The Immunostimulant Superfood

Plus: super quick & easy healthy oat flatbreads

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The 10almonds Team
April 22, 2024

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

Chag Pesach sameach! This coming evening marks the start of Pesach (Passover) for those who observe.

A great time to enjoy kosher flatbreads such as matzah—we recommend going for whole grain!

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

  • Chlorella is a kind of simple green algae, which not only punches above its weight nutritionally as a superfood, but also has a range of phytochemical benefits

    • Today’s main feature looks at its antioxidant and anticancer powers, its lipid-improving qualities, its immunostimulant effect, and more.

    • It also may remove heavy metals—but the science for this has only been on non-human animals so far.

  • As we age, our collagen levels tend to get depleted more easily. Collagen is important not just for youthful good looks, but also for the health of bones and joints

    • Today’s sponsor NativePath are offering high-quality collagen without additives or harmful impurities

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE

The Hardest Mental Health Times?

For many who are suffering with prolonged grief, the holidays can be a time to reflect and find meaning in loss

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Super Quick & Easy Healthy Oat Flatbreads (2:39)

Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

❓ MYSTERY ITEM

You Could Be Less Comfortable

Hint: today’s mystery item is relatively new tech for an ancient concept

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

💊 MAIN FEATURE

Eat These Greens!

Chlorella vulgaris, henceforth “chlorella”, is a simple green algae that has a lot of health benefits.

Note: most of the studies here are for Chlorella vulgaris specifically. However, some are for other species of the Chlorella genus, of which Chlorella vulgaris is by far the most common, hence the name (vulgaris = common). The relevant phytochemical properties appear to be the same regardless.

Superfood

While people generally take it as a supplement rather than a food item in any kind of bulk, it is more than 50% protein and contains all 9 essential amino acids.

As you might expect of a green superfood, it’s also full of many antioxidants, most of them carotenoids, and these pack a punch, for example against cancer:

It also has a lot of vitamins and minerals, and even omega-3.

Which latter also means it helps improve lipids and is thus particularly…

Heart healthy

❝Daily consumption of Chlorella supplements provided the potential of health benefits reducing serum lipid risk factors, mainly triglycerides and total cholesterol❞

Its heart-healthy benefits don’t stop at lipids though, and include blood pressure management, as in this study that found…

❝GABA-rich Chlorella significantly decreased high-normal blood pressure and borderline hypertension, and is a beneficial dietary supplement for prevention of the development of hypertension. ❞

About that GABA, if you’re curious about that, check out:

May remove heavy metals

We’re going with “may” for this one as we could only find animal studies so far (probably because most humans don’t have megadoses of heavy metals in them, which makes testing harder).

Here’s an example animal study, though:

Immunostimulant

This one’s clearer, for example in this 8-week study (with humans) that found…

❝Serum concentrations of interferon-γ (p<0.05) and interleukin-1β (p<0.001) significantly increased and that of interleukin-12 (p<0.1) tended to increase in the Chlorella group.

The increments of these cytokines after the intervention were significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than those in the placebo group. In addition, NK cell activities (%) were significantly increased in Chlorella group, but not in Placebo group.

The increments of NK cell activities (%) were also significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than the placebo group.

Additionally, changed levels of NK cell activity were positively correlated with those of serum interleukin-1β (r=0.280, p=0.047) and interferon-γ (r=0.271, p<0.005).❞

tl;dr = it boosts numerous different kinds of immune cells

PS, if you click though to the study, you may be momentarily alarmed by the first paragraph of the abstract that says “However, there were no direct evidences for the effect of Chlorella supplementation on immune/inflammation response in healthy humans“

👆 this is from the “Background” section of the abstract, so what they are saying is “before we did this study, nobody had done this yet”.

So, be assured that the results are worthwhile and compelling.

Is it safe?

Based on the studies, it has a good safety profile. However, as it boosts the immune system, you may want to check with your doctor if you have an autoimmune disorder, and/or you are on immunosuppressants.

And in general, of course always check with your doctor/pharmacist if unsure about any potential drug interactions.

Want some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

NativePath Collagen

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Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Rehab Science: How to Overcome Pain and Heal from Injury – by Dr. Tom Walters 

Many books of this kind deal with the injury but not the pain; some source talk about pain but not the injury; this one does both, and more.

Dr. Walters discusses in detail the nature of pain, various different kinds of pain, the factors that influence pain, and, of course, how to overcome pain.

He also takes us on a tour of various different categories of injury, because some require very different treatment than others, and while there are some catch-all "this is good/bad for healing" advices, sometimes what will help with one injury with hinder healing another. So, this information alone would make the book a worthwhile read already.

After this two-part theory-heavy introduction, the largest part of the book is given over to rehab itself, in a practical fashion.

We learn about how to make an appropriate rehab plan, get the material things we need for it (if indeed we need material things), and specific protocols to follow for various different body parts and injuries.

The style is very much that of a textbook, well-formatted and with plenty of illustrations throughout (color is sometimes relevant, so we recommend a print edition over Kindle for this one).

Bottom line: if you have an injury to heal, or even just believe in being prepared, this book is an excellent guide.

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Chag Pesach sameach to all who are observing, and happy Monday to all!,

The 10almonds Team