Marggie, The main thing seems to be that because of the chemical make up i.e. proteins, vitamins, amino acids etc, it helps to boost the body's immune system, and is apparently good for the skin and eyes, also it is supposed to help suppress the appetite due to the amount of vegetable protein, so can help with obesity. It also has grander claims of helping with heart conditions and to have anti-cancer properties (apparently tested to fight against HIV), I think these claims are pretty much unsubstantiated.
It has quite an interesting history and centuries ago harvested from the lakes in South America and dried into cakes and used as a food by the Aztecs. It has also more currently been used to assist fight malnutrition amongst children in India.
I remain to be convinced !, as I said previously I'm pretty sceptical about supplements, particularly as most of the wonder supplement claims just happen to be from the manufacturers !, what did interest me was my friends "passionate" response to the stuff (and I don't think he's a salesman
), and the fact that it is a natural product.
Hope this helps, there is plenty of info. on the net about it, and if I find out more I'll let you know.
