Some Knowledge

Here is a hilarious report on the effects of eating a diet rich in algae.  Scientists were interested in if they could supplement the diets of poor people with algae as a cheap source of nutrition and protein.  What they found is that algae is basically not edible for humans, or even for rats.  The report describes in detail what they did and what the results of this experiment were.

There are a lot of places selling algae supplements for outrageous prices.  AFA bluegreen algae flakes sell for $195 a pound.  The report above describes in detail the effects of eating 500 grams of algae a day.  It is not a pretty picture.  There are some things people just should not eat, and algae is one of them.

There are many creatures in the sea that live on a diet of algae.  These creatures are usually invertebrates.  Shrimp, as I recall, eat a lot of plankton and algae.  Some species of fish even filter algae out of the water.  In general, it is very tiny creatures that feed on this green soup.  Human beings might eat algae as a treat, sometimes, if they have nothing better.  In general, algae has a foul taste.  It upsets the gastrointestinal system because it is indigestible. I have tasted algae, as in kelp, and it is disgusting.  Nobody who wasn’t desperate would want to eat that stuff.

Of course, there are many kinds of algae in the world.  There is also genetic engineering, which works pretty good on one-celled organisms.  Perhaps, if scientists want to feed algae to people, they could create an edible strain.  They could put the gene that makes muscle tissue into the plant, so that it produces digestible meat proteins.  They could put the gene that makes gelatin in bones into the plant so that it produces a gelatin coat instead of a cellulose coat.  They could remove the gene that produces the bad taste.  Of course, they would have to leave the genes for photosynthesis.  With a lot of work they could get a plant that tastes like hamburger, and that would be digestible.  It may take a thousand years before people can do any of this.

Algae is not food.  It has been proven by experiment that people can not eat this stuff and survive.  The thing to do would be to grow algae and feed it to shrimps.  Poor people could then eat shrimp and be happy.  I think they might already do something like this with fish farming.  Then again, the whole ecosystem of the seas works on this principle.  All I can say is after reading the report of that experiment, I have no desire to try to eat algae.