The consumption of sea vegetables (aka seaweed) enjoys a long history throughout the world of more than 10,000 years. In ancient China, seaweed was a delicacy served only to honored guests and royalty. There are many different varieties including dulse, kelp, hijiki, nori, kombu, and wakame. Most sea vegetables are dried and come ready to eat. Others need to be reconstituted. The best way to select them is to be sure that they come in a tightly sealed package. Choose the form of sea vegetable that best suits your recipe and tastes. Here are some of the health benefits of eating sea vegetables.
- Sea vegetables, especially kelp, help promote healthy iodine function. It is one of nature’s best sources of iodine. Without sufficient iodine your body can’t synthesize certain hormones.
- Dried sea vegetables were rated second behind flaxseeds as the food that contains the highest amount of lignin phytonutrients that have a phytoestrogenic activity. They can act like estrogen when the body stores of this hormone are low, like in menopause, potentially relieving associated symptoms.
- Some sea vegetables have been shown to have unique sources of carbohydrate-like substances called fucans, which have numerous beneficial properties including reducing the body’s inflammatory response.
- Sea vegetables have an antithrombotic activity which means it has the ability to inhibit blood clots.
- Some studies suggest that the variety of sea vegetable called Wakame has been found to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells.
- These vegetables have a concentrated source of iron, calcium, magnesium, folate, and tryptophan.
- There are only 9 calories per ¼ cup serving.
References
Mateljan, G. (2007). The Worlds Healthiest Foods. Seattle, WA: George Mateljan Foundation.
