Is Seaweed Part of a Miracle Diet?

Recently I’ve been talking to a few chemists about some of the unique properties of seaweed. It’s really an interesting – did you know that seaweed, while being green, is actually a form of brown algae? It also contains more than a few unique chemicals, which have been the focus of my friends’ tests. The one chemical which has come into the most attention is called fumoxin. This chemical has been shown in rats to catalyze large amounts of weight loss. One of its most remarkable properties of this chemical is actually its solubility – it is fat soluble. That means that it is absorbed and potentially stored in your fat, leading to sustained effects over time, which are more marked the more you weigh. Seaweed also has more protein per volume than even a steak, meaning it’s fantastic for a high protein diet.

Unfortunately, this isn’t all good news. While seaweed is high in protein, it is also high in iodine and low in the previously mentioned chemical fumoxin. Small amounts of iodine are important for a healthy diet, but it seems the levels of fumoxin required for marked weight loss from a seaweed diet would be well above the levels of iodine toxicity. That is to say, to have swift weight loss from seaweed you would get sick from iodine poisoning. More bad news is that fumoxin’s effects have only been proved conclusively in rats – human studies are still on the way. Rats are metabolically similar (which is why so many drug trials are carried out on rats before humans) which suggests identical effects, but does not guarantee them. You also have to be sure to get brown seaweed, not red seaweed. Seaweed in all forms contains arsenic, but your body cannot absorb the arsenic from brown seaweed. Thankfully most of the seaweed in markets is brown – this is only a concern if you decide to import seaweed from some countries other than Japan or Korea, or visit some markets in Asia.

So based on this, seaweed is probably no miracle for weight loss. It is however an extremely healthy food which can be added to almost any diet. It is delicious with rice, and is a great way to boost your protein consumption without adding in fats. In addition, since fumoxin is stored in fat, eating it every day, enough fumoxin might build up to cause weight loss effects – but this has not been scientifically proven yet. So for now, just add it to you diet and exercise. The protein will help you build up your muscles anyway!