Author: Hugh Butler

Seaweed Reverses Metabolic Syndrome

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date November 7, 2019

Rats fed seaweed reverses metabolic syndrome caused by a junk food diet. Sounds too good to be true? Professor Brown was astonished. This animal study was published in 2017 but few seem to understand the ramifications. You can negate a junk food diet with seaweed. Alternatively, you will be able to reverse the ill-health effects of a bad diet.

The Trial

Professor Lindsay Brown University of Southern Queensland supervised this PhD study along with Dr Sunil Pachal at the University of Southern Queensland. The paper is listed below.

They took rats and fed some of them on an junk food (extra sugar + fat) diet. Just like in the movie Super Size Me, a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock. Spurlock’s film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald’s food. The film documents this lifestyle’s drastic effect on Spurlock’s physical and psychological well-being. If you want to see what a human on junk food diet looks like. Or not.

Professor Brown’s trial had 3 groups of 10 rats each. Group 1 had normal rat diet. Group 2 had a Junk food diet. Group 3 had the junk food diet plus some seaweed (Kappaphycus sp) . The trial went for 8 weeks.

Outcomes

This data is taken directly from the peer reviewed published paper, and highlights a few key metrics. There are other more complicated conclusions as well.

Seaweed Reverses Metabolic Syndrome:Weight

	Normal	Supersize	Supersize+ Seaweed
Final Weight g	350	431	348
Energy Intake kJ/day	38	23	21
Feed conversion efficiency g/Kj	0.04	0.2	0.03

Fatness

Indicator	Normal	Supersize	Supersize+ Seaweed
Circumference cm	18.4	20.5	18.9
Abdominal Fat mg/mm	342	632	337
Total Fat Mass Times	49	98	53

Bone Density

Indicator	Normal	Supersize	Supersize+ Seaweed
Bone Mineral Density g/cm2	10	12	10

Blood Measures

Indicator	Normal	Supersize	Supersize+ Seaweed
Basal Blood Glucose mmol/L	3.7	4.7	3.6
Total Glucose mmol/L.min	650	800	753
Triglycerides mmol/L	0.6	1.7	1.3
Systolic Blood Pressure mm	120	136	127

NO WEIGHT GAIN. WHY NOT?

blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement also stopped any weight gain from junk food — From Wanyonyi 2017. The rats on the junk food + seaweed were no different in weight than the standard diet, in contrast to rats on a junk food diet.

BLOOD GLUCOSE BACK TO NORMAL

blood glucose control with seaweed dietary supplement — From Wanyonyi 2017. Blood glucose controlled with seaweed provided as a dietary supplement.

Additional Measures

Gut microbiota diversification profiling
Metal and metalloid liver analysis
Histology
Organ weights
Body composition
Fatty liver disease reversal
Gut microbiome reverts to normal
Gut inflammation eliminated.
Damage to the heart was reversed.

BLOOD PRESSURE. NO HYPERTENSION

Blood pressure control with seaweed dietary supplement reduces liver inflammatory cells — From du Preez 2020. Seaweed markedly reduces liver inflammatory cells in less than 8 weeks. The damage is completely mitigated by the seaweed.

GUT MICROBIOME CHANGES

Conclusion

Professor Brown was astonished. The introduction of seaweed did not reduce the symptoms a little. The seaweed had such a dramatic effect it was if these rats had not eaten the junk food diet. What was going on?

References

[1] Wanyonyi, S; du Preez, R; Brown, L; Paul, N; Panchal, S 2017 Kappaphycus alvarezii as a Food Supplement Prevents Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Nutrients (9) 11 DOI:10.3390/nu9111261 (Click for Abstract) (Click to download full paper)

Tags animal studies, blood pressure, clinical evidence, metabolic syndrome, microbiome, obesity

Biosea Health Gut Microbiome

Seaweed changes Microbiome

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date November 7, 2019

We know seaweed changes gut Microbiome. There are more than 10 times more bacteria in the gut (microbiome) than cells in human body!

Moreover, there are more than 150 time total genome of microbiota than the human body. Mounting evidence suggested that gut microbiota plays an important role in the development of disease in the brain. And there is a bidirectional relationship between the brain, gut, and the microbiota within the gut, which is referred as the microbiota-gut-brain axis.

Seaweed Changes Gut Microibiome in Animal Studies

In a 2017 study Dr Sunil Panchal and Prof Brown[1] put rats onto a obesity inducing diet. They had 3 groups of 10 rats each.

Group 1 had normal rat diet.
Group 2 had a Junk food diet.
Group 3 had the Junk food diet plus some seaweed (Kappaphycus sp) and in human terms that was about 13 gm per day.

At the end of the 8 week trial they looked at the gut microbiota. Find the full details in the references, but this graph stands out.

There are 4 families of bacteria. The black lines is from the feces of the normal food rat. The Red lines are from those Supersize diet, and the Green is from the Supersize plus seaweed.

Bacteriodes species – 3 times more. This is a strong marker for obesity so it helps explain why the seaweed reversed obesity. Seaweed has over 30% sulfated polysaccharide (carrageenan) and it is a good food source to the bacteria A recent study has shown that Bacteroides sp. are able to digest carrageenan
producing oligosaccharides which possess lipid-lowering properties.

In the s24-7 type seaweed increased the counts back to above the normal.

In the Clostridiacea and the Osciallspira back to normal

Microbiota in Alzheimer Disease

While improved microbiome helps in diseases such as blood pressure, obesity, there is also a growing body of evidence that microbiome is important in Alzheimer’s Disease.

Here is 1 figure between 40 patients with AD compared with “normal” patients. Read more in Dr Zhung’s paper.

The Microbiota–Gut–Brain (MGB) Axis

The concept of the MGB axis is well established. The neuroendocrine and neuroimmune systems, in addition to the sympathetic and parasympathetic arms of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the ENS, are key pathways in gut–brain communication. Although the exact mechanisms mediating gut–brain interactions are not fully understood, they were suggested to involve endocrine, immune, and neural pathways (vagus nerve and enteric nervous system), leading to possible alteration in AD patients or aggravating inflammation.

