Spirulina is a microscopic filamentous alga that is rich in proteins, vitamins, essential amino acids, minerals and essential fatty acids like y-linolenic acid (GLA). It is produced commercially and sold as a food supplement in health food stores around the world. Up to very recently, the interest in Spirulina was mainly in its nutritive value. Currently, however, numerous people are looking into the possible therapeutic effects of Spirulina. Many pre-clinical studies and a few clinical studies suggest several therapeutic effects ranging from reduction of cholesterol and cancer to enhancing the immune system, increasing intestinal lactobacilli, reducing nephrotoxicity by heavy metals and drugs and radiation protection. This paper presents a critical review of some published and unpublished data on therapeutic effects of Spirulina.

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Background: Malnutrition is a major health issue affecting children, women and adolescents globally and developing countries in particular. Adolescence is a time of enormous physiological, cognitive, and psychosocial change but it remain a neglected, difficult-to-measure and hard-to-reach population. The critical role of adolescent nutrition in the intergenerational cycle of Growth failure has not been well addressed in Ethiopia. Hence, this study assesses level of low BMI-for-age and height-for-age and their associated factors among adolescent girls in northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Community based cross-sectional quantitative study was employed. A total of 1281 adolescent girls were included in the study. Multistage cluster sampling method was used. Pretested questionnaire were used to collect the data. The collected data were entered in to Epi Info version 3.5.3 and exported to SPSS version 20.0 software packages for further statistical analysis. The data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. The degree of association between dependent and independent variables were assessed using odds ratio with 95 % confidence interval and variables with p-value ≤0.05 were considered significant. Result: The prevalence of girls with BMI-for-age Z-score < −2 were 13.6 % and height-for-age Z-score < −2 were 31.5 %. Being in the age group 10-14 years (AOR = 5.83, 95 % CI: 3.26, 10.44), being in the age group 15-17 years (AOR = 2.06, 95 % CI: 1.09, 3.89), with poor dietary diversity score (AOR = 2.48, 95 % CI: 1.60, 3.84), utilizing community based nutrition service (AOR = 0.67, 95 % CI: 0.47, 0.95) were factors significantly associated with thinness in adolescent girls. Being on the age group 10-14 years (AOR = 6.07, 95 % CI: 4.00,9.22), being on the age group 15-17(AOR = 1.39, 95 % CI: 1.93, 2.09), had nutrition and health information(AOR = 1.94, 95 % CI: 1.46, 2.57), living in food secured households (AOR:0.65, 95 % CI: 0.50, 0.84) were factors affecting low height-for-age in study subjects. Conclusion: Finding of this study indicated that prevalence of adolescents with low BMI-for-age and low height-for-age Z-score < −2 were high. Age, dietary diversity score and community based nutrition service utilization were factors affecting low BMI-for-Age in adolescent girls. Age, food insecurity and Nutrition and health information were factors affecting low height-for-age in adolescent girls. Improving community based nutrition service utilization, food security specially in young adolescents is highly recommended.

An aqueous extract of the blue-green filamentous algae Arthrospira platensis (previously called Spirulina platensis) inhibited HIV-1 replication in human T-cell lines, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and Langerhans cells (LC). Extract concentrations ranging between 0.3 and 1.2 microg/ml reduced viral production by approximately 50% (50% effective concentration [EC50]) in PBMCs. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of extract for PBMC growth ranged between 0.8 and 3.1 mg/ml. Depending on the cell type used, therapeutic indices ranged between 200 and 6000. The extract inactivated HIV-1 infectivity directly when preincubated with virus before addition to human T-cell lines. Fractionation of the extract revealed antiviral activity in the polysaccharide fraction and also in a fraction depleted of polysaccharides and tannins. We conclude that aqueous A platensis extracts contain antiretroviral activity that may be of potential clinical interest.

Governments globally are stressing both direct nutrition interventions combined with nutrition sensitive policies and programs to combat malnutrition. Governance at all levels has been identified as a critical element in ensuring success of national nutrition plans. For example, the most recent National Nutrition Program (NNP) in Ethiopia discusses the essentiality of governance and coordination at all levels. The research uses a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with key informant. The research discussed in this article focuses on governance structures from national to regional to district level in Ethiopia with an emphasis on translation of a strategy and implementation of the NNP. This article concentrates primarily on results from the national and regional levels. Data at both the national and regional levels indicate that there is general agreement on the nature of the nutrition problems in Ethiopia. At all levels of government, under nutrition, food insecurity, and micronutrient deficiencies were listed as the main nutrition problems. The challenges in governance and implementation identified at both the national and regional levels, however, varied. The implementation of the 2013 NNP was in its early stages at the time of this research. While there was palpable energy around the launch of the NNP, respondents indicated issues related to leadership, coordination, collaboration, advocacy, and budget would be challenges in sustaining momentum.