Modern humans run into trouble when our modern "civilized" diet reverses the natural availability of sodium and potassium - potassium is leached out of processed foods, and sodium is used extravagantly as a flavor enhancer and preservative. Topsy-turvy! Because this imbalance - and the lack of magnesium and calcium - is implicated in high blood pressure disease, and because unnatural, manufactured table salt is exclusively sodium chloride, sodium has gotten a bad rap!

Sea vegetables provide bio-available, essential sodium balanced with potassium (as well as with calcium and magnesium) at relatively low levels per serving. For instance, Dulse contains less sodium per serving than one slice of most commercial breads and one half to one third the sodium in one cup of cooked beet greens. Kelp has 1/3 as much sodium, Alaria ¼, Dulse 1/8 and Laver 1/9 as 1/2 tsp. table salt!

Susan Asanovic, M.S., R.D., states unequivocally, "Almost everyone, except renal, severely hypertensive and CHF(congestive heart failure) patients, can enjoy organic Maine Coast Sea Vegetables in varying amounts. Even patients on modified clinical diets can healthfully incorporate moderate to liberal amounts of sea vegetables into their diets; just remind them to limit shoyu, tamari, miso and processed foods. For patients on a no-added-salt diet (about 2500 mg), sea vegetables can give just the right saltiness, and are far better in nutrition and taste than commercial "lite" salts. Used in moderation, they can be enjoyed in a typical serving of 5 to 10 grams (about 1/4 oz.)."

If you have questions about your sodium intake, please consult your health care provider and or dietary counselor. In any case, a light rinse of whole sea vegetables before use lessens sea vegetables' sodium and potassium content without effecting calcium or iron, etc.

For comparison, you would have to eat about 40 lb. of fresh vegetables and/or fruits to get as much iodine as you would from 1 gram of our whole leaf kelp.

Iodine is the main component of the hormone produced by the thyroid gland, which regulates our metabolism - thyroid hormone accelerates cellular reactions, increases oxygen consumption and basal metabolism, and influences growth and development, energy metabolism, differentiation and protein synthesis.

Dr. Linda Rector Page, author and herbalist, writes in Healthy Healing, p.205: "Iodine is essential to life... it is an important element of alertness, and rapid brain activity, and a prime deterrent to arterial plaque. Iodine is also a key factor in the control and prevention of many endocrine deficiency conditions prevalent today, such as breast and uterine fibroids, tumors, prostate inflammation, adrenal exhaustion, and toxic liver and kidney states."

Unfortunately, not all iodine is good for us and the human thyroid cannot distinguish between life sustaining iodine-127 and radioactive iodine-131. On this subject Ryan Drum further warns, "The real reason for making sure that iodine consumption is at the high end is to insure a full body complement of iodine at all times as preventative medicine against the next nuclear disasters [whether from intentional radioactive pollution as the result of armed conflict or terrorism, nuclear power plant failures, or industrial contamination]. A full body load of iodine 127 from seaweeds (or any source) will tend to allow the body to reject topical and air and food-source iodine 131, particularly from fresh milk."

In general, brown sea vegetables (kelps) offer more bio-available organic iodine than red sea vegetables (dulse, laver, and nori).  Whole leaf kelp (Laminaria longicruris) has approximately 450 mcg. (micrograms or parts per million) iodine per gram. Our milled kelp (Laminaria digitata), sold in bulk and has even higher amounts, about 5000 mcg. In comparison, Dulse contains 50 mcg per gram. These amounts are approximations as there is variation depending on season of harvest and the age of plant.

Finally, a cautionary note about getting too much of a good thing. We all need between 150 and 1,100 micrograms in our daily diets to keep our thyroids healthy and prevent uptake of radioactive Iodine. Healthy thyroids will "spill" unneeded iodine. But some people with sensitive thyroids, particularly nursing mothers, postmenopausal women, or anyone with an unusual thyroid dysfunction may have adverse reactions to excess dietary iodine (most often if you decrease the intake of dietary iodine the condition goes away.) Please consult with your health care practitioner if you have any questions about your consumption of iodine.