The concept has now expanded and has become a quickly evolving area of research that led to convergence of research efforts in the fields of neuroscience, psychiatry, gastroenterology, and microbiology—disciplines that were previously considered to have distinct and separate research objectives and focuses.

Further, depending on the diet that the Microbiota is living on has a cascade effect on compounds made, adsorbed and therefore the makeup of that microbiota.

No longer. It is clearly integrated, and treating them as a whole system is now essential.

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REFERENCES

[1] Wanyonyi, S, du Preez S et al 2017 Kappaphycus alvarezii as a Food Supplement Prevents Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Nutrients 9 (11) DOI:10.3390/nu9111261 (Pubmed)

[2] Li, M.; Shang, Q.; Li, G.; Wang, X.; Yu, G. Degradation of marine algae-derived carbohydrates by Bacteroidetes isolated from human gut microbiota. Mar. Drugs 2017, 15, 92

[3] Dinan, T Cryan, J 2017 Gut instincts: microbiota as a key regulator of brain development, ageing and neurodegeneration Journal of Physiology 595 (2) 489-503 https://doi.org/10.1113/JP273106

[4] Zhuang ZQ, Shen LL et al. 2018 Gut Microbiome is Altered in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (2018) Journal of Alzheimer’s disease: JAD 63(4):1-10 · https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-180176

[5] Vo Van Giau OrcID, Si Ying Wu 2017 Gut Microbiota and Their Neuroinflammatory Implications in Alzheimer’s Disease Nutrients 2018, 10(11), 1765; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10111765

Tags health benefits of seaweed, microbiome, seaweed for dementia

Alzheimer's Disease Biosea Health Health Benefits

Seaweed Drug for Alzheimers Disease

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date November 5, 2019

Seaweed drug Alzheimers Disease shows promise

Back in early 2005, researchers noticed seaweed reduces Alzheimers disease in elderly patients and wondered if people who regularly eat seaweed were less likely to develop AD. A formal research program was started in 2009 in China.

By 2019, a new drug, extracted from seaweed was approved. Clinical trials show effectiveness in treating mild to moderate forms of the disease, and it may even improve cognitive function. The news immediately drew worldwide attention, and suspicion ensued. Is it possible that a discovery coming out of China—whose biotech industry is just taking off—could succeed where seasoned researchers from the likes of Biogen and Eli Lilly have failed miserably?

What We Now Know

The microbiome impacts Alzheimer’s Disease and other inflammatory Diseases
Seaweed may prevent onset either in whole form or in an extract of a particular polysaccharide
Human clinical trials are very promising.
If you are concerned about Alzheimers there is no better time to start seaweed. Treatment of the disease once it has progressed may not be reversible.

What’s the Current Thinking about Alzheimers Disease

Despite the tremendous efforts made in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the past decades have witnessed the continuous failure of β-amyloid (Aβ)- or tau-centric therapeutic strategies in late-stage clinical trials. Only 1 out 200 promising drugs with animals translated to any positive improvements in humans.

There are two promising areas of research and they both involve seaweed. The question is how does seaweed reduces Alzheimers Disease. When researchers talk about AD they often use a term called an axis of Brain-Gut-Microbiota.

The diagram of this “pathway” (from Kowalski and Mulak) is below. Note that it all begins in the gut.

The amyloid beta proteins that are seen in people with dementia are made by the microbiota, the gut nervous system and the brain itself.
What is often seen is leaky gut syndrome, and gut inflammation.
Finally the damage is done in the brain with neuro-degeneration.

Disturbances of the brain-gut-microbiota axis in Alzheimer’s disease. Disturbances along the brain-gut-microbiota axis, including the central nervous system (CNS) and the enteric nervous system (ENS), contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. The gut microbiota is known to upregulate local and systemic inflammation due to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from pathogenic bacteria and synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines. Alterations in the gut microbiota composition may induce increased permeability of the intestinal barrier and the blood-brain barrier further enhancing inflammation at the gut, systemic and CNS levels. Amyloid beta (Aβ) formation takes place in the ENS and the CNS. In addition, a large amount of amyloids is secreted by the gut microbiota.

Disturbances along the brain-gut-microbiota axis may significantly contribute to the development of neurodegenerative disorders. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent cause of dementia – with progressive decline in cognitive function and formation of amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. We know poor gut microbiota composition increase permeability of the gut barrier. This results in an autoimmune reaction. E.g. Immune activation leading to systemic inflammation, which in turn may impair the blood-brain barrier and promote neuroinflammation, neural injury, and ultimately neurodegeneration. It has been shown in inflammatory disease but has been extended to AD.

However, current understanding of the specific mechanism between the gut and brain in AD progression is still very limited. There will be many claims until further research is done. The figure below shows the 3 separate areas of activity, but it remains unknown which types of infiltrated immune cells are functionally involved in AD development. What are the underlying driving forces that promotes peripheral immune cells to infiltrate the brain, leading to the enhancement of the residential neuroinflammation. Moreover, as we discover the importance of microbiota metabolites, researchers will try to find the specific metabolites that are involved in linking gut microbiota and brain neuroinflammation in AD progression.

This work is one of a whole new area of studies that show the dynamic interaction between the intestinal microbiota and host innate and adaptive immune system. If the gut microbiota are abnormal, they could jeopardize host immune responses and promote the development of various inflammatory disorders. Remember that Prof Jan Villadsen in the arthritis and gut inflamatory responses – same type of response and in this blog post. (Arthritis stopped in its tracks)

Antibiotics are Bad

It now appears that antibiotics are bad for AD-associated inflammation. Both animal and human studies show an association between dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and the microglia activation during AD development. Minter et al. discovered that perturbations (upset) in gut microbial diversity influenced neuro-inflammation and amyloidosis. Antibiotics-treated mice showed a significant decrease in plaque-localized microglial activation positive for IBA-1. Besides, gut microbiota-produced lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was found in the post-mortem brain samples of AD patients,and peripheral injection of LPS could promote microglial activation.All the evidence suggests that gut microbiota is likely involved in regulating microglia activation and neuroinflammation in AD. Change that microbiome and there is a cascade of other complications.

