanese Health and Nutrition Food Association specification standards, and our more stringent provisions are commercialized.
Production of fine powder
Finely powdered Chlorella is compatible with many foods and has been used for reinforcement of coloring agents and nutritional ingredients. The method of fine powderization developed on our own can minimize the changes caused by heat and perform sanitary fine powderization. Thus, it is possible to produce a fine powder without damaging the constituents of the original Yaeyama Chlorella. Finely powdered Yaeyama Chlorella is inimitably colorful and very popular.
What is Chlorella?
Chlorella is single-cell green algae that grows wild in fresh water, and it has long attracted attention as a health food. Chlorella has been on Earth since the birth of the planet owing to its astonishing vitality. The existence of Chlorella was recognized around the time when the first microscope was invented. The Dutch scientist, Beijerinck, discovered Chlorella about 120 years ago. The name Chlorella is taken from the Greek “chloros” meaning green and Latin “ella” meaning small.
Is there a relationship between green water in a fish bowl and Chlorella?
You may have experienced that when you placed a fish bowl on a sunny porch, water inside turned green before you knew. What turned the water green are members of Chlorella. Chlorella lives by us in fresh water such as paddles, marshes, ponds, and lakes, and has a worldwide distribution. It is considered the first organism on the Earth and is a plant maintaining the original form of over two billion years ago until today.
Chlorella is a small plant (single-cell plant)
Under a microscope, individual spherical organisms 3 to 8 microns (1 micron = 1/1000 millimeter) in diameter are observed in the green water. These organisms are tiny plants, Chlorella. They measure only a half of human red blood cells, and come together in a large number to form algae that are very useful for our lives
Chlorella consists of a single cell (unicellular organism)
While most living organisms consist of many cells, a single cell of Chlorella is an independent life form. It is called a unicellular organism. Although Chlorella is a microscopic plant invisible to the naked eye, it is provided with every organ and function necessary for a life in its cell as a complete organism. Chlorella is a marvelous unicellular plant possessing more ability and power than commonly seen plants.
An energetic plant that makes four offspring a day by itself
Various organisms reproduce either sexually or asexually. Chlorella makes wonderful asexual reproduction. Chlorella, about 3 microns in diameter, grows through photosynthesis by using solar energy and carbon dioxide in fresh water. Before it matures to close to 8 to 10 microns, two nuclear divisions occur, and continuously a parent cell undergoes cell divisions to form four offspring at a time. Chlorella is an organism that has been in existence and dividing for over two billion years.
A large crowd of Chlorella occupies the Earth
Chlorella’s vigorous reproduction keeps making four cells every 24 hours. The first one multiplies into four tomorrow and into sixteen the day after tomorrow, and this goes on. A month later, there will be a huge family of 4 (30), that is 100 kei (1 kei = 10,000 times a trillion). One hundred kei cells weigh 20 tons. If Chlorella continues to multiply at this rate, their calculated volume will be larger than that of the Earth (1.08332 x 10 (12) km3) in 63 days.
Requirements for growth and reproduction of Chlorella
A calculated scenario is as mentioned above, whereas Chlorella has requirements for life. To manage division, growth, and multiplication, Chlorella needs to absorb sufficient solar energy into chloroplasts, take in a small amount of inorganic salts as nutrients, take in carbon dioxide, and photosynthesize in clean fresh water. As cells multiply, they block off the light to each other. Chlorella without sunlight stops growing, and eventually dies. Even if it is cultured under favorable conditions, a monthly yield will be about 20 grams per square meter (dry weight).
Such a tremendous multiplication as one cell grows to a huge family the size of the Earth in 63 days does not happen. Chlorella recovers vigorous reproductive ability when an even and sufficient supply of solar energy and carbon dioxide is available. It is an important plant useful enough to be a future food source when correctly cultured.
Chlorella is a champion of photosynthesis
Many plants live through photosynthesis, and the source of a life is solar energy in animals and plants alike. The daily yield of 20 grams per square meters indicates that Chlorella produces much more organic matter than regular plants. If we assume one gram of Chlorella has 5.6 kcal, the yearly calories will be 40,880 kcal per square meter. Compared with this, grains generate just 800 kcal per square meter. This shows that Chlorella’s photosynthesis provides 50 times more food.
A one-million acre pond supplies protein sources for two hundred million people
Today, the food crisis is urgent. Scientists around the world are paying attention to nutritious Chlorella. Especially in the United States, research in this field is active. Some scientists reported that culturing Chlorella under favorable conditions in a one-million acre pond would fulfill the protein need for the entire U.S. population (about two hundred million people). Now you know why Chlorella is called food for the 21st century.
