Table 1.

Spirulina clinical studies: antiobesity benefits

Year	Author	Participants	Spirulina dose	Changes in lipids	Changes in diabetes	Changes in blood pressures	Changes in body weight
2018	Yousefi et al21	52 obese participants what BMI>25 to 40 kg/m2	2 g spirulina per day with restricted caloric diet vs placebo consisting of restricted calorie diet for 12 weeks	Triglycerides reduced by −18 mg/dL and high-sensitivity C reactive protein levels by −1.66±1.9 ng/mL vs placebo	–	–	Significantly lower body weight of −3.22+1.97 kg, waist circumference −3.37±2.65 kg, body fat of −2.28+1.74 kg and BMI of −1.23±0.79 kg/m2
2017	Zeinalian et al22	62 obese	1 g per day spirulina for 12 weeks	HDL-C increased by 1.73% (p=0.05)	–	–	Appetite reduced by −4.16% (p=0.008), BMI by −1.9% (p<0.001), body weight by −1.79% (p<0.001)
2017	Szulinska et al23	50 obese subjects with hypertension	2 g per day spirulina or placebo for 3 months	Significantly lowered LDL-C from 3.5+0.9 mmol/L to 3.0±0.6 mmol/L (p<0.001) and interleukin-6 from 4.3±0.6 mmol/L to 3.9+0.4 mmol/L (p=0.002); improved total antioxidant status from 1.8±0.3 to 2.2±1.0 mmol/L (p=0.001)	Insulin sensitivity ratio improved from 3.2±1.8 mg/kg/min to 4.3±2.1 mg/kg/min (p<0.001)	–	Body mass reduced from 92.96±18.58 kg to 88.97±17.13 kg (p<0.001), BMI reduced from 33.5+6.7 kg/m2 to 31.7±5.8 kg/m2 (p<0.001) and waist circumference reduced from 105.2±15.3 to 103.4+14.1 cm (p<0.002) vs baseline
2016	Mizcke et al24	40 hypertensive patients	2 g of spirulina vs placebo for 3 months	–	–	Reduction in SBP (149±7 mm Hg vs 143±9 mm Hg, p=0.0023) and arterial stiffness index (7.2±0.6 vs 6.9±0.7 m/s, p<0.001) vs placebo	Significant reduction in BMI (26.9±3.1 vs 25.0±2.7 kg/m2, p=0.0032), weight (75.5±11.8 kg vs 70.5±10.3 kg, p<0.001)

BMI, body mass index; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein-cholesterol; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein-cholesterol; SBP, systolic blood pressure.