Most mornings I would wake up with an arthritic wrist. That’s no longer. I was really surprised that in under 2 weeks my wrist pain disappeared. And I’ve been on blood pressure capsules for 2 years, and when I went to my cardiologist the other day he said “Whatever you are doing – its working!” Come back in a month and I will reduce your blood pressure tablets”
If painful periods are interfering with your everyday life, we’ve got some good news!
Being female is sometimes really hard, isn’t it? There often isn’t space created for women to openly talk about or deal with pain caused by their menstrual cycle. It’s not very comfortable sitting in a meeting with a heating pad!
We know seaweed is fantastic for balancing hormones, helping you look and feel better. And now, we’re seeing customers with significantly reduced pain during their period.
Menstrual pain, scientifically known as Dysmenorrhea, affects 80% of young women. But we’ve discovered that eating seaweed can significantly reduce its effects.
Katie, a young woman in the Philippines, had been suffering from period cramps for five years when she turned to seaweed. Her pain had become so unbearable she was failing her exams.
She was encouraged to use seaweed for its health benefits, and in only one month her pain reduced from a debilitating 9 to an easily manageable 1 on the pain scale.Here’s the assessment chart Katie used to describe her pain. How would you rate your period? Are your cramps mild, or do they interfere with your everyday life? Imagine the freedom you could gain from reducing that pain naturally!
It’s suggested that exercise and a healthy diet reduce period pain. Vitamins and minerals also help, and of course, that’s what seaweed is full of!
Seaweed is fantastic for stabilizing hormonal levels, and it has a particular impact on balancing estrogen. In fact, period pain is often caused by the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen contracts the uterus and progesterone relaxes it, so too much estrogen causes bad cramps.
Seaweed can also help with other issues caused by periods and hormonal changes, such as acne! Could it also minimize the effects of menopause? Try it and let us know your results.
Don’t forget to check out our seaweed chocolate home recipe, perfect for those monthly cravings!
Head to our shop now or our FAQ page to find out more benefits of BioSea Health Seaweed Capsules.
Solution to broken nails. Anais Bouvier Gonzalez says she saw her nails getting stronger after just two weeks.“My nails are fantastic,” she said.
BioSea Health customers are leaving astounding reviews about their strong, healthy nails, just weeks after starting to take seaweed capsules.
This was a surprise to us since there’s not a lot in the way of scientific research to suggest any correlation between nail health and seaweed. We knew seaweed improved health in many areas of the body, but never expected so many customers to find their nail health better than ever!
Thousands of Australians have poor nails, especially after years of manicures, chemicals, rough filing (or chewing!) and poor diets. Could seaweed be the solution?
We researched natural nail growth products and found their ingredients surprisingly similar to the contents of seaweed.
Health professionals have made it clear you should avoid chemicals and manicures if you want healthier nails. These existing natural nail health companies suggest you instead look to nutrients and vitamins.
Seaweed contains minerals and vitamins such as Potassium, Iron and Vitamins A, B and C. This means it provides anti-oxidants, promotes gut health and stabilizes hormones. These all contribute to overall health in the human body!
The American Academy of Dermatology says unhealthy nails can be signs of other illnesses and underlying conditions. As we know, seaweed is proven to help with many of these conditions.
So, is it really surprising that it contributes to healthy nails?
Testimonials continue flooding in with real stories. BioSea Health customers say their nails are growing faster, stronger and healthier.
Anais Bouvier Gonzalez says she saw her nails getting stronger after just two weeks.
“My nails are fantastic,” she said, “that’s natural!”
“It’s Pacific Seamoss, a product that’s really natural. This helps, because it’s not that easy to eat seaweed unless you eat a crazy amount of sushi.”
With a quick Google search, you can find many articles by real people who started incorporating large amounts of seaweed in their diet. They too were shocked to find their hair, skin and nails looking better than ever.
So, are you longing for beautiful nails? Head to our shop now, or visit our FAQ page to find out more benefits of BioSea Health Seaweed Capsules!
“I’ve always been able to grow my finger nails long, but they’ve always been bendy, and eventually one has snapped and I’ve chopped off the rest to match. My thumb nails never grew long because they’re used for removing staples and all sorts of other ‘tougher’ jobs.