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However, an investigation by two researchers in Great Britain in the 1950's yielded an important clue as to how sea veggies could be a rare vegetable source of Vitamin B-12 - which is produced by bacteria and usually found only in animals. They confirmed the presence of cyanocobalamin (Vit B-12) in dulse, but could not find the mechanism by which the plant might be metabolizing the Vit B-12. The two scientists speculated that it was made "perhaps by bacteria living in the surrounding seawater or on the surface of the plant." (It is well known that various species of bacteria, or epiphytes, use the plants' surface as their substrate).  Please consult with your health care practitioner if you have any questions about your consumption of B-12.

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One of the more important amino acids found especially in kelp is glutamic acid, the basis for synthetic MSG. This amino acid naturally enhances flavors and tenderizes high protein foods like beans while aiding in their digestion. Glutamic acid also improves mental and nervous system activity; provides energy, and is thought to help control alcoholism, schizophrenia and the craving for sugar.

The brown sea vegetables have been tested for Omega-6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids, and while they are present in only small amounts, they occur in a favorable ratio of between 1.5 and 2 to 1 (the NIH suggests an optimal ratio of between 2 and 3 to 1). As importantly, sea veggies contribute all those minerals, vitamins, and trace elements needed for the optimum utilization of the omega 3's and 6's.

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The fiber in land plants (oats, apples, and veggies) is made up of cellulose, lignans, and pectin. Sea veggies have their own unique fiber with interesting medicinal properties.  For instance, alginic acid in kelp has been shown to be an important detoxifier for radioactive isotopes and heavy metals.

Our four sea vegetables - Dulse, Kelp, Alaria, Laver - tested about 30% total fiber, about one half of which is soluble fiber and one half insoluble. For comparison, Dulse has about 33% total fiber, as much as oat bran. Of course, because you usually eat a larger serving size of oat bran than of sea veggies, you'll get more fiber per serving from the oat bran. But every time you eat sea veggies, you're getting high quality and very special fiber.

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Currently very exciting work with cancer and sea veggies is being done by Dr. Jane Teas who is affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Programs and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 1981 she published a paper on a number of well-documented reasons why the consumption of seaweed, particularly the kelps, might be a factor in the lower rate of breast cancer found in postmenopausal women in Japan. It has been noted that many sea vegetables contain significant amounts of lignans, more than legumes, whole grains, vegetables and fruits (but less than Peruvian Maca). These lignans become phytoestrogens in the body and bond preferentially to the estrogen receptor site. Thus they may have therapeutic and preventative value against cancers in which estrogen plays a part, such as breast cancer.

Dr. Teas is now conducting research on 25 postmenopausal women to see if alaria (and other brown seaweeds) supply enough phytoestrogens to provide an effective, natural alternative to estrogen replacement therapy.

Dr. Ryan Drum, Ph.D., states that fucoidan (a compound found in brown sea vegetables such as kelp and bladderwrack) "is … extremely anti-proliferative against cancer cells. It also interferes with every stage of viral attack: cell attachment, cell penetration, and intracellular virion production. " As an interesting indication of our deep biological connection to the sea vegetables, Dr. Ryan points out that "all human cells studied are found to have receptor sites for Fucose, the end-group sugar on fucoidan." (from his papers Sea Vegetables and Seaweeds, and Seaweed Therapeutics, PHWHS 2001).

Finally, Dr. Andrew Weil reports in his newsletter that "scientists at the National Cancer Institute are now investigating the anti-cancer properties of seaweeds." We look forward to hearing the results of these ongoing studies.

Dr. Seibin Arasaki in Vegetables from the Sea also identifies five different studies involving numerous seaweed species that have shown cholesterol-lowering activity.