Promising GV-971 Drug

The media is full of the work of Geng Meiyu and her team at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They suggest that a polysaccharide, oligomannate, a seaweed-derived compound, can reduce AD. The work was supported by Ocean University of China and Green Valley.

Here is Geng Meiyu (bottom left – she worked for 30 years on this.

The Chinese Govt has approved the drug GV-971 which was based on a phase 3 trial involving 818 Chinese patients.

In that study, patients on oligomannate scored better on a standard clinical scale called ADAS-Cog that’s used to evaluate cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients. ADAS-Cog scores range from zero to 70, and higher scores indicate greater dysfunction

In previous animal studies Geng’s team showed in mice that oligomannate works by modulating gut microbiota and hence inhibiting inflammation in the nervous system, reducing beta amyloid buildup and tau tangles.

According to results Geng presented at last year’s Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease Conference in Barcelona, a statistically significant improvement between the drug and placebo was observed as early as week four and continued over the course of the trial. After 36 weeks, patients in the oligomannate arm had improved their ADAS-Cog scores by a median 2.54 points more than placebo patients.

Seaweed Changes Gut Microbiome

Prof Lindsay Brown of USQ showed in super-sized obese mice they could reverse the changes in microbiome back to normal with Sarconema species seaweed. This was with Sargassum sp and Laminaria sp It may be that the species is not so important as getting the right microbiome.

What is the Cell Membrane?

Here are two images of the membranes in the gut. There is only a few cells between the gut, and the bloodstream. If this is not functioning correctly, then the blood says “Whoa. Nasty bacteria too close”. And starts an autoimmune process.

This simple figure (Minter) shows the intestine as a pipe with a cross section. There is really only 1 layer between health and death.

This gut blood barrier is much more complex. Here is simple model which shows some of the dozens of cells identified.

Within this are many other processes and involve T-Cells, B-Cells, and range of other immunology pathways.

Proposed Mode of Action of GV-971 Gut Brain Axis

Wang et al in the Nature paper cited below says that this gut blood brain change is what makes the new drug effective. The polysaccharide reconditions the microbiota. The inflammation reduces, and then reduced the nero-inflammation.

The work from The Netherlands by Dr Mulder and others (Bogie et al) in animal studies have seen lipids enter the brain, and this reduces inflammation but also reduced the reduction in the brain size which is also a symptom of Alzheimer’ Disease.

In a separate Nature communication commenting on the drug GV-971 Seo (2019) provides a commentary on the paper on GV-971 and how microbiota influences Alzheimer’s Disease.

Schematic Diagram (from Seo, 2019)

Poor functioning (or dysbiosis) of the gut microbiota alter amino acid metabolism and immunity.
Elevated phenylalanine and isoleucine (Phe/Ile) increase plasma T helper type 1 (Th1) cells
Th1 cells invade through the blood brain barrier.
Get inflammation in the brain
- Increases pro-inflammatory microglia abundance
- Get amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition
- Neurofibrillary tangles (as per research from Europe with Monique Mulder)
Treatment with GV-971 reconditions the gut microbiota and stops progress of Alzheimer’s

This mechanism seems to be a consistent finding among Alzheimer’s Disease researchers and why there is continued research on how seaweed reduces Alzheimers disease.

References

CNN News Article Chinese Alzheimers Drug (Click Here)

Novel Drug Treatment Shows Improved Cognition in a Phase 3 Clinical Trial in Persons with Mild-to-Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease in China. 2018 (News report from Barcelona)

South China News China Approves first new Alzheimers Drug
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3036119/china-approves-oligomannate-worlds-first-new-alzheimers-drug-20

Fierce Pharma China approves a new, home-grown Alzheimer’s drug—and questions immediately follow (Click Here to read more)

Wang, X., Sun, G., Feng, T. et al. 2019 Sodium oligomannate therapeutically remodels gut microbiota and suppresses gut bacterial amino acids-shaped neuroinflammation to inhibit Alzheimer’s disease progression. Cell Res 29, 787–803 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41422-019-0216-x

Bogie, J., Hoeks, C., Schepers, M. et al. Dietary Sargassum fusiforme improves memory and reduces amyloid plaque load in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Sci Rep 9, 4908 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41598-019-41399-4

Kowalski K, and Mulak A 2019 Brain-Gut-Microbiota Axis in Alzheimer’s Disease J Neurogastroenterol Motil 2019; 25(1): 48-60 https://doi.org/10.5056/jnm18087

Minter M, Zhang C et al 2016 Antibiotic-induced perturbations in gut microbial diversity influences neuro-inflammation and amyloidosis in a murine model of Alzheimer’s disease. Scientific Reports volume 6, Article number: 30028 https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30028

Garrett, W. S., Gordon, J. I., & Glimcher, L. H. 2010 Homeostasis and inflammation in the intestine. Cell, 140(6), 859–870. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2010.01.023

Seo, D., Boros, B.D. & Holtzman, D.M. The microbiome: A target for Alzheimer disease?. Cell Res 29, 779–780 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41422-019-0227-7

du Preez, R.; Paul, N.; Mouatt, P.; Majzoub, M.E.; Thomas, T.; Panchal, S.K.; Brown, L. Carrageenans from the Red Seaweed Sarconema filiforme Attenuate Symptoms of Diet-Induced Metabolic Syndrome in Rats. Mar. Drugs 2020, 18, 97. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-3397/18/2/97