I’ve been consuming the seaweed capsules for just over two months and now all my nails are much stronger and longer, and they have to be cut because they get too long … it’s time for my talons to be trimmed …”
Says Vicki S, from Wombye, QLD, Australia
PS. “I should add, that’s not why we’re both taking them – we want them now for their anti-viral properties … we want to stay healthy”
Whats the cause? Nails grow stronger if the person has a good diet, low stress levels but other than that there is little medical evidence for other reasons. (See our blog here)
From Healthline.com here are 15 tips for get your nails to grow stronger.
Guess we will have to add eating Pacific Seamoss this to the list if you want your nails to grow stronger!
Most of us have 20 nails. Finger nails. Toe nails. And while the industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and there are thousands of vitamins and minerals, the peer reviewed science [1] says that vitamins and minerals do not make for healthy nails naturally.
In late 2019, after about 1 month of sales, we started getting feedback from our customers that they were getting naturally healthy nails. At first we didn’t believe them. The science evidence was clear that supplemention with vitamins and minerals did not lead to healthy nails.
Yet here are just some comments back
Anais provided this testimonial. She ate seaweed as she saw the good food and vitamins. She was unaware about the effect on nails and hair. In just 3 weeks this is her story.
Nails are a beauty / personal statement and the consumer market is full of products that claim to make naturally healthy nails. The ingredients in these “miracle” lotions are generally synthetic vitamins, a protein complex and soy protein. The ingredients for this of “Sally Hansen Nail Growth Miracle” that is “vegan” and pure and states it is formulated without formaldehye, formaldehyde resin, toluene, xylene, acetone camphor, parabens, ethyl toluide, triphenyl phosphate animal-derived ingredients but does include:
Ethyl Acetate, Alcohol Denat, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Tosylamide/Formaldehyde Resin, Aqua/Water/ Eau, Isopropyl Alcohol, N-butyl Alcohol, Triphenyl Phosphate, Trimethyl Pentanyl Diisobutyrate, Acrylates Copolymer, Ethyl Tosylamide, Benzophonone 1, Dimethiconol, Mercaptopropionic Acid, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Tocopheryl Acetate, Dimethicone, Calciumpantothenate, Ascorbic Acid, Keratin Amino Acids, Sodium Chloride, Violet 2 (Ci 60725).
Ingredients for Seaweed. Seaweed.
We don’t know. The published peer-reviewed research papers say vitamins and minerals don’t help healthy nails [11] yet Cashman [7] says every nutritional deficiency affects health. Every popular media article insists that eating healthy and taking multi-vitamins will provide naturally healthy nails, especially if you use Product “X”.
Seaweed is full of vitamins and minerals. A daily serve of 4.2g of dry seaweed includes:
Maybe the people who took this were not eating healthy? But that does not explain the large number of consumers that all say the same thing. Some only noticed after 3 months when their nails had grown out.
Seaweed is an effective pre-biotic and changes the gut bacteria. Animal studies show a change in microbiome.
We know a diet of seaweed provides powerful anti-oxidants. In human and animal trials there is a reduction in fatty liver, lower blood pressure, less inflammation in liver, gut, and heart. So maybe this is involved?
A healthy fingernail has the function of protecting the distal phalanx, the fingertip, and the surrounding soft tissues from injuries. It also serves to enhance precise delicate movements of the distal digits through counter-pressure exerted on the pulp of the finger. We want healthy nails naturally as most don’t want to spend hours attending to them.
There are many myths and stories about the health of our nails. This is just a list from health.com: 10 Things Your Nails Say About Your Health; by Kathleen Mulpeter. Most arise due to poor nutrition, and healthy living will give you naturally healthy nails.
[1] Scheinfeld N, Dahdah MJ, Scher R. 2007 Vitamins and minerals: their role in nail health and disease.J Drugs Dermatol. 2007 Aug;6(8):782-7. (Pubmed)
[2] E. M. Brown et al., “Seaweed and human health,” Nutrition reviews, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 205-216, 2014.
[3] S. Wanyonyi, R. Du Preez, L. Brown, N. A. Paul, and S. K. Panchal, “Kappaphycus alvarezii as a food supplement prevents diet-induced metabolic syndrome in rats,” Nutrients, vol. 9, no. 11, p. 1261, 2017. (Nutrition)
[5] Teas, J. et al. Could dietary seaweed reverse the metabolic syndrome? 145–157 http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/18/2/145.pdf (2009).
