OARWEED

Description

Laminaria is a marine alga, formed by relatively large, long and leathery sheets. It is found in the Atlantic and North Pacific oceans at 8 to 39 m depth.

Active ingredients

• Polysaccharides: alginates (30-40%) and other sulfur polysaccharides such as fucoidans and laminarin.
• Abundant mineral salts: iodine, silicon, sodium, potassium, calcium.
• Vitamins: A, B, C, D, E.
• Mannitol (polyol).
• Fucoxanthin: carotenoid of the xanthophylls family that gives the greenish-brown color to these algae.

Pharmacological activity

• Satiating: due to its polysaccharide content, especially alginates.
• Thyroid stimulant and activator of basal metabolism: due to its iodine content.
• Delays the absorption of glucose and lipids.
• Mechanical laxative: due to its polysaccharide content.
• Diuretic: due to its mineral salts content.
• Remineralizing: due to its high mineral salt content.
• Thermogenic: fucoxanthin induces the expression of UCP1 in the mitochondria of white adipose tissue adipocytes, causing them to behave like those of brown adipose tissue (increasing fatty acid oxidation and heat production). This effect may be useful in weight control treatments.
• Fucoidan has shown "in vitro" an inhibitory effect on Helicobacter pylori growth, in addition to inducing an increase in the thickness of the gastric mucous layer and inducing apoptosis in different cancer cell lines. Its potential usefulness in the treatment of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers and gastric and colorectal cancers is advocated.

Indications

Coadjuvant in the treatment of obesity, overweight, cellulitis.

Contraindications

• Pregnancy and lactation.
• Thyroid diseases.
• Cardiac diseases.
• Nervousness, insomnia.

Precautions

• Diabetics: it is recommended to control blood glucose.
• The EMA states that the daily limit of 400 μg of total iodine per day should not be exceeded.
• The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) established an upper limit for iodine intake of 600 μg/day for adults and 200 μg/day for children aged 1 to 3 years.

Drug interactions

• Thyroid hormones or antithyroid agents.
• Due to its mucilage content it may interfere with the absorption of other drugs when taken concomitantly so it is recommended to distance the intake of both at least one hour.

Side effects

In particularly sensitive people or at high doses and/or prolonged treatments, it may alter the thyroid function.

Bibliography

Monografía de la SEFIT (Sociedad Española de Fitoterapia).

Manual de Fitoterapia. Encarna Castillo García e Isabel Martínez Solís. 2ª edición Elsevier.

Wan-Loy C, Siew-Moi P. Marine algae as a potential source for anti-obesity agents. Mar Drugs. 2016; 14 (12). pii: E222.

Shoketsu Hitoe, Hiroshi Shimoda. Seaweed fucoxanthin supplementation improves obesity parameters in mildly obese Japanese subjects. Functional Foods in Health and Disease 2017; 7(4): 246-262.

Hui Zhang, Yibo Tang, Ying Zhang, et al. Fucoxanthin: a promising medicinal and nutritional ingredient. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015; 2015: 723515.

Maria Alessandra Gammone and Nicolantonio D’Orazio. Anti-obesity activity of the marine carotenoid fucoxanthin. Mar. Drugs 2015, 13, 2196-2214.