Lowering blood pressure is another way of taking care of the heart. High levels of potassium in the blood have been proven to help reduce the risk of high blood pressure. All seaweeds offer extraordinary levels of potassium

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Debra Ahern, Ph.D., R.N., reporting her findings in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (Vol.89, No.7), sees it a little differently. It is well known to dietitians that people with low blood potassium levels are more prone to hypertension. Dr. Ahern maintained that seaweed-based seasonings provide not only high concentrations of potassium but also chloride, a means of retaining this potassium. In her study she says, "Chloride may play an indirect positive role in hypertension by allowing renal retention of potassium. If this is the case, potassium sources that provide chloride may be more effective in raising blood plasma levels than fruits and vegetables. The high chloride content of those seasonings with seaweed may make them good sources of potassium of clients at risk of hypokalemia (too little potassium)."

And finally, an article, "Blood Pressure and Nutrient Intake," from U.S. Science magazine states that higher intakes of calcium, potassium, and sodium are associated with lower mean systolic pressure and lower absolute risk of hypertension."

Even the U.S. government has done research on the detoxifying qualities of alginates from Kelp. The EPA's Environmental Toxicology Lab found that alginates could bind and eliminate both radionucleides such as Strontium 90 and heavy metals such as cadmium. They also discovered that Strontium already stored in the bones was re-secreted and bound by the alginates and safely passed through the intestines. Thus the remarkable kelps can help alleviate past as well as present toxic contamination. (Steven Schacter, Fighting Radiation with Food, Herbs and Vitamins, East West Health Books, 1988)

Another very important function of sea vegetables in helping our bodies fight radiation poisoning takes place in the thyroid gland, where radioactive Iodine 131 (for example, from a nuclear power plant emission) can accumulate. Dr. Ryan Drum tells us "… we are regularly taking in radioactive isotopes from the total world contamination by continual radioactive fallout from all nuclear power plants, weapons facilities and past nuclear "tests."

If our thyroid is full with "healthy" iodine, it will not absorb the radioactive contaminant. So it serves us well to keep our thyroids full of natural, organic iodine. Sea vegetables are the best food source of iodine. Of the sea vegetables, Kelp is the most significant source.

Naturally occurring Iodine in seaweeds known as Kelp and Digitata prevent the Uranium Oxide molecule from attaching and invading human, animal and plant cells. A Japanese medical doctor in Nagasaki during World War II ordered all his staff and patients in his hospital to increase and eat copious amounts seaweeds and brown rice after the bomb exploded. The hospital was in the most intense radiation area but none of his staff or patients became ill as others had skin falling off or later died of horrific cancers.

America is not a seaweed based society like Japan in the 1940s, but, unlike the poor indigenous and war torn population of Iraq, Americans and Canadians have access to and can immediately consume the proper amounts of Iodine in natural sources. If you love and are concerned about your, family, friends, community and county then spread the word that everyone needs significant amounts of natural sources of Iodine in there diet - immediately.

There is also Iodine Patches one can make from bottled Iodine that can be applied to the body but they are not a natural source of Iodine present in Kelp and Digitata seaweeds. The bottled Iodine is way too powerful for the body to absorb properly.

Kelp contains Iodine 127. Iodine 127 will prevent the body from absorbing radioactive iodine 131 which is constantly being released into our atmosphere by so-called normal operations of nuclear power plants and weapons facilities.  This is specific protection for the thyroid gland, and you need to be aware that most nuclear pathologies in a disaster like Chernobyl are related to the intake of radioactive Iodine 131 into the thyroid gland. Eat kelp as part of your daily diet.

Kelp contains sodium alginate which is capable of binding with ingested particles of toxic strontium 90, cesium 137, and various heavy metals in the digestive tract, thus aiding the body in excreting radioactive fallout. After Chernobyl, the Russians isolated the polysaccharide U-Fucoidan in kelp, an excellent absorber of radioactive elements.

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