…in dried microalgae such as spirulina protein per weight varies from 30% to 60%, making it comparable to soybean, which is about 35% to 40% protein. Plus, algae can provide more of the essential amino acids than soybean provides.
It also has the potential to reduce the amount of land we use to grow protein. A paper published last year says microalgae produces 4-15 tonnes of protein per hectare per year, compared to 0.6-1.2 for soybean.
There are some other obstacles to overcome, too. And at the moment, says Smith, we don’t know if eating algae would be as good for us as something like spinach. That’s because there is not enough research looking into whether the nutrients in algae are bio-accessible, meaning they can be released from the food in our intestines, or bio-available, meaning they will be absorbed by our bodies.
Plus, she says, it remains to be seen if we can really grow algae for food on a scale that genuinely could feed the world. While productivity might have been demonstrated on small scales, making it commercially is a totally different thing.
Still, Smith is certain algae will play a role in the food of our future, even if only as a supplement: “Algae offer a source of vitamins you can’t get from soybean, and actually there’s one vitamin you can’t get from spinach either.”
Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News 