What Sea Moss Can (Or Cannot) Do For Your Well being

A number of the most nutrient-rich meals come from the ocean, resembling heart-healthy salmon, tuna, and mackerel. The ocean additionally gives some wholesome plant-based meals like seaweed which can be wealthy in iron, magnesium, and iodine. 

Sea moss, also called Irish moss, grows totally on the Atlantic coasts of North America, the British Isles, and Spain. It’s harvested for its thickening agent carrageenan that is utilized in ice cream, toothpaste, and shoe polish. Wellness influencers additionally tout the well being advantages of sea moss gel to spice up libido, do away with mucus, enhance sleep and psychological well being, and regulate blood stress, simply to call just a few. Nonetheless, there is not a lot analysis that helps these claims. 

Sea moss does have fiber and oligosaccharides which may be capable to enhance your intestine well being, in line with a 2015 article in BMC Complementary and Various Medication. Researchers fed a regular eating regimen and a eating regimen enriched with sea moss to lab rats and located that sea moss elevated the nice micro organism of their intestine whereas lowering dangerous micro organism. In consequence, the ocean moss elevated the quantity of short-chain fatty acids that enhance intestine well being and the immune system. Sea moss additionally has bioactive parts that may struggle free radicals and scale back oxidative stress.

A 100-gram serving of sea moss has simply 49 energy however offers virtually half your day by day beneficial iron and 34% of your magnesium. Like different seaweeds, sea moss additionally offers iodine, which is a key mineral your physique wants to provide the thyroid hormone. Sea moss can also be wealthy within the B nutritional vitamins riboflavin and folate.

You may additionally like sea moss for its antioxidants. In a 2013 research within the Journal of Useful Meals, researchers used a sea moss extract to check the antioxidant energy of worms. The worms had been in a position to tolerate stress from a dangerous chemical and had decrease ranges of dangerous molecules. The researchers stated the ocean moss has fatty acids and different vitamins that defend towards oxidative stress.

Sea moss’s means to guard the physique from oxidative stress would possibly assist defend the mind from neurodegenerative ailments, too. A 2015 research in Marine Medicine additionally used worms to check sea moss towards Parkinson’s illness. Sea moss extract lowered the buildup of a dangerous protein related to Parkinson’s and guarded the nerve cells from harm. The ocean moss additionally prompts particular genes that defend towards stress. A 2024 evaluate in Marine Medicine outlined the potential for sea moss and different pink seaweeds to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anti-cancer properties, however analysis continues to be on the mobile and animal phases.

Your physique cannot produce iodine, so it’s important to get it from meals. Adults want at the very least 150 micrograms of iodine, and the higher restrict for iodine is 1,100 micrograms. A 100-gram serving of dried sea moss has 24.5 milligrams, which is 163 instances greater than you want. An excessive amount of iodine in your system can result in thyroid most cancers or irritation of your thyroid gland. It may also trigger burning in your throat or gastrointestinal points. Sea moss capsules might need solely 120 milligrams of sea moss, so iodine overload won’t be a priority with dietary supplements. Sea moss gels typically have juices and sugars added, so it isn’t clear how a lot sea moss you are getting in a 28-gram serving of those.

Sea moss might need different well being dangers resembling liver damage. A 2023 case research revealed in The American Journal of Gastroenterology described a 44-year-old girl who had excessive ranges of liver enzymes and different liver-related markers. Though she was taking remedy to regulate ldl cholesterol and blood clotting, she stated she drank smoothies made with sea moss. The docs believed that the carrageenan present in sea moss activated killer immune cells that launched molecules that broken her liver. Carrageenan is usually secure, but it surely might set off irritation, meals allergic reactions, or gastrointestinal points.