AFA stands for Aphanizomenon flos aquae, the “Invisible flower of the water”.There are about 60 different types of AFA. However, the one that is widely consumed as a nutritional supplement is the strain that is uniquely found in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, USA. It is spefically named Aphanizomenon flos aquae Ralfs ex Born. & Flah. Var. flos aquae.
Klamath AFA is unique due the special conditions of lake itself. Upper Klamath Lake is nested in an area of volcanic mountains. It is high up at 1300 meters of altitude. It is surrounded by a desert. As a result, it has 300 days of sunshine per year (great opportunities for photosynthesis), and very cold winters that force AFA algae to produce essential fatty acids such as Omega 3.
The Lake itself is rather large (approx. 52 x 12 km), but also rather shallow, again favoring microalgal photosynthesis, but with a volcanic mineral deposit of up to 10 meters, explaining the unique mineral richness of Klamath AFA.
In spite of the badmouthing of the lake by interested critics, the lake is as pristine as a lake can be today. It is one the most important site for permanent and migrating birds in Western USA, and in the summer you can find tens of thousands of birds as the only inhabitants of the lake (of course besides the vast stock of fish they feed upon), ranging from the famous Dancing Grebes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdhJGcLZymY ) to Pelicans to Bald Eagles, the symbol of the United States which can survive only in unpolluted areas.
In this extraordinary environment, Klamath AFA, is harvested wild and is possibly the richest food on earth. In absolute terms Klamath AFA beats pretty much any other food or superfood in terms of nutrition.
Its super-rich nutritional profile includes:
- All the 14 vitamins, with high concentrations of vitamin A (in the form of pro-vitamin A carotenes)
- B vitamins, including a high quantity of vitamin B12 and folates (the natural form of folic acid or vitamin B9) which is extremely important to prevent the accumulation of the toxic amino acid homocysteine
- Vitamin K, important for bone and teeth health, and for proper blood coagulation
- Small but useful quantities of vitamin C and E
Klamath AFA has also the widest content of more than 70 minerals and trace minerals, including significant quantities of iron, natural fluorine, and vanadium, essential for insulin metabolism and the metabolic syndrome. Klamath AFA is also a good source of Omega 3 fatty acids, and has the widest spectrum of carotenoids, including important xantophylls such as lutein, zaxanthin, astaxanthin and licopene. We recently discovered also that AFA has possibly the highest content of polyphenols.
Speaking of nutraceutical molecules, Klamath AFA has a such an important array of such molecules, that their discovery over time explained many of the apparently miraculous health effects that people reported experiencing.
It is from the research developed mainly by my own (Dr. Scoglio´s) research group that specific AFA extracts were invented that concentrated some of the most relevant AFA molecules:
- phenylethylamine (PEA) and supporting MAO-B enzymes inhibiting molecules, to create Klamin® with its wide neuromodulating and immune-modulating properties.
- AFA-phycocyanins, concentrated in the Aphamax® extract, with their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties.
These molecules, though, work together also to stimulate stem cells metabolism, an action that complements and completes the many essential properties we mentioned above, making the complex of the two extracts possibly the most perfect supplement to enhance health, wellness and youthfulness.
How is Klamax better then Spirulina
Spirulina is the other cyanobacterial microalgae consumed as a nutritional supplement. Both AFA and Spirulina are “blue-green algae”, that is they belong to the class of primordial cyanobacteria, the first form of life on the planet, also called procaryotes, which differ from all other forms of subsequent life insofar as they do not have a cell wall, they are easily digested. On the other hand, Chlorella, which is a single celled microalgae, but not a cyanobacteria, has a tough membrane that needs to be mechanically destroyed to make it digestible for humans.
They also precede the distinction between vegetables and animals, and so, while they are blue-green and live in water, they have up to 70% of proteins. Both also have one of the highest concentration of chlorophyll of all green foods, and contain exclusively the specific cyanobacterial pigments phycocyanins, endowed with many and profound health properties.
What are Klamin® and AphaMax®?
Both Klamin® and AphaMax® are water extracts from AFA, and each represent a specific fraction of the whole microalgae. The difference between the two is that while both are water mechanical extracts, the water extract is produced through different Ultrafiltration membranes: Klamin® concentrates for the most part the small molecular weight molecules, and only some of the higher molecular weight phycocyanins; AphaMax® concentrates the mid range of molecular weight, thus generating the highest concentration AFA-phycocyanins.
Each extract concentrates its relevant molecules approximately 5:1. So, Klamin® concentrates the unique phenylethylamine (PEA) molecule from approx. 3 mg/gr to 15-18 mg/gr; and the mycosporine-like amino acids Porphyra and Shinorine from approx. 0.8 mg/gr to 2.7 mg/gr. AphaMax® concentrates the unique AFA-phycocyanins from approx. 50 mg/gr in the whole AFA to approx. 250 mg/gr in the extract. Overall, each gram of the extract provides the same quantity of molecules of 5 to 7 grams of whole AFA.
Even though each extract has its own action on stem cells, and together they perform a total action on both somatic and neuronal stem cells, each extract has further and very important specific properties, backed by significant scientific evidence:
Klamin®: PEA has very wide neuro-modulating and immune-modulating properties. It is also considered the “molecule of love”. Our brain produces it mostly when we are in love, or happy or enthusiastic about something. We all know that when we are in love we are happy, healthy and thin (also because love, by stimulating dopamine, makes one feel satiated and not hungry at all). PEA may be the molecule responsible for all that.
PEA is known to be a general neuromodulator. It is also a powerful immune-modulator even with activities at the digestive and gastro-intestinal levels.
Taking the PEA by itself would be useless, as once ingested is rapidly destroyed by the enzymes monoaminooxidase-B (MAO-B). Klamin® solves this problem as it contains other molecules, such as AFA-phycocyanins and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), which act as powerful yet physiological MAO-B inhibitors.
Klamin® has proven its efficacy in different clinical studies on mood, depression, anxiety and stress, fatigue, ADHD, autism, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, MS; as well as on the increase of libido and as a powerful appetite suppressant, inhibiting especially the so called nervous hunger, the nervous munching between meals.
You can find a summary of these studies in my Booklet on Klamin® and AphaMax® clinical studies.
AphaMax®: the specific phycocyanins of AFA, the AFA-phycocyanins concentrated in AphaMax®, have proven to be the most powerful antioxidant of all known molecules – up to 40 times more powerful than quercetine and catechines. They are also very powerful anti-inflammatory substances, comparable to the new COX-2 inhibiting drugs but without the side effects.
Tested on mice that were injected with capsaicin in stomach and urinary bladder, with a huge increase in inflammation, when also given AphaMax® the inflammation was completely, 100% inhibited.
We have also done a human study on psoriasis, and with only 3 tablets a day of a product based on AphaMax®, 8 out of 10 patients had their psoriasis solved within 3 months.
We have done research related to cancer proliferation, and we have found a very strong ability of AFA-phycocyanins to generate the apoptosis (self-death) of cancer cells, as well as the ability to inhibit the generation of cancer metastases. They are only preliminary data, but very promising.
As phycocyanins are also able to stimulate the proliferation of fibroblasts, the skin´s own stem cells, and have also a very powerful fibrinolytic activity (the ability to dissolve the fibrin that keeps together both the cardiovascular plaque as well as cellulite tissues) AphaMax® is also at the core of the transdermal project and patent.
Both Klamin® and AphaMax® have also a powerful activity on stem cells, and studies have proven the ability of all the molecules concentrated in the two extracts to promote both the release and the circulation of both somatic and neural stem cells.
Klamax is a Combination of products 
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