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Is algae the new kale?

nationalgeographic.com

221–230 of 320 posts

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#221

While real sea-grown algae might be light what will happen is the same as with modern animal and plant farming: animals are fed corn which makes their meat sub-par nutrientwise and most of the soil for plants is depleted. So if we now grow algae in "reactors" their nutrient profile will be artificial and out of line of their natural counterparts, thus making them no better than any other modern highly processed food,…

> So if we now grow algae in "reactors" their nutrient profile will be artificial and out of line of their natural counterparts This is wild speculation. Plenty of scientific research shows that farming plants, algae, and producing fermented food in a controlled environment can be even healthier than "natural" food.

Can you link us to a half dozen or more peer-reviewed studies proving this?

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#222
Is it time to start eating people? Clearly it is:

In the year 2022, the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution, and some apparent climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing. There are 40 million people in New York City alone, where only the city's elite can afford spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food, and even then at horrendously high prices. The homes of the elite usually include concubines who are referred to as "furniture" and serve the tenants as slaves.

Within the city lives NYPD detective Frank Thorn and his aged friend Sol Roth, a highly intelligent analyst, referred to as a "Book". Roth remembers the world when it had animals and real food, and possesses a small library of reference materials to assist Thorn. Thorn is tasked with investigating the murder of the wealthy and influential William R. Simonson, and quickly learns that Simonson had been assassinated and was a board member of Soylent Industries.

https://archive.org/details/soylent-green-1973_20210310

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#223

I love all these whacky avenues people take when eating just plants is a very low foot print option available to almost everyone. We don’t need to eat crickets, we don’t need to eat algae, we don’t need bioreactors for growing meat. I think the main reason we don’t hear more about just how goddamn efficient a bowl of lentils and rice is, or oatmeal, is because it’s not sexy. You just can’t make a start up on beans an…

>because beans and rice are healthy I disagree. A high carb diet make me fat. A high protein diets does not. There is no vegan way for me to eat my daily protein target without eating far too many carbs along with it. (edit: I should have stated that there is no way beyond eating highly processed foods)

Seems like you are pluralizing your own anecdote. Sorry for your issues though.

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For B12? You do know that animals don’t produce B12, but microorganisms (that can be found in soil and untreated water) and that farmed animals eat B12 supplemented food? So no, people don’t need meat. Not for B12, or for proteins or for iron or for anything else. Do people want to eat meat? That’s a different story.

Quoted post unavailable.

Have you been keeping logs of all the vegans you meet to come to this conclusion? This sounds like anecdotal evidence at best.

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For B12? You do know that animals don’t produce B12, but microorganisms (that can be found in soil and untreated water) and that farmed animals eat B12 supplemented food? So no, people don’t need meat. Not for B12, or for proteins or for iron or for anything else. Do people want to eat meat? That’s a different story.

Quoted post unavailable.

Because a lot of vegans are leftist nerds, who are often scrawny. Plenty of them are fat too though.

Source: I'm a leftist nerd, carrying a few too many pounds, who doesn't eat meat.

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#229
post #216

I was looking into algea/spirulina for B12, but found some sources indicating it is not a bioavailable form of B12, and also prevents real B12 from being absorbed. I'd be interested to know any counter research to this. > almost all algae revealed vitamin B12 analogues instead of the real thing. Analogues are not only ineffective, but also potentially dangerous. Most researchers have consequently dismissed algae as a…

Why not just take B12 produced with microbes (= most supplements)? Those are considered vegan. Trying to get B12 from algae sounds unnecessarily complicated, considering our B12 has in all of our history been of microbial origin. But I also wouldn’t shun algae just because they occupy some B12 transporters. There’s all kinds of metabolic tradeoffs with every kind of food, and we are designed to tolerate that. Most me…

Oh I remember now I was actually looking at spirulina for omega 3.

Seemed hard to find numbers, but one source said 331mg of EPA per gram of Spirulina platensis (https://www.ripublication.com/ijac16/ijacv12n4_05.pdf).

Was considering what it would be like to eat like 6 grams of spirulina for 2g of EPA, versus that in one teaspoon of fish oil (high EPA type).

But got stuck on the B12 blocking stuff. I wonder if your point is true that there's enough redundancy it doesn't matter. It would be nice if it was easier/cheaper to get bloodwork to do some experiments with this kind of stuff.

Re: Is algae the new kale?

#230

I was looking into algea/spirulina for B12, but found some sources indicating it is not a bioavailable form of B12, and also prevents real B12 from being absorbed. I'd be interested to know any counter research to this. > almost all algae revealed vitamin B12 analogues instead of the real thing. Analogues are not only ineffective, but also potentially dangerous. Most researchers have consequently dismissed algae as a…

Isn't the recommended B12 dosage per day like 4 micrograms?

Less than 1.5 milligrams in a year.

Looking at the cost of Cyanocobalamin, it appears to be around $1000/kg.

https://www.pharmacompass.com/active-pharmaceutical-ingredie...

Complete B12 supplementation is going to set you back literally 0.1 cents per year. All B12 you'll ever take in your whole life is not even worth 10 measly cents.

Just some supplement for thought to consider before changing your diet for that.

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