[6] du Preez, R. et al. Carrageenans from the Red Seaweed Sarconema filiforme Attenuate Symptoms of Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Mar. Drugs 18, 97 (2020).
[7] Cashman,M, Sloan, S 2010 Nutrition and nail disease 2010 Clinics in Dermatology Vol 28, Issue 4, July–August 2010, Pages 420-425 (Science Direct)
[9] Jung J, Lee JA, Ko MM, et al Gyejibongneyong-hwan, a herbal medicine for the treatment of dysmenorrhoea with uterine fibroids: a protocol for a randomised controlled trialBMJ Open 2016;6:e013440. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013440
Painful periods or menstrual cramps, is pain during menstruation. The technical name is dysmenorrhea. It normally occurs around the time that menstruation begins, and symptoms typically last less than three days. The pain is usually in the pelvis or lower abdomen. Other symptoms may include back pain, diarrhea or nausea.
Wikipedia says “Dysmenorrhea occurs less often in those who exercise regularly and those who have children early in life. Treatment may include the use of a heating pad. Medications that may help include NSAIDs such as ibuprofen. ”
In severe cases and in many countries, then hormonal birth control and the IUD with progestogen are effective but they are not cheap or many do not want to go on the pill at an early age.
In a study in Spain with university students [11] over 75% had dsymenorrhea. Most (90.5%) students with dysmenorrhea used pharmacological treatment, and 80% self-medicated. Its a major problem among youth today and impacts their quality of life. While physical activity may alleviate symptoms, other complementary treatments that work, should be promoted at all study and workplaces.
Katie is a student in Davao, Philippines. She’s suffered dysmenorrhea for over 5 years. Her pain was sometimes so bad she failed assignments or examinations. She was encouraged to eat Pacific Seamoss. In one month her pain went from a 9 to a 1.
We don’t know specific reasons why Katies period pain went from she says was 11 to a 1. The first month – surprise. The second. Wow. This might work. Third month. All with a pain scale of 1. Why?
Theres good research that Vitamins and minerals do help for painful periods. Seaweed is packed full of vitamins and minerals. A daily serve of 4.2g of dry seaweed includes:
Seaweed is an effective pre-biotic and changes the gut bacteria. That is demonstrated in animal studies, and work is underway to check what happens in humans.
Pilot trials and clinical trials are in the planning stage to see how how clinically effective seaweed is.
A Korean herb Gyejibongneyong-hwan or the Guizhi Fuling Formula in Chinese, is widely used to treat uterine fibroids in East Asian countries including Korea, China and Japan but recent studies are underway to assess the efficacy and safety of the herbal formula for the treatment of primary and secondary dysmenorrhoea. What is interesting is that also is used to reduce acne; and other trials are underway to see if it improves acne.
Seaweed may also as well and we will follow those who take Pacific Seamoss and see if there is a reduction.
[1] J. Teas, J. R. Hebert, J. H. Fitton, and P. V. Zimba, “Algae–a poor man’s HAART?,” Medical Hypotheses, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 507-510, 2004. (Science Direct)
[2] E. M. Brown et al., “Seaweed and human health,” Nutrition reviews, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 205-216, 2014.
[3] A. Farah Diyana, A. Abdullah, Z. Shahrul Hisham, and K. Chan, “Antioxidant activity of red algae Kappaphycus alvarezii and Kappaphycus striatum,” International Food Research Journal, vol. 22, no. 5, 2015. (Google Scholar)
[4] S. Wanyonyi, R. Du Preez, L. Brown, N. A. Paul, and S. K. Panchal, “Kappaphycus alvarezii as a food supplement prevents diet-induced metabolic syndrome in rats,” Nutrients, vol. 9, no. 11, p. 1261, 2017. (Nutrition)
[5] Teas, J. et al. Could dietary seaweed reverse the metabolic syndrome? 145–157 http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/18/2/145.pdf (2009).
[6] du Preez, R. et al. Carrageenans from the Red Seaweed Sarconema filiforme Attenuate Symptoms of Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Mar. Drugs 18, 97 (2020).
[ 7] American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Jan 2015). “FAQ046 Dynsmenorrhea: Painful Periods” (PDF).