Commercial Interests

The commercial entity in this new drug is Green Valley. Green Valley is a pharmaceutical company focusing its primary efforts on developing carbohydrate drugs for patients with complex chronic diseases in areas of central nervous system, cardiovascular, and oncology. Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Shanghai with over 1500 personnel, Green Valley’s business presence in China covers more than 31 provinces/municipals including 2 GMP manufacturing sites and has achieved more than $700 million in revenue in 2018. The company’s product Salvianolate is a top 10 drug for cardiovascular disease in China. The new drug registration application and marketing authorization application for GV-971 has been recently submitted to CFDA for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Their website is http://www.greenvalleypharma.com/En

Tags Alzheimer's, dementia, seaweed health benefits

Biosea Health Gut Microbiome Heart Health Seaweed for Humanity

Experience backed by Science

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date October 25, 2019

Experience is backed by science - eat Pacific Seamoss for health

Is consumer experience backed by science? What we are looking for is that science provides validation for personal experiences. Seaweed improves health. Scientists know why your blood pressure improves by 15mm Hg. Long term science backs up personal health improvement. However, one cannot make any health claim. Because the regulatory industry was established for artificial drugs and medicines, and functional foods struggle for registration and have to be tested in human and animal clinical trials.

There are some clinical trials on humans. There are thousands of peer reviewed publications on the health improvements in vitro, in animals and for limited studies, humans. Google Search for “seaweed functional food” returns 3.5 million hits.

Is Experience Backed By Science?

Discussion and peer reviewed publications with

Professor Lindsay Brown University of Southern Queensland (been doing research for 20 years on superfoods)
Professor Jane Teas Southern Carolina University
Dr Jan Villasend – Aarhus University Hospital in clinical research arthritis in Denmark
Dr Monique Mulder Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Our “Pacific Seamoss” red seaweed is 35% sulfated polysaccharide and is pretty indigestible, and passes through the stomach into the intestines. The microbiome get busy on it and composition changes and protects the lining. As well as the extra fibre, and normalisation of the bacteria, some of the other 1000 compounds in the seaweed get absorbed. Some of the compounds have been identified and implicated in the beneficial effects. (eg fucoidan) but there are many unknowns on the mechanism.

Some brown seaweeds (Kelp, Dulce) have an issue with iodine levels too high so you cannot eat the 5+ grams per day of seaweed. The five grams is a daily serve of veges.
Is there a major difference between seaweeds. Possibly if you refine them. But if you have them whole there may not be due to the very complicated interactions.

Metabolic Syndrome Clinical Trial with Humans – 2013

Prof Jane Teas. Did a human double blind clinical trial on 40 overweight volunteers who were already on blood pressure tablets and statins. They all had metabolic syndrome so they all had 2 of those symptoms – Hypertension, weight, high cholesterol and sugar intolerance. They were given 5gm of seaweed, between 4 and 8 gm depending on the treatments.

Significant Outcome. Blood pressure was down 10mm Hg. Patients lost on average 3 kg. There was a reduction in type 2 diabetes. Their cholesterol went down by 2 whole points. The attached paper has more details.

Animal Studies Obesity Fats Rats made Thin 2017

Professor Lindsay Brown from University of Southern Queensland / UQ has been doing functional food research for 15 years on animals. They did do some human trials on Queen Garnet Plums through Univ Victoria with Nutrafruit.com.au. Over his research spanning 2 decades and multiple products, including purple fruits (with anthrocyanin), purple carrots, purple plums, purple corn and also on linseed, and more recently on seaweed with various species the results are the same.

Improvement of gut microbiome
Reduction or elimination of fatty liver
Bone density increase
Blood pressure reduction
Weight loss reduction
Cartilage increase .

What is interesting that essentially fatty liver disease is gone, heart fibrous tissue gone, cholesterol down and good DNA data from the gut microbiome returning to normal.

Prof Brown’s conclusion is that there is no real difference between the whole food and if you try to split out the active compounds. They had done the work for the purple plum and the outcomes were the same for the whole food versus the identified other compounds.

Some of his work has been documented in the media.

Diabetes

Prof Brown’s work with rats over the past 15 years shows all of these conditions improve with the super food. Be it purple carrots, linseed, Purple Garnet Plums, Purple Corn, Achacha (Garcinia humalis) Mangostem, Seaweed. As consumers start to eat seaweed daily then it is clear that consumer experience backed by science, and the challenge is to undertake more science on humans that continue to do work on animal studies.

Fatty Liver and Kidney Disease

In the animal studies Lindsay showed reversal of metabolic syndrome and that fatty liver disappear and kidney function returns.

Breast Cancer – Humans 2013

A short single blind trial by Jane Teas in 2013. Only 16 people, all breast cancer survivors and only for 12 weeks. 4 weeks placebo, 4 weeks 5 gm Unadaria (a brown). The Creatinine levels halved. Creatinine is a marker of inflammation and more importantly implicated in breast cancer. . She was looking to explain why Japanese women have 1/10 breast cancer rates of those in USA

“uPAR is higher among postmenopausal women generally, and for BC patients, it is associated with unfavorable BC prognosis. By lowering uPAR, dietary seaweed may help explain lower BC incidence and mortality among postmenopausal women in Japan. “

There is other animal and invitro studies and it shows that in mice the oestrogen was stripped out. See this blog

Dementia 2019

Prof Brown says animal studies in dementia do not translate well into humans and that 1 drug out of 200 is the track record to date. But Dr Monique Mulder with Sargassum (brown) and others published in Nature in March 2019 that Dietary Sargassum fusiforme improves memory and reduces amyloid plaque load in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. The thing seems to be multi-modal in that it provides plant sterols to the brain crossing the blood brain barrier, and stops amyloid plaques and tangles. And reverses it in mice. They are moving from animals to humans in their trials.