Species of Chlorella
Chlorella is a natural plant including more than 20 species, and each species is different in its production method. Well-known common species of Chlorella include C. vulgaris, C. ellipsoidea, C. saccharophila, C. pyrenoidosa, and C. regularis. These species are used for food.
Under the species, there are strains. Strains are like varieties and brands. The composition of constituents and the effects as health food depend on the species.
The difference between Chlorella species is regarded as negligible once Chlorella is processed into tablets and health food, and yet their features remain. Many products have the same name, Chlorella, nonetheless, characteristic effects of Chlorella may not be obtained in some varieties.
Most of the Chlorella cultivated and produced in Japan are C. vulgaris, and in Taiwan, C. pyrenoidosa.
Digestion and absorption of Chlorella
Our Yaeyama Chlorella is easily digested and absorbed because of broken cell wall preparations. Chlorella tablets used to have an absorption rate of merely 50% to 60%, but lately, they have about an 82% absorption rate owing to the technology of drying preparations without heat. An absorption rate of 82% probably does not give you any idea. For example, an absorption rate for regular bread and cooked rice is 80% to 85%. These numbers show that Chlorella is comparable to common food in absorption.
- vulgaris contains CGF (Chlorella growth factor), a physiologically active substance unique to Chlorella, and it was used as a remedy for radioactivity in the nuclear power plant accident in the former Soviet Union.
History of Chlorella
Chlorella exists since the birth of the Earth and has been reproducing for three billion years. However, since the plant is as tiny as 3 to 8 μm in size, it was not until the microscope was invented after the 19th century that Chlorella was first discovered. It was discovered by the Dutch microbiologist, Dr. Beijerinck, in 1890, and named Chlorella.
During World War I, Chlorella was cultivated in large amounts in Germany to use as a protein source. In the 1920s, Japan succeeded in cultivating a pure culture of Chlorella, and after World War II, the United States, Germany, and Japan conducted cooperative studies.
The medicinal effects of Chlorella were already confirmed after World War II, and the presence of a growth promoting factor that accelerates animal growth through the ingestion of Chlorella was revealed. NASA studied Chlorella as space food because it supplies nutrients even in small amounts.
In the 1970s, Chlorella was a huge hit in Japan, but the boom ended once because of photosensitivity incidents caused by Chlorella.
The photosensitivity incidents refer to occurrences of blisters caused by exposure to direct sunlight after ingestion of Chlorella. Because Chlorella has a tough cell wall indigestible by stomach acids, chlorophyll remains intact in the body. There is a risk that the chlorophyll in the body will react with sunlight causing blisters.
Blisters do not develop in everyone, and the occurrence is affected by the person’s physical constitution. Nonetheless, it was certain that the symptoms developed after ingestion of Chlorella, and the boom died after a while. Later on, the technology of complete cell wall pulverization was developed, and Chlorella’s anticancer effect was discovered. As a result, Chlorella is again attracting attention at present.
Nutritional Science of Chlorella
Chlorella is a pesticide-free vegetable
Natural Chlorella needs to be cultivated as edible Chlorella to be incorporated into health maintenance and our diet. Chlorella is washed, cultured with ample solar energy, and manufactured in a continuous process starting from seed strains under strict control. When Chlorella is washed, and cultured without losing its natural, rich proteins and various constituents, it is a bright, dark green and fragrant like matcha or aonori. Chlorella produced this way can be called a highly nutritional pesticide-free vegetable containing abundant CGF as well.
The reason why human muscles do not turn into cow meat when people eat beef
Chlorella contains 50% or more protein. Both plant and animal proteins break down into about 20 kinds of amino acids. When eaten, proteins are first broken down into amino acids by digestive enzymes in the stomach. Then, human muscle proteins are synthesized using the amino acids absorbed from the intestinal walls. Thus, human muscles never turn into cow meat when people eat beef. Likewise, when people eat Chlorella or soy, they will not turn into plant people.
Eight pillars of essential amino acids
The twenty kinds of amino acids constituting proteins, except eight kinds can be made in the body. The eight kinds of amino acids cannot be made in the body by any means, and they are the most important amino acids in nutritional science as well. These eight kinds are called essential amino acids, which must be ingested via the mouth as food. If just one of the essential amino acids falls short to a standard value, the other seven kinds of amino acids cannot be fully active. The deficient amino acid is also called a limiting amino acid. Let’s evaluate wheat proteins in this context. Wheat proteins contain less than a half of the required amount of lysine, an essential amino acid indispensable to growth stimulation. The limiting amino acid of wheat is lysine. On the other hand, Chlorella proteins contain a very large amount of lysine.