[8] Wong CL, Farquhar C, Roberts H, Proctor M (October 2009). “Oral contraceptive pill for primary dysmenorrhoea”. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (4): CD002120. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002120.pub3. PMID 19821293.
[9] Jung J, Lee JA, Ko MM, et al Gyejibongneyong-hwan, a herbal medicine for the treatment of dysmenorrhoea with uterine fibroids: a protocol for a randomised controlled trialBMJ Open 2016;6:e013440. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013440
[10] Kim KI et al Effects of herbal medicine for dysmenorrhea treatment on accompanied acne vulgaris: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Jun 17;17(1):318. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1813-1. (Pubmed)
[11] Fernández-Martínez E, Onieva-Zafra MD, Parra-Fernández ML. 2019 The Impact of Dysmenorrhea on Quality of Life Among Spanish Female University Students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Feb 27;16(5). pii: E713. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16050713. (Pubmed)
[12] Anastasakis, Eleftherios & Kingman, C & Lee, CA & Economides, D & Kadir, Rezan. (2008). Menstrual problems in university students: An electronic mail survey. In vivo (Athens, Greece). 22. 617-20. (Researchgate)
You can make a chocolate as a healthy treat very easily. You need to eat about 5 to 6 grams of the dry powder each day. But seaweed powder flavor may be a little strong, so you use the chocolate to overpower the flavour of the seaweed.
Ingredients for 1 week supply
You will need access to a bowl, a refrigerator, microwave or pot. If using stovetop, heat pot of water and place bowl over hot water pot to melt chocolate.
Depending on the number of chocolate Cubes, split this across the week. Take 1/7th each day
This chocolate recipe is the simplest. If you want a Chocolate Recipe Paleo, read more
Want to make a cheaper or more involved recipe. Here is one that is on All Recipes.com and. Only 10 minutes and gives you healthy coconut as well as Paleo. The coconut also masks the seaweed for a delicious chocolate.
Recipe by: Linda(LMT)”Homemade chocolate that melts in your mouth. Made without artificial ingredients or waxes, this wholesome treat is ideal for the health conscious individual who enjoys an indulgent treat. Sweetness can be tweaked to taste, and add-in ingredients and combinations are endless.” The ingredients include
Gently melt coconut oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir cocoa powder, honey, and vanilla extract into melted oil until well blended.
Then add the 7 teaspoons of seaweed (1 teaspoon per day)
Pour mixture into a candy mold or pliable tray. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
Hi, I’m Dr Hugh Butler Co-founder. Over the past 8 years my blood pressure had slowly risen by 15 mmHg from 120 to 135. I had not realised this until I dug out the data. Was it just that I had aged 8 years? It was not a lifestyle disease as I have been doing upper body exercises and trying to do the moving more. I started eating Pacific Seamoss seaweed in October. The research for blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement was in the science literature when we started down this road. To my surprise, my blood pressure fell 15mm over 3 weeks. While 15mm may not seem much, it moves me from a Hazard Ratio from 1 down to 0.8. That’s a risk reduction of a heart event by 30%. (The hazard ratio is logarithmic).[1]
Associate Professor Jane Teas [2] published 13 years ago blood pressure could be reduced if people took a seaweed dietary supplement. She published this information in a number of journals and articles but to our surprise, no one seemed to take any notice.
The patients, all volunteers had at least one of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. The criteria for metabolic syndrome includes at least three of the following four conditions
All the participants had a large waist and 2 of the other symptoms. None of the participants were taking medication.
The results are really clear and blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement is unequivocal. Seaweed reduced both blood pressure and weight:
As the trial was restricted to just 8 weeks then some changes may require longer consumption of the seaweed. Pressure Control with Seaweed
Prof Lindsay Brown (Wanyonyi et al 2017 [3]) from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has been studying functional foods for over 15 years. Functional foods are foods that are eaten in normal daily quantity that are just food, but they have a drug like additional effect. The experiment on blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement with Kappaphycus alvarezii was done as a prevention trial.
Prof Lindsay Brown (Wanyonyi et al 2017 [3]) from the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has been studying functional foods for over 15 years. Functional foods are foods that are eaten in normal daily quantity that are just food, but they have a drug like additional effect. The experiment on blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement with Kappaphycus alvarezii was done as a prevention trial.
