Verified
“Pure Hawaiian spirulina, grown in Kona.”
Nutrex Hawaii operates its own Cyanotech farm on the Kona coast; the front panel states 'Pure Hawaiian Spirulina' and 'Made in USA'.
Nutrex Hawaii Pure Hawaiian Spirulina 500 mg Tablets Review
SAC StudioBest OverallBUY
8.8/10SAC Product Score™
How the score breaks downHide breakdown
SAC Product Score™ — how it breaks down
- Dose vs Clinical Range25%9.0
- Purity & Contaminant Control25%9.3
- Label Transparency20%9.0
- Certifications & Sourcing15%8.6
- Value15%7.4
Buy it if you want the studied 3 g dose from a farm you can name
✓ Buy if…
- You want the 3 g daily dose the trials used in one serving
- You care where the algae grew and want a named, controlled pond
✗ Skip if…
- You want USDA Organic certification; this product is Non-GMO but not certified organic
- You are on a strict budget; bulk powders cost a third as much per dose
Read the full analysis
✓ Also buy if…
- You prefer tablets over the taste of green powder
- You want iron and protein amounts printed on the panel
✗ Also skip if…
- You cannot swallow six tablets a day
Nutrex Hawaii grows its spirulina in open-air ponds on the Kona coast fed by deep ocean water, and the label reads like it: Serving Size 6 Tablets (3 g), 66 servings, 3 mg iron and 2 g protein per serving, with Non-GMO Project, GFCO gluten-free, Certified Vegan, kosher and glyphosate-residue-free seals. It is the one product on this list where the dose, the origin and the testing all line up with what the trials used, which is why it sits at number one despite a mid-pack price.
How we built the SAC Product Score™ — 8.8/10
Dose vs Clinical Range25%9/10
Serving Size 6 Tablets (3 g) puts the full studied dose in one serving; no counting or splitting.
Purity & Contaminant Control25%9.3/10
Single-farm Hawaiian cultivation with 'Third Party Tested' on the front and a Glyphosate Residue Free seal; no Prop 65 warning on the panel.
Label Transparency20%9/10
The panel declares 3 g spirulina, 2 g protein, 3 mg iron and 60 mg sodium per serving, plus a clean three-item excipient line.
Certifications & Sourcing15%8.6/10
Non-GMO Project Verified, GFCO gluten-free, Certified Vegan and kosher seals on the panel; no USDA Organic mark.
Value15%7.4/10
About $0.50 per 3 g serving: fair for a tested single-origin tablet, but three to four times the cost of the bulk powders.
The product at a glance
- Form
- Tablet, 500 mg each
- Serving
- 6 tablets (3 g)
- Count
- 400 tablets (66 servings)
- Disclosed per serving
- 2 g protein, 3 mg iron, 60 mg sodium
- Other ingredients
- Silica, chicory inulin, vegetable magnesium stearate
- Seals
- Non-GMO Project, GFCO gluten-free, Certified Vegan, kosher, glyphosate residue free
- Cost per dose
- ~$0.50 per 3 g serving
Marketing claims vs. reality
Partial
“Third-party tested.”
The front label says Third Party Tested and carries a Glyphosate Residue Free seal, but no lot-specific certificate is printed on the pack; treat it as a stated programme, not a published COA.
Verified
“A vegan superfood supplement.”
Certified Vegan seal on the panel; 2 g protein and 3 mg iron per 3 g serving are declared, which is where the 'superfood' framing comes from.
What our test actually found
01The dose is the reason it wins
Most spirulina tablets ask you to take one and hope. Nutrex prints a six-tablet, 3 g serving, which is the amount that produced the symptom reductions in the six-month allergic-rhinitis trial and sits inside the 1-8 g range pooled in the lipid meta-analyses.
02Origin is the purity argument
Spirulina concentrates what is in its water. A single, named, ocean-fed Hawaiian pond with stated testing is the strongest contamination control on this list, and it is the reason this product edges the California tablet that discloses more but tests less publicly.
Pros & cons, no sugar-coating
Pros
- Full 3 g trial dose in one printed serving
- Single named Hawaiian farm with stated third-party testing
- Iron, protein and sodium declared on the panel
- Longest list of real third-party seals in the group
Cons
- Not USDA Organic certified
- Six tablets a day is a lot of swallowing
- Three excipients where the organic tablets have none
The spirulina to buy when you want the trial dose and a farm you can name
It costs more than a bag of powder and it is not organic, but everything the science asks for is on the panel: 3 g per serving, a named controlled pond, third-party testing and disclosed iron and protein. If you buy one spirulina, buy this one.
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If this doesn’t fit — try these
Earthrise California Spirulina
8.6/10The only product here that prints its c-phycocyanin content, 165 mg per 3 g serving, from a single California farm; you pay for that transparency with the highest cost per dose on the list.
See it on the list →Anthony's California Spirulina Powder
8.5/10A California-grown powder with a full food-style Nutrition Facts panel, 3 g per teaspoon, batch-tested gluten-free, at about a quarter per dose.
See it on the list →NOW Organic Spirulina 1,000 mg
8.4/10A QAI-certified organic 1,000 mg tablet with no excipients at all, from a brand with in-house testing labs; three tablets reach the trial dose for about a third of a dollar.
See it on the list →Sources & further reading
- Cingi C, et al. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2008;265(10):1219-23.Cingi C, Conk-Dalay M, Cakli H, Bal C · 2008 · European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology · PMID 18343939
The effects of spirulina on allergic rhinitis
In a six-month double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 2 g of spirulina a day significantly reduced allergic-rhinitis symptoms including nasal discharge, sneezing, congestion and itching versus placebo.
- Roy-Lachapelle A, Solliec M, Bouchard MF, Sauvé S. Toxins (Basel). 2017;9(3):76.Roy-Lachapelle A, Solliec M, Bouchard MF, Sauvé S · 2017 · Toxins · PMID 28245621
Detection of Cyanotoxins in Algae Dietary Supplements
Analysis of eighteen algae dietary supplements detected cyanotoxins in a subset of products, underlining that cultivation control and finished-product testing, not the algae species alone, determine safety.