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Bowel Inflammation

Dr Jan Villadsen got given some seaweed/rapeseed/fermented mix from FermBiotics.com from his University friend Dr Belinda Bjerre who is a Project Diretor on some of the EU seaweed research programs. The mix was to developed to eliminate use of zinc oxide and antibiotics in pig production. The pig studies show equivalence or better than conventional Zn+antibiotic treatments. Note: zinc is banned in EU animal feed from 2022. A long term rheumatic arthritis (RA) sufferer, Dr Villadsen’s C-Reactive Protein goes to zero in 17 days. Patent. Publications. He and colleagues at Aarhaus are now doing a clinical trial with 200 patients on IBS and RA .

Osteo Athritis

We don’t know exactly which of the 100 different types of arthritis seaweed will work on. There is consistent strong anecdotal evidence. There is in vitro studies. A Nature publication from Prof Xiao and Prof Brown [6] demonstrated when they took the rats from Browns metabolic studies and they identified collagen and connective growth recovery in the rats. This is similar to the osteoarthritis work with extracted fucoidan extracts from brown seaweed.

Conclusion

Functional foods can provide health benefits by reducing the risk of chronic diseases and enhancing the ability to manage chronic diseases, and improving the quality of life. This gives seaweed great potential as a supplement in functional food or for the extraction of compounds.

Our company has a challenge to accelerate the clinical trials and register the benefits to be able to make health claims. Pacific Seamoss is just food. But make your own judgement. No one is stopping you eat food. Even nail growth! We have people where their nails grow more and this is a prime experience backed by science over 11 years ago.

References

[2] Teas, J et al 2009 Could dietary seaweed reverse the metabolic syndrome? Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 18 (2) 145-157 (Click for Abstract) (Click to download full paper)

[3] Teas, J et al 2013 The consumption of seaweed as a protective factor in the etiology of breast cancer: proof of principle. J Appl Phycol 25 771-779 DOI:10.1007/s10811-012-9931-0 (Click for Abstract) (Click to download full paper)

[4] Bogie, J et al (Including Monique Mulder) 2019 Dietary Sargassum fusiforme improves memory and reduces amyloid plaque load in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model. Scientific Reports 9 (1) DOI 10.1038/s41598-019-41399-4 (Click for Abstract) (Click to download full paper)

[5] Villasend J; Silkeborg R 2019 Clinical trial: Investigation of macroalgae as a synbiotic adjuvant in chronic inflammatory diseases. Seagriculture19 Belgium presentation (Click to download presentation)

[6] Sekar, S., Shafie, S., Prasadam, I. et al. Saturated fatty acids induce development of both metabolic syndrome and osteoarthritis in rats. Sci Rep 7, 46457 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46457

Media

https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/content/2016/s4419411.htm
https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/content/2015/s4180101.htm
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-15/sleeping-giant:-linseeds-health-properties-could/8711970

Tags cancer fighting properties, clinical evidence, improve heart health

Alzheimer's Disease Biosea Health Gut Microbiome Health Benefits Reviews

Seaweed Reduces Alzheimers?

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date October 4, 2019

Seaweed reduces Alzheimers in animal studies and work is underway with dietary Sargassum fusiforme as it has demonstrated improvement of memory and moreover reduces amyloid plaque load in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model. The research was presented by Dr Monique Mulder at the Seagriculture 2019 Workshop in Ostende Belgium in September 2019. Dr Mulder is from Erasmus University Rotterdam and working with colleagues globally.

Seaweed Reduces Alzheimer’s Disease – Background

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), also referred to simply as Alzheimer’s, is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and gradually worsens over time. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events.

An ever-increasing reduction in memory occurs in patients. Language proficiency, the ability to solve problems and other cognitive functions also decrease. The disease is not yet treatable. 44 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. The costs involved are $ 1,000 billion. Due to the aging population, these numbers will increase drastically in the coming years. Over the past 20 years AD research has focused on either:

Early detection. Catch early and stop progression.
Drugs to stop the disease and the symptoms.

AD disease progression is complex.

Brain shrinkage. As neurons are injured and die throughout the brain, connections between networks of neurons may break down, and many brain regions begin to shrink. By the final stages of Alzheimer’s, this process—called brain atrophy—is widespread, causing significant loss of brain volume.
Beta amyloid. There is an abnormal build up of a protein called beta amyloid, which forms “plaques” outside the brain cells.
Tangles. Inside the brain cells, another protein called tau builds up into “tangles”

Seaweed Reduces Alzheimers in Mouse Memory

Dr Mulder has been working for the past 15 years on dietary and genetic approaches to Alzheimer disease in animal models. Dr Mulder explains that “I ended up in the seaweed by accident. I have always been interested in the relationship between nutrition and health. We were looking for a certain substance (the plant sterol Saringosterol) and found in the scientific literature that this substance had been detected in seaweed. Then it appeared that mice that we had fed with seaweed performed better in the field of cognition (information processing in the brain). That was the trigger for further research.”.

Seaweed Reduced Brain Atrophy

The brain atrophy is due to lack of cholesterol. The brain cannot get cholesterol from the body as cholesterol cannot move across the Blood Brain barrier. Dr Mulder’s previous work showed that the memory of mice with Alzheimer’s disease improves if the transport of cholesterol in the brain is activated with synthetic substances that stimulate certain receptors (LXR α and β). Unfortunately, serious side effects occur, such as fatty liver and accumulation of fatty substances in the blood, so that ruled out the synthetics.

But with in Sargassum, a natural substance was (Saringosterol) did work. It activated fat transport in the brain via LXR β. In mice with Alzheimer’s disease, she saw an improvement in memory and fewer brain abnormalities when they let them eat seaweed. Moreover, no adverse side effects occurred.

Dr Mulder presented that the key issue is that the brain has to synthesis its own cholesterol – there is no blood to brain transfer. Defective synthesis in the brain causes brain disease. The regulation is with compounds called LXR. Brain sterols also play a part.

