Digestion

(see also below under Indigestion)

Seagreens® remarkable nutritional profile is found to be helpful in patients with compromised digestion and metabolism. Seagreens® mucilagenous polysaccharides have a healing effect on damaged intestinal villi. They are known to assist the survival of beneficial intestinal flora and to improve the condition of the gut wall (1). Two mechanisms involved are thought to be the restoration of the fibroplast growth factor activity which stimulates repair of the epithelium, as well as the mucosal properties of the polysaccharides.

They help the body’s acid-alkaline balance being by far the most alkalizing of all natural foods. Seagrens® wild wrack is over 75 times more alkalising than apples (the old saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is largely a reference to their good effect on acid-alkaline balance.

It is well known that in order to metabolise any single nutrient (eg. a protein or carbohydrate) many other nutrients (eg. enzymes, co-enzymes, trace elements) are required for what is in effect, a very complex process. In the digestion of a single meal, although the body can manufacture many of the nutrients it needs for all the metabolic processes involved, this ‘manufacturing’ must also draw on a vast array of nutrition. Many nutrients required which cannot be obtained from an ordinary diet are present in Seagreens®.

“They (seaweeds) contain soothing, mucilaginous gels such as algin, caragheenan, and agar, which specifically rejuvenate the lungs and gastrointestinal tract” (1). “They have a mucilagenous quality which makes them very soothing and healing for the damaged intestine” and “Large amounts of minerals...maintain the blood in an alkaline condition. Seaweeds are best for this” (4). 

A consumer contributes: "If you cook pulses, eg. black eye beans, with Seagreens® in the water (eg. a teaspoon of Culinary Ingredient), it helps soften the outer wall of the beans, reduces the cooking time and makes them more digestible. The water will contain valuable nutrients so the water should not be discarded. The alkalinity of the seaweed may help balance the acidity of the beans" (F. Vogelburger, London 2009).

Inflammatory conditions of the alimentary tract involve elevated synthesis of the proinflammatory mediators like adhesion molecules, white cell infiltration of gastrointestinal mucosa and altered mucosal integrity. The therapeutic use of heparin has produced clinical remission in the majority of patients with inflammatory bowel disorder and special polysaccharides in brown seaweed have been shown to share many of the properties and modes of action of heparin.

One of the mechanisms involved is the restoration of the fibroblast growth factor activity that stimulates repair of the epithelium. Another is their mucosal protective properties. Since gastrointestinal inflammation can cause the protective mucosal layer of glycosalminoglycans to alter, these polysaccharides are useful because they can be absorbed across the gastro-intestinal mucosa (78).

In 2006 scientists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne demonstrated the value of seaweed polysaccharides, especially alginate, in the international battle against obesity, diabetes, heart disease and diseases such as bowel cancer.

The research paper showed that alginate proved to strengthen mucus, the body's natural protection of the gut wall, can slow digestion down, and can slow the uptake of nutrients in the body (112).