Finding #1) There is no detectable mercury contamination in any chlorella This is good news. Our tests found no detectable mercury in any of the chlorella samples, even the chlorella from China. This result is actually a little surprising, given how strongly chlorella binds to mercury. You would think that chlorella grown outdoors, downwind from coal-fired power plants, would accumulate mercury, but our tests showed zero detectable mercury in ALL samples. Finding #2) Chlorella from China was the most contaminated We found that chlorella from China was consistently more contaminated with metals than any other source. The average metals contamination found in our lab tests across the three sources from China was: • Aluminum: 29 ppm • Arsenic: 0.89 ppm • Cadmium: 0.17 ppm • Lead: 0.27 ppm Note that Arsenic, Cadmium and Lead are all under 1 ppm and therefore only trace levels. These do not concern me, as there is far more arsenic in apple juice, for example, and theres probably more cadmium and lead in many types of seafood than in chlorella from China. But the one number here that does concern me is the aluminum concentration. Given that aluminum intake is something most people seek to avoid, it seemed important to document the aluminum levels in various sources of chlorella. Granted, there is aluminum in lots of other foods and supplements, but chlorella is specifically taken by people looking to remove metals from their bodies, not introduce yet more metals into their digestive tract. So this number of 29 ppm alarmed me, and I decided after seeing these results that I would never sell chlorella grown in China because I didnt want my readers eating 29 ppm of aluminum. This was a big decision because China-grown chlorella is by far the cheapest source on the market. Thus, it has the highest profit margins of all chlorella. And as I later discovered, it is precisely this China-grown chlorella that is being widely promoted by many health websites across the internet. Its also used in many superfood formulations that have chlorella as one of their ingredients. More discussion on this later... Finding #3) Even Organic chlorella from China was far more contaminated than non-organic chlorella from other countries Heres the real shocker in this: According to our lab tests, the highest concentration of aluminum was found in a certified organic chlorella grown in China. That sample tested at 33 ppm Aluminum, the highest of all our tests. And remember, this chlorella is sold in the USA as USDA certified organic chlorella. By comparison, the non-organic chlorella produced in Korea showed zero detectable Aluminum. In essence, our lab tests revealed that when it comes to chlorella, certified organic doesnt necessarily mean cleaner chlorella. In fact, the cleanest chlorella we found wasnt certified organic at all. You might wonder: How can this be? Doesnt organic mean clean? No! Organic certification is the certification of a growing process, not an end result. You can follow organic practices, but if youre growing chlorella right next to a chemical plant, for example, youre going to get some cross-contamination in the soil, the air, or the water thats used to grow chlorella. Your chlorella can still be 100% certified organic even though its far more contaminated with metals than non-organic chlorella. This is an important distinction because most people equale organic with clean. But thats a huge mistake, because with chlorella, the country of origin seems to be far more important than whether its organic or conventional. Organic certification does not require testing for heavy metals, by the way. A product can be heavily contaminated with aluminum, lead and even mercury and still be certified organic by the USDA.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 00:48:17 +0000
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