Details of the Research

In previous published work, when they increased the cholesterol turnover by LXR activation with compounds at about 0.015% w/w then mice improved their object recognition and object location tasks. (Did not affect mice without AD).

It turns out that common plant sterols (such as those from Sargassum) can enter the brain, and they are very similar to cholesterol but the ones they have tried previously do not change the LXR levels.

It is not simple, as the compounds have to turn on / turn off genes. These compounds have to “agonist”. An agonist is a chemical that binds to a receptor and activates the receptor to produce a biological response.

A few years the research discovered that a sterol from Sargassum fusiforme is a novel selective LXR. The work at Erasmuwas done in collaboration with Shulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

The researchers compared a range of plants and compounds including Azadirachta indica (neem oil) which has reputed health benefits. You can see the much larger response from Sargassum

This figure shows that the Sargassum stopped the folding of the brain which is associated with brain atrophy and tangles. There was no sign of fatty liver from the eating of the sterols, and that is consistent with research with research with the seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii where it was protective.

This figure shows that Sargassum actually affected 3 of the genes that regulate the LXR target genes.

The microbiome: A target for Alzheimer disease?

All the evidence from this work, and from others such as Lin 2019 shows that the getting the gut from a leaky gut to a healthy gut is subtle but very important. The Toll Like Receptors (TLRs) play a huge part in the regulation. The Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) is very important as well. Normally nothing gets into the brain except glucose.

From Lin Fig. 1. Potential implications of TLRs and gut-brain-axis for AD. In healthy subjects, the gut epithelium is guaranteed by tight junctions between the cells. TLRs are expressed on macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), and intestinal epithelial cells, serving as sentinels to monitor the pathogens in gut. Vagus nerve appears to modulate communication between the gut and the brain. The whole microenvironment maintains in homeostasis. During aging, the tight junction of intestinal and BBB become permeable. In AD patients, the diversity of gut microbiota decreased, while the population of pro-inflammation bacteria increased. Bacteria and their excretions could cross the leaky gut and then activate the TLRs in epithelium, IECs and macrophages, leading to production of pro-inflammation cytokines. These cytokines make their way through circulation or vague nerves to the brain, enlarge the neuro-inflammatory responses, and promote neuro-degeneration in CNS.

Findings from the Current Research

Seaweed improved memory in mice. There are multiple reasons.

Sargassum seaweed is much more effective than other compounds or “anti-oxidants”
Sargassum increased cholesterol levels and that shows promise that brains won’t shrink.
Sargassum activates LXR-targets genes in the brain and there is half as much brain folding (i.e. degradation) and there has been reduction in beta amyloid and less tangles.
There is no downside. Sargassum did not induce fatty liver or other side effects.

Will this Work in Humans?

In over 400 animal studies since 2002, the failure of drug development has been over 99% when the drugs trials were transitioned from animal studies to human studies. These studies by Mulder and her teams are different in that the Sargassum appears to be affecting all 3 of the causes of dementia.

Plant sterols cross the blood-brain barrier to give a supply of cholesterol like plant sterols that are used in brain regeneration.
One of the compounds works on the LXRb gene expression process
There is less amyloid plaque deposited

So this is very promising work. Would you consume seaweed now to prevent AD?

References

Are some animal models more equal than others? A case study on the translational value of animal models of efficacy for Alzheimer’s disease. Veening-Griffioen et al Eur J Pharmacol. 2019 Sep 15;859:172524. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2019.172524.

Lin C, Zhao, S et al 2019 Microbiota-gut-brain axis and toll-like receptors in Alzheimer’s disease 2019 Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal Volume 17, 2019, Pages 1309-1317
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2019.09.008

24(S)-Saringosterol from edible marine seaweed Sargassum fusiforme is a novel selective LXRβ agonist. Chen et al J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Jul 2;62(26):6130-7. doi: 10.1021/jf500083r.

Good Catch! https://amazingerasmusmc.nl/actueel/goeie-vangst/

Tags Alzheimer's, dementia, health benefits of seaweed, improve memory, improvement dementia

Arthritis Biosea Health Reviews

Seaweed Stops Rheumatoid Arthritis in its Tracks

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date October 4, 2019

Seaweed stops rheumatoid arthritis in its tracks. Dr. Jan Villadsen had spondylarthritis / Psoriatic arthritis and it was gone in 17 days. For the first time in 5 years, his C-Reactive Protein levels went to zero. Symptoms went.

SEAWEED STOPS RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Arthritis is a complex set of over 100 different types – generally categorized as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid. The main difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis is the cause behind the joint symptoms. Osteoarthritis was thought to be caused by mechanical wear and tear on joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s own immune system attacks the body’s joints. (The cause of osteoarthritis has recently been challenged.) Arthritis affects more than 350 million adults globally.

When people get chronic inflammatory diseases such as spondylarthritis or Psoriatic arthritis, patients may be given disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). DMARDS are a category of otherwise unrelated drugs defined by their use in rheumatoid arthritis to slow down disease progression. The term is often used in contrast to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDS, which refers to agents that treat the inflammation but not the underlying cause and steroids (which blunt the immune response but are insufficient to slow down the progression of the disease).

Dr. Jan Villadsen is a Consultant Specialist Immunology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. Dr. Villadsen had suffered from spondylarthritis / Psoriatic arthritis for decades. Despite the treatment of conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) and combination therapy of sDMARD and bDMARD, there had been no significant improvement. Dr. Villadsen was provided with a synbiotic (seaweed/oilseed rape fiber fermented mix) from a commercial provider Fermbiotics (see www.fermbiotics.com).

The outcome was astonishing. For the first time in 5 years, his C-Reactive Protein (CPR) went to zero. The seaweed mix was also provided to other hospital staff, and they wanted it for weight loss and general health.

DR JAN VILLADSEN

What Is this Research?