L-lysine trouble
The extremely small amount of lysine in wheat flour as a bread ingredient lowers protein activities as a whole. Due to this, a chemical substance, L-lysine is reluctantly added. Side effects of L-lysine, such as a carcinogen have been reported, and this has caused a social problem. Chlorella contains 1.5 times more natural lysine than wheat, therefore, about 5% Chlorella added to wheat will complete the essential amino acids and will improve the nutritional value.
Chlorella is a Superman helping other proteins
Proteins in Chlorella do not work simply as proteins, but also have an important function of raising the assimilatory quotient by waking up proteins contained in other food and helping other nutrients in the body. If we assume one person takes in 60 g of protein a day, an intake of 2 g of Chlorella a day allows Chlorella proteins to cooperate with other proteins and give us the proteins we need. It may be the most ideal to keep eating Chlorella every day as a supplement so that the valuable nutrition sources you ate will not be wasted.
What is the special substance CGF unique to Chlorella?
Chlorella’s proteins contain a special substance called CGF, which is a growth promoting factor with physiologically active activities. CGF is a kind of sulfur-containing nucleotide-peptide complexes, and its molecular structure and other details are currently being investigated by many scientists. CGF is not found in any higher plants, and its action attracts attention as a special substance found only in Chlorella.
Useful Chlorella besides as a protein source
Chlorella’s extract is nearly tasteless and odorless. When it is added to food in a small amount, a softening effect on sourness, astringency, and bitterness, and a mellowing effect on stimulating the taste of alcohol are recognized. These are called the moderating effects of Chlorella. Other uses of Chlorella include a growth promoting action on lactic acid bacteria, yeasts, and Bacillus natto, and it is widely applied to production of lactic fermented milk drinks and natto on an industrial scale at present.
Other constituents of Chlorella
Lipid
The fatty acid composition of Chlorella is the highest at 29% linolenic acid and about 14% of both palmitic acid and linoleic acid. Linoleic acid and linolenic acid are particularly essential fatty acids in nutritional science and are called vitamin F.
Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates in Chlorella include both hemicellulose A and B as alkali-soluble polysaccharides and starch. In particular, some of the polysaccharides have medicinal cancer inhibiting activities, which are interesting future research subjects.
Chlorella is an outstanding alkaline food
Ash
Chlorella is an alkaline food rich in metals, such as potassium and magnesium, and valuable for keeping blood weak alkaline. A weak alkaline body is the first step to health.
Vitamins
Chlorella is rich in vitamins. It is notable that the vitamin B12 (anti-anemic vitamin) content per one gram of Chlorella matches the daily requirement in humans. Furthermore, Chlorella helps in B12 synthesis via the intestinal bacteria in the human intestinal tracts.
Principal component of Chlorella
Chlorella is taking advantage of strength and phenomenal growth of the cells, the ability of photosynthesis, half of the constituents of the chlorella is made of high quality protein rich in proteins.
Depending on the species of Chlorella, it contains several amino acids necessary for our body, among them: vitamins and minerals, pantothenic acid, folic acid, nucleic acids, 20% carbohydrates, 5% chlorophyll, etc. Chlorella when you live in the water, but is made of 90% moisture, which will be effective as an excellent health food nutrients are concentrated and dried to the above. Chlorella is a freshwater green alga of very small, well-balanced and rich in vitamins and minerals of the natural, had been useful as a source of nutrition during the war.
Chlorella is a very small fresh green alga, rich in vitamins and minerals, used as a nutritious source in times of war.
As Chlorella is a type of plant, it is rich in chlorophyll and folic acid, among others. Chlorophyll absorbs solar energy and during photosynthesis has a purifying effect on body and beauty.
The chlorophyll present in Chlorella has several times the functions of the common plants.
Nutritional comparison of Chlorella
Nutritional Comparison between Yaeyama Chlorella Made on Ishigaki Island and Green and Yellow Vegetables (per 100 g)
Beauty and Chlorella
Vegetables are called food for beauty. Chlorella could be called a drinkable cosmetic for being alkaline and having a cell rejuvenation effect. Adults have acidic skin. Eating excess animal food (acidic food) causes scum to accumulate in the mucous membranes of the skin, leading to rough skin and wrinkles. Babies and children have fresh, beautiful skin because their bodies are alkaline. To have beautiful skin, we must start from the inner body.