Prof Lindsay Brown has published over 174 articles over the past 15 years on “functional foods” and used rat obesity models. For most of these studies, blood pressure was reduced. In work with Queen Garnet Plums, rats showed a remarkable reduction in blood pressure. The animal study was followed by a human study in 2016 with 24 participants showed reduction in blood pressure but no cognitive improvement. [5]. It would not be unreasonable to assume other functional foods all provide reduction in hypertension in humans.
The logical conclusion is actually very hard to accept. One can eat junk food with impunity! Remember, this study is with rats not humans. But the thought that one can eat junk food and instead of becoming obese, its as though you ate a standard diet.
In this animal trial, seaweed protected against
Check out the publication for some of the big changes in inflammation in the heart and stomach.
The gut microbiome changed markedly. The figure below shows the very large effects on just 4 genera of bacteria. With Bacteriodes, you can see that the junk food diet reduced numbers. Seaweed reversed that and numbers are even higher than the standard diet. With a negative genera such as Clostridiacea bacteria, the levels with the junk food were 3 times higher, and the seaweed reduced the levels right back down to the standard diet.
Professor Lindsay Brown and his team from USQ (du Preez et al 2020 [4]) repeated this experiment in 2019. Professor Nicholas Paul from University of the Sunshine Coast grew the seaweed in tanks at Bribie Island. The experiment is a repeat of many of Professor Brown’s trials with functional food, in that this trial design is an intervention trial. An intervention trial feeds rats over 6 to 8 weeks with a junk food diet. At this stage the rats are obese and have symptoms just like 65% of Australians or 80% of Americans have. (Like the human patients in Professor Teas trial as above. I.e. hypertension, visceral fat, glucose intolerance etc)
Key findings are much the same as in their previous seaweed prevention trial, the multiple trials with other functional food or even Professor Teas trials from 15 years previously.
Like the previous 2017 paper gut microbiome changed. The correlation (Figure 12 of du Preez) is shown below.
Furthermore the authors were able to correlate between the bacterial community structure and the physiological parameters.
If you must eat eat junk food, eat seaweed. Seaweed reduces blood pressure ( hypertension); seaweed eliminates fatty liver; reduces inflammation; eliminates glucose intolerant; reduces high cholesterol, and reduces weight.
[1] Wu, C.-Y. et al. High Blood Pressure and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortalities in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Medicine (Baltimore) 94, (2015).
[2] Teas, J. et al. Could dietary seaweed reverse the metabolic syndrome? 145–157 http://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/18/2/145.pdf (2009).
[3] Wanyonyi, S., du Preez, R., Brown, L., Paul, N. A. & Panchal, S. K. Kappaphycus alvarezii as a Food Supplement Prevents Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Nutrients 9, 2 (2017).
[4] du Preez, R. et al. Carrageenans from the Red Seaweed Sarconema filiforme Attenuate Symptoms of Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Mar. Drugs 18, 97 (2020).
[5] E.O. Igwe, K.E. Charlton, S. Roodenrys, K. Kent, K. Fanning, M.E. Netzel 2017. Anthocyanin-rich plum juice reduces ambulatory blood pressure but not acute cognitive function in younger and older adults: a pilot crossover dose-timing study. Nutrition Research 47 28-43 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutres.2017.08.00
Seaweed has been known for millennia to have anti-cancer properties. The Egyptians used seaweed to treat breast cancer as early as 2640 BC, while both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Japanese Folk medicine use seaweed to treat tumors. Modern science is now recognizing how important seaweed can be for cancer prevention, with studies showing that a diet rich in seaweed can dramatically reduce blood markers linked to breast cancer.
The growth of abnormal cells characterizes cancer, and there are more than 100 cancerous diseases with an enormous health burden worldwide. Carotenoids are a class of biological pigment which are known to have beneficial effects for cancer prevention. Carotenoids, including fucoxanthin, are in many seaweed species and considered by researchers to have incredible potential cancer-fighting properties with promising applications in other areas of human health. Fucoxanthin is one of the most readily available carotenoids that is the subject of research. It is known to stop the growth cycle of cancer cells leading to programmed cell death dramatically slowing cancer growth. Currently, most of the research studies on the anti-cancer effects of Fucoxanthin are focused on animal subjects. Scientists are excited by the prospect of developing cancer-fighting medications from seaweeds for humans.
