Nurturing the Foundation of Health

by Simon Ranger, Managing Director, Seagreens

Five years ago, inspired by the nutritional profile of wild Arctic seaweeds, Simon Ranger, who had previously run his own multi-award-winning advertising company, set out "to get a gram of the most nutritious seaweed into the everyday British diet". Accordingly, he set up an Anglo-Norwegian joint venture to sell dried granules of organic quality seaweed through shops, supermarkets and manufacturing as a convenient food ingredient. Seagreens® is the result.

Of all the world’s seaweeds, the so-called ‘brown algæ’ have the broadest balance of nutrients. Among these, several ‘wrack’ species from the ultra cold waters of the Arctic have evolved differently to their cousins in other climes and are widely considered the best. They are distinctly dense and retain literally ‘oceans of goodness’.

Pelvetia actually grows on the rocks but is washed by the sea

The ocean is a more or less constant chemical medium and Nature’s only complete nutritional resource. There is no natural process to restore to the land the many nutrients, minerals especially, that have been draining into the sea for millions of years (1).

Seagreens® are composed of several kinds of special Arctic wrack seaweeds

The ‘brown’ wild Arctic Wrack seaweeds which we harvest among Norway’s remote Lofoten Islands contain this entire spectrum of nutrients. Many, like their rich polysaccharide component and whole B vitamin complex, are superior to land foods. They contain all the known micronutrients, while ‘in the last 50 years, runner beans have lost 100% of their sodium, watercress 90% its copper, broccoli 75% its calcium; levels of other important minerals including magnesium, iron, phosphorous and potassium have also plummeted (2).

The seaweeds that Seagreens® uses grow wild among the remote Lofoten Islands

We have uniquely obtained certification for our seaweed harvesting, processing and products to European organic and biodynamic food standards. We cut only living, mature plants, which regenerate, and our location enables us to process on the day of harvesting. Kelp in particular, and other seaweeds are widely harvested, especially for the alginate industry, which supplies seaweed extracts for a plethora of industrial applications. For these purposes dredged and decomposing seaweed may be used and excess capacity finds its way relatively cheaply even into pharmaceuticals and the supplements market, for example as kelp tablets for iodine. We therefore distinguish our seaweed ingredients whether in our own or other manufacturers’ products by the Seagreens® trademark so that our retail customers, consumers and practitioners are assured of their integrity.

Dental amalgam and detoxification

During the past few years various conventional medical and complementary health practitioners have related interesting stories about their use of our products. These range from a naturopath in the West Country using them to rid his patients of ulcer-causing bacteria, to the founder of the British Society for Mercury Free Dentistry, the late Dr JG Levenson, LDS, RCS(Edin).

Jack Levenson had for some time included kelp as a minor component of a broader protocol for mercury detox, including drugs, antioxidants, nutrients, and chelators (55). Favouring natural chelation and elimination preferably through the bowel, he began using our ‘Seagreens Food Capsules’ during 2001-2 with encouraging results. Even severe cases responded well and often tolerated Seagreens where adverse reactions to drugs like DMSA and even natural binding agents like the fresh-water algæ chlorella were common. Seagreens also supported his preference for more gradual detoxification for up to two years to avoid the frequent side effects of harsher protocols. This was impossible with common kelp seaweed because its very high iodine content prohibited prolonged use at any significant level. Our low iodine capsules of blended wrack seaweeds allow indefinite daily intake.

Detoxification with Seagreens is thought to be effected through three principal modes of action:

1. Binding and removal of toxic metals and radiation including barium, cadmium, cobalt, lead, mercury and strontium by special 'seaweed' polysaccharides, amino acids and minerals (3-6);

2. Cleansing of the digestive tract, blood, lymph, and kidneys by the polysaccharides, several pigments including chlorophyll, and the seaweed's antioxidant vitamins and minerals (15);

3. Improved metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fats by the special polysaccharides and naturally chelated minerals, trace elements and compounds; and by improved acid-alkaline balance (8).

Seagreens is the ideal core in a group of shorter term nutritional or herbal supplements which may vary for individual patients, including coriander and additional selenium, B vitamins, sulphur and zinc. Additional antioxidants and chelators like humifulvates can also be used. Sadly, Jack Levenson died at the end of last year, but his pioneering work continues under the auspices of the BSMFD.

Autistic spectrum disorders

Partly because its combination makes Seagreens an excellent heavy metals chelator, and because of its potential in the gut and blood for the immune system, interest began to accrue in the past year among practitioners managing patients with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

While the path of autism can vary widely in different individuals, presenting a disparate range of symptoms (9), there is every reason to believe - and now some anecdotal evidence - that Seagreens may prove helpful where there is evidence of the following:

• Inability to bind and remove heavy metals
• Deficient amino acids
• Mineral imbalance
• Thyroid disorders, hypothyroid
• Dysfunctional digestion, dysbiosis, acidosis
• Compromised immunity, Candida
• Disturbed fatty acid metabolism, electrolyte imbalance
• Dry skin, listless hair, poor circulation
• High levels of free radicals, heavy metals, amino acids and minerals.
• Heavy metals, free radicals, amino acids and minerals

Autistic children often have increased levels of cadmium, mercury, aluminium, arsenic, lead and other common toxic metals. At the same time, they may be deficient in some important minerals like zinc and iron yet have unusually high levels of others like copper. They appear to have problems transporting minerals in and out of cells and in binding and removing the toxic metals. They may be unable to produce the appropriate protein metal transporters or metallothionines (MTs), which in turn may be due to difficulties in metabolising amino acids critical in the production of MTs (10). An American study of 503 autistic children found 99% with metallothionine deficiency (11).

While Seagreens themselves contain all the naturally occurring minerals and trace elements, including traces of the heavy metals, there is nevertheless a net extraction of these elements from the body through a variety of mechanisms. The tiny amount of arsenic in Seagreens (0.0116mg), for example, is in a form not absorbed by the body. Strontium is not the radioactive kind, but the same as is found naturally with calcium in milk.

Marine biologist Sonia Surey-Gent explains: "It may seem strange to be singing the praises of seaweed as a valuable source of minerals, then saying how it can be used to remove metals from the body. This is the paradox of a natural system, working both ways at the same time, removing imbalances, restoring things to the way they should be. Something that no modern wonder drug has ever managed to achieve" (12).

Seagreens also provide a balance of all the amino acids necessary for the production of the metal transporting metallothionines, including cysteine. In the case of the ubiquitous MT hæmoglobin, cysteine accounts for as much as 30% of its structure (10). Cysteine and methionine have additional importance as sulphur-containing amino acids. The body produces most of its requirement for sulphate itself, since relatively little is available from food. Methionine with tyrosine also produces the important neurotransmitters serotonin and norepineprine. But ASD children show impaired sulphation, which means not only that they are deficient in this 'major' mineral, but that they cannot effectively detoxify many naturally occurring phenolic compounds or phenol-containing pharmaceuticals in the liver and intestine - for example catecholamine neurotransmitters, steroids including oestrogens and progesterone, bile acids, and many phenolic drugs (13).

Children with ASDs exhibit excessive levels of free radical damage. Seagreens contain all the antioxidant vitamins and minerals and their outstanding alginic acid content makes them useful free radical neutralisers.