This research work comes out of the Macro Cascade project of the European Union Horizon 2020 program, where the primary aim is to get novel feed products for pigs to avoid using antibiotics. The product is made with brown seaweeds (Saccharina and Ascophyllum) and rapeseed waste and fermented with lactobacillus yeasts.

The current research between Fermbiotics and the Aarhaus Hospital is a clinical trial of 257 patients to look at this outcome more broadly with Dr. Villadsen and Dr. Henning Glerup.

Seaweed stops Rheumatoid Arthritis

Gut health is now known to be very important in a whole range of autoimmune diseases including:

Rheumatoid arthritis
Psoriasis
Diabetes mellitus 2
Cancer
Autism
Multiple sclerosis
Obesity
Allergy and asthma among others.

References

[1] Review: Microbiome in Inflammatory Arthritis and Human Rheumatic Diseases. Jose U. Scher Dan R. Littman Steven B. Abramson 02 September 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/art.39259

[2] Combined Pre- and Pro-biotic Composition. Compositions comprising fermented seaweed and/or algae WO 2017/077139A1

C-REACTIVE PROTEIN WENT TO ZERO

Tags arthritis, arthritis reduction, Benefits of Seaweed, Pacific Seamoss

Biosea Health Gut Microbiome Health Benefits

The Ultimate Sea Vegetable

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date September 25, 2019

Could Pacific SeaMoss be the ultimate Sea vegetable?

Seaweed has been identified as a key food supplement that can be consumed conveniently in capsule form. Due to increased awareness about the nutritional and health benefits of seaweed, there has been a growing market for seaweed products in Europe. Seaweed is a good source of Vitamin (A, C, E, and K), and many minerals such as potassium, magnesium, copper, calcium, iron, and manganese that are often lacking in modern diets. Furthermore, food products made from seaweed are low in saturated fats and cholesterol. Seaweed contains iodine that helps in the proper functioning of the thyroid glands and normal energy-yielding metabolism.

Consumer demand for seaweed products in Europe

Utilisation of seaweed in Europe is still at its infancy, however, consumers are gradually seeking new sources of healthy and nutritious products and in effect looking towards seaweed. Demand from Europe is expected to increase due to increased consumer awareness on the health benefits of seaweed. In Europe seaweed could well become the next superfood and it is slowly being incorporated in very many different food and drink products. With the anticipated increase in seaweed for health, many leading health companies are now appreciating the potential impact of seaweed as a key ingredient in the manufacture of healthy food products. Food and beverage manufacturers are also looking into ways of incorporating seaweed ingredients into their products.

Consumers of food supplements search for products that help them maintain a healthy lifestyle and are extremely conscious about their health. These consumers have a preference for natural and organic products, and as a result, they purchase the organic seaweed food supplements. Therefore, the demand for seaweed is growing because it is recognized as a certified organic product. In Europe, in 2016 the market for certified organic products grew by 11.4% to over €33.5 billion. Countries that have great demand for organic products in Europe include Switzerland, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France.

Companies that produce organic seaweed food supplements ensure that they maintain high-quality standards and have to always monitor the production process to avoid detoxification.

What is driving the demand for seaweed in Europe?

According to the World Health Organization, about 70% of European adults are overweight or obese, which has increased demand for food and diet supplements for weight loss. There is growing consumer awareness about the use of seaweed in pharmaceuticals as more and more people are preferring to use natural products for their health. Also, there is a growing popularity for Asian foods in Europe, and this is expected to support the growth of the target market. Seaweed food supplements have also been used to improve immunity and improved immunity is linked to preventive health. This opens up opportunities for seaweed supplements. Seaweed has fiber and sugars that can be used as food sources for good bacteria to nourish your gut. Seaweed is thought to help in preventing chronic diseases such as cancer and also aid in the prevention of high blood pressure in humans.

Maybe the ultimate sea vegetable is Pacific Sea Moss

Clean. Green, Sustainable. Good Food. Food for Health

Tags health benefits of seaweed, Pacific Seamoss, seaweed as food

Reviews

Carrageenan Friend or Foe?

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date September 25, 2019

Two forms of carrageenan plus one that is entirely different. What are they and how are they unique?

Carrageenan is Safe and Healthy

Carrageenan is a polysaccharide that naturally occurs in edible red seaweed

Carrageenan extract is commonly used as a food additive or thickening agent in items such as ice-cream and cheese. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the additive for use.

Polysaccharides are naturally occurring carbohydrates or sugars that are cheap, non-toxic and readily available. Carrageenan is mostly used in the food industry as a gelling or thickening agent as well as in the field of pharmaceuticals to test for anti-inflammatory agents. There are many studies that have been conducted on the health effects and the safety of carrageenan. Many of these studies are based what sometimes called “degraded carrageenan”, which is in fact an entirely different molecule called Poligeenan.

Natural carrageenan is found in whole, unprocessed seaweed such as Pacific Sea Moss which has been termed a super food. Seaweed has been the food of our ancestors for millennia.
Food grade carageenan such as that used in the thickening of ice cream is readily extracted from red seaweed, and is processed with alkaline substances. It is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and also the European regulators.
So-called denatured carrageenan is significantly altered at the molecular level with heat and acid. It is more accurately referred to as poligeenan. Poligeenan is not a food product, and only used in the lab. It is known to present considerable health risks.

Confusion between poligeenan and carrageenan

So called denatured carrageenan is in fact a different molecule which is correctly named poligeenan. Poligeenan has been extensively researched on animals and has been shown to cause ulcers and gut tumors, and even cause colon cancer in animals such as rats and mice. Few studies have been extended to humans due to these adverse effects. Poligeenan is not a food substance, it does not occur in nature, rather is is a potent chemical used in industry.

A detailed review of about 45 studies on carrageenan on animals revealed that most of these studies were based on poligeenan, which is derived from but not a form of carageenan. Poligeenan has been found to have harmful health effects. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between these different molecules.