Much of this work is with brown seaweeds that have high levels of fucoxanthin. There is accumulating evidence that shows fucoxanthin may have reduction anti-cancer effects on several cancer cells such as lung, breast, colon, prostate, and bladder cancer.
Fucoxanthin has significantly inhibited the growth of prostate cancer by destroying prostate cancer cells. Fucoxanthin has also been identified to substantially reduce the growth of urinary bladder cancer cells by acting as a cancer-inhibiting agent. In a study on mice with skin tumors, the mice were fed fucoxanthin, which led to the suppression of skin tumors resulting in a reduced number of tumors. Studies on human lung cancer cells treated with fucoxanthin also showed a decrease in the number of human lung cancer cells.
The effect of fucoxanthin does not stop at cancer cell reduction. There have been many reports indicating fucoxanthin has a protective effect against the dangerous side effects of drugs. Because fucoxanthin is a natural compound, it is effective without being toxic to the body. It reduces cancer cells plus decreases side effects of conventional cancer treatments leading to improved quality of life cancer patients.
It is not just brown seaweed with anti-cancer activity. Other seaweeds also have anti-cancer activity, but the mode of action is less well understood.
One particular seaweed, Pacific Sea Moss©, a red seaweed, containing fucoxanthin in smaller amounts, has been researched on its anti-carcinogenic effects. In Asian cultures such as Korea, Japan, and parts of China, the red seaweed found in Pacific Sea Moss© has long been part of the diets where its consumption is associated with reduced prevalence of breast cancer. Seaweed is also used to treat tumors in traditional Chinese medicine.
Scientists have undertaken several tests on rats induced with a human breast tumor. Once the rats started eating the red seaweed found in Pacific Sea Moss© (Euchemia denticularum “spinosum”), the breast tumors began to decrease in size and number. The mechanism is complicated, but it seems that the seaweed changes the gut microbiome, which reduces the levels of estrogen, which decreases cancer prevalence. The results highlight the importance of marine dietary fiber as a food supplement.
Tests undertaken on human colon cancer cells have showcased the anti-carcinogenic effects of Euchemia spinosum, whereby the human colon cells have died after being administered with the red seaweed found in Pacific Sea Moss©.
Verifiable evidence shows that adding seaweed in our diet may increase the capacity of our bodies to fight against different forms of cancer such as liver, bladder, breast, colon, and prostate cancer. Therefore, these results suggest that the intake of Pacific Sea Moss© has the potential of reducing the risk of several types of cancer.
We make no medical claims. But we all understand seaweed is healthy. Biosea Health provides seaweed in an easy to consume way with Pacific Sea Moss© Simply good healthy food.
USQ scientists set to break the obesity cycle with leading edge findings. Are functional foods better than dieting and exercise…..
Toowoomba takes out the unenviable title of the fattest city in Queensland according to researchers at the Mitchell Institute. Over 83% of the Toowoomba population is overweight or obese, posing major disease risk and a potential public health crisis in the region. But all is not lost for the Garden City with one of its locals possibly holding the key to ending the city’s obesity problem. Professor Lindsay Brown of University of Southern Queensland at Toowoomba has spent more than a decade investigating functional foods and their affect on lifestyle diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure and cancer. Professor Brown says that seaweed is showing exceptional effectiveness in reversing obesity related health problems in animal studies and would like to see them in human studies.
Prof Brown and his team of researchers fed rats a junk food diet. The rats, just like humans, gained weight especially around the belly, and also developed fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, pre-type 2 diabetes, arthritis and inflammation of the gut.
But eating as little as 5 gm of seaweed per day completely reversed all of these symptoms. Blood pressure returned to normal and cell damage to the heart and liver was reversed. Fatty deposits in liver and blood vessels disappeared. The body’s response to sugar reverted back to the healthy functioning and diabetes risk was eliminated. Inflammation throughout the body was minimised so joint and heart health was much improved. Professor Brown says the results are highly impressive and somewhat unexpected. He anticipated an improvement in symptoms but not a complete reversal, and a result better than if the patient was taking multiple medicines.
Professor Brown now wants to get the message out to the residents of his home town to help change Toowoomba’s frightening health reputation. He openly provides all the science so residents can judge the effectiveness for themselves. However the media and medical industry have been slow to realise the potential of functional foods.