Seaweed – Everything Your Body Needs
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Seaweed is the colloquial term for algae. More than 10,000 species of seaweed can be found in saltwater, fresh water and also on land. Seaweed is divided into three groups: red, brown and green. The most common environment for seaweed to grow in exhibits brackish water, plentiful sunlight and something to attach to (rocks or coral reefs). Seaweed is known for its high nutritional content and has been traditionally used in the East medicinally, as food and as a detoxifying agent for skin. Since the beginning of the 21st century, other uses for seaweed have been proposed; experiments have been conducted that use seaweed as a biofuel and plant fertilizer.
Seaweed contains a surplus of every nutrient that a plant needs to survive, grow and be healthy, including vitamin D, which is found in sunlight. Seaweed can be a companion to indoor plants as well as garden vegetables. Placing unwashed (briny) seaweed on top of the soil will prevent pests and parasites, like slugs, from eating growing vegetables. You can make a natural fertilizer from seaweed “tea” by mixing seaweed with rainwater, letting it soak for a week or two and then spraying it on plants.
Seaweed also evolved other specialized cells that could help the whole plant survive. Different types of seaweed have different specialized cells. All seaweeds arrange their cells into flat leaves so that as many cells as possible get direct sunlight . Many seaweeds have holdfasts, finger-like projections like roots that hold on to the rocks. Some seaweeds have stalks that support the leaves like the stem of a flower . Some make hollow air -filled balls called floats, that hold the seaweed up closer to the surface of the water where there’s more sunshine .
Seaweed is a potent source of iodine, and the Japanese eat a lot of it. More than 95 percent of the iodine mainland Japanese consume comes from seaweed, which includes kelp (brown algae), nori sheets (red algae) with sushi, and chlorella (green algae). The concentration of iodine in these marine plants ranges from 0.5–8.0 mg/g. Iodine is needed for the proper functioning of the thyroid. Iodine toxicity has been observed in cases where too much seaweed has been eaten. As with all foods, you will want to integrate this food into your diet with moderation.
Seaweed and other algae is increasingly looking like a viable substitute. About 50 percent of seaweed’s weight is oil, which can be used to make biodiesel for cars, trucks, and airplanes. Scientists at the University of Indiana recently figured out how to turn seaweed into biodiesel four times faster than other biofuels, and researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered a way to use alginate extracted from kelp to ramp up the storage power of lithium-ion batteries by a factor of ten.
Seaweed fiber is a must for everyone’s diet, as this fiber helps you lose weight especially around the abdomen. Seaweed fiber also boosts the immune system makes the skin wrinkle free and clear, strengthens the bones, prevents cancer and heart disease, makes hair glossy and healthy, and improves brain function.
Seaweed is known to contain Cytokinin. Cytokinins are products of root activity. The addition of this product may show a greater Cytokinin stimulation effect in sprouts and leaf i.e. cell division, synthesis and fixation of chlorophyll, increase sugar production, prolongation of leaf life and delayed onset of senescence (aging). This product is enhanced by the addition of Integrate. Due to Integrates unique molecular structure and chelating properties, this product may readily enter plant tissues i.e. roots or leaves. This highly efficient exchange capacity results in maximum uptake by the plant and may often reduce the application rate typically recommended for many products.