Poligeenan is quite different to carrageenan From [1]

Naturally occurring Carrageenan is good for our health

Natural carrageenan is found in Pacific Sea Moss, which is whole seaweed food and is safe for human consumption. There have been several peer-reviewed studies that support statement. In a study on mice fed on carrageenan extracted from seaweeds, inhibitory activity of tumour growth in mice was detected. In another study on male rats, there was neither detected changes in their body weights nor any change in their health. Carrageenan extracted from red marine algae is a strong anti-inflammatory agent in rodents such as mice. In yet another study, carrageenan from marine algae has shown signs of inducing cells to detect and destroy pathogens found in the body of rats. Another peer-reviewed study used a set of five rats and fed them with carrageenan extracted from red seaweed. After 10 days of observation, there was similar weight gain and fecal excretion in all the rats that were studied. There was no carrageenan detected in the liver or intestines of these rats and the carrageenan excreted in the faeces had similar gel filtration distribution pattern as that of the carrageenan that had been administered.

These studies indicate that the native carrageenan extracted from Pacific Sea Moss is entirely safe and has no negative effects. They are not degraded in the gut and therefore are not toxic. Obviously, if the good carrageenan found in Pacific Sea Moss were to be degraded in the body, it would have been detected in the numerous studies and should have resulted in significant ulceration and tumor growth.

References

[1] Re‐evaluation of carrageenan (E 407) and processed Eucheuma seaweed (E 407a) as food additives European Food Safety Commission

“Seaweed is – all the weed you will ever need.”

Seaweed Aquaculture for Food and Fuels

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date September 16, 2019

Seaweed Aquaculture Focus of Research

Around the globe – from the European Union, UK, USA, Australia China, Philippines governments and industry are looking to expand growing seaweed and use the products in new and innovative ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYRl8Qy7f-k&feature=youtu.be

Seaweed Aquaculture Focus of Research In USA

The USA Department of Energy has the Mariner Program of research. They have focused their efforts on modelling, biofuel and growing systems.. See their program page here

SEEKER VIDEO – CHANGING MEAT TO SEAWEED

Seaweed – a product for humanity

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Tags biofuel, energy, Pacific Seamoss, seaweed

Health Benefits Seaweed for Humanity

Amazon Rainforest Vanishing Faster Than Ever

Post author By Hugh Butler
Post date September 13, 2019

The Amazon rainforest is vanishing faster than ever due to wildfires and needless destruction

Climate help may come from An Unexpected Place: Underwater.

Wildfires causing deforestation

Global warming impacts all life on Earth, gradually heating the planet and threatening the delicate balance. Rainforests and other carbon sinks scrub the air removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and providing oxygen. Unfortunately, deforestation is taking a heavy toll on the world’s largest forest. The Amazon rainforest is vanishing faster than ever and, with the recent fires, attention has once again focused on building carbon emissions.

Seaweed has photosynthesis

Seaweed, a form of algae, grows in both fresh and salt waters all over the world [1]. In the same way that trees clean the air through photosynthesis, seaweed “forests” support marine life by filtering carbon dioxide from the water and producing oxygen. A new look into this unlikely environmental hero shows that there is potential for sea vegetables to offset terrestrial carbon emissions [1].

Seaweed as effective as Amazon Rainforest as a carbon sink

Marine scientist Halley Froelhich, of the University of California, is the lead author of a new study. According to the recently published paper, industrial-sized farms would grow and harvest seaweeds which would then be sunk, along with the captured C02, into the deep ocean. There, the carbon dioxide would be trapped for hundreds, even thousands, of years [1].

Seaweed and aquaculture

According to Froelhich’s study, 18.5 million square miles of ocean suitable for seaweed cultivation [1]. (This number does not include freshwater varieties of macroalgae.) The scientists behind the study propose that farming 0.001 percent of the world’s seaweed-growing waters could offset the entire carbon emissions of the rapidly growing global aquaculture industry. For a scaled example, farming seaweed in 3.8 percent of federally controlled waters off the coast of California could offset the carbon emissions of the state’s multi-billion-dollar (terrestrial) agriculture industry [1].

With half the world’s seafood being supplied through aquaculture, countering the industry’s carbon emissions could prove a huge relief both environmentally and economically. Seaweed farms may prove a viable business model for socio-economically troubled coastal communities [2]. Many societies that traditionally rely on fishing face the real possibility of depleting local marine life. Lessening dependence on fishing would in turn decrease concerns of overfishing [3] and may have the added benefit of attracting marine life [2]. Researchers have found that, in California alone, kelp forests are home to over 800 species of marine life [2].

A profitable commercial crop, seaweed is widely used in beauty products, medicines, and food for humans, livestock and fish [1]. Currently, China is the industry leader in kelp farming, having produced more than seven million metric tons in 2015 [2]. Kelp, a variety of macroalgae found in cold coastal waters, grows quickly and prolifically in its natural environment. These underwater forests require no fertilization as they pull carbon dioxide from the water, as well as excess nitrogen and phosphorus [2].

Other uses for seaweed

The harvested materials could be converted into livestock feed, which research has shown can reduce methane emissions from grazing cattle by up to 70 percent. Seaweed can also be converted into biofuel or used as a natural fertilizer, replacing petroleum-based products [1]. All that is needed now, Duarte states, is to find a way for seaweed production to meet the demand.

References

[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/forests-of-seaweed-can-help-climate-change-without-fire/

[2] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/11/explore-sustainability-kelp-farming-seaweed/

[3] https://www.ecomagazine.com/news/regulation/overfishing-is-a-huge-problem-here-s-what-you-need-to-know

NO WEIGHT GAIN. WHY NOT?

BLOOD GLUCOSE BACK TO NORMAL

BLOOD PRESSURE. NO HYPERTENSION

GUT MICROBIOME CHANGES

SEAWEED STOPS RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

DR JAN VILLADSEN

SEEKER VIDEO – CHANGING MEAT TO SEAWEED

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