Bladder wrack

Bladder wrack is a brown seaweed (dark brown-olive green in colour) with vesicles (lighter-coloured pneumatocysts) filled with gas, that allow them to maintain a certain buoyancy while remaining attached to the substrate by an uneven shaped holdfast. Its fronds are divided into ribbons of 20 to 100 cm long and can reach 2 cm wide.

Latin name

Fucus Vesiculosus L.

Origin

North Sea, western Baltic, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Used part

The thallus.

Active components

Polyphenols (phlorotannins): antioxidants that also have antibiotic, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.

Minerals (such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron): essential for good health.

Iodine: stimulates the metabolism because it is an essential nutrient for the thyroid.

Mucilages: have a soothing effect and are an interesting component for cosmetics.They also have a laxative action.

Carotenes (fucoxanthin): an antioxidant with a slimming action.

Usage

Asian populations consume algae as a food in different forms: raw in a salad, as a vegetable, a condiment or in a sweet jelly but also cooked in a soup. Bladder wrack is used as a phytotherapeutic agent in cosmetics, treatments for coughs, asthma, haemorrhoids, goitre, stomach ache, certain urinary conditions, ulcers and headaches. It can help women with irregular menstrual cycles. Bladder wrack is known to promote digestion and stimulate transit by acting as a binding agent. It has a stimulating effect on the metabolism of energy._1-11 It acts as an appetite suppressant and has a slimming effect and can be used to help control and maintain body weight._9-12

Bibliographical references

Effects of kelp supplementation on thyroid function in euthyroid subjects.
Clark CD, Bassett B, Burge MR.
Endocr Pract. 2003 Sep-Oct;9(5):363-9.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14583417
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1998 Oct;83(10):3398-400.
What's happening to our iodine?
Dunn JT.
The Journal of Clinical Endrocronology & Metabolism: http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/83/10/3398.long
Iodine: Deficiency and Therapeutic Considerations
Lyn Patrick, ND
Alternative Medicine Review Volume 13, Number 2 2008
http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/13/2/116.pdf
Antioxidant Capacities of Phlorotannins Extracted from the Brown Algae Fucus vesiculosus.
Wang T, Jónsdóttir R, Liu H, Gu L, Kristinsson HG, Raghavan S, Olafsdóttir G.
J Agric Food Chem. 2012 Jun 5.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22612266
Phlorotannins from brown algae (Fucus vesiculosus) inhibited the formation of advanced glycation endproducts by scavenging reactive carbonyls.
Liu H, Gu L.
J Agric Food Chem. 2012 Feb 8;60(5):1326-34.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22248148
Dietary fiber and antioxidant capacity in Fucus vesiculosus products.
Díaz-Rubio ME, Pérez-Jiménez J, Saura-Calixto F.
Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2009;60 Suppl 2:23-34.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18951280
Antioxidant activities of sulfated polysaccharides from brown and red seaweeds.
Rocha de Souza MC, Marques CT, Guerra Dore CM, Ferreira da Silva FR, Oliveira Rocha HA, Leite EL.
J Appl Phycol. 2007 Apr;19(2):153-160.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19396353
Potential antioxidant capacity of sulfated polysaccharides from the edible marine brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus.
Rupérez P, Ahrazem O, Leal JA.
J Agric Food Chem. 2002 Feb 13;50(4):840-5.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11829654
Dietary combination of fucoxanthin and fish oil attenuates the weight gain of white adipose tissue and decreases blood glucose in obese/diabetic KK-Ay mice.
Maeda H, Hosokawa M, Sashima T, Miyashita K
J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Sep 19;55(19):7701-6.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17715888
Fucoxanthin and its metabolite, fucoxanthinol, suppress adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells.
Maeda H, Hosokawa M, Sashima T, Takahashi N, Kawada T, Miyashita K.
Int J Mol Med. 2006 Jul;18(1):147-52.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16786166
Fucoxanthin from edible seaweed, Undaria pinnatifida, shows antiobesity effect through UCP1 expression in white adipose tissues.
Maeda H, Hosokawa M, Sashima T, Funayama K, Miyashita K.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2005 Jul 1;332(2):392-7.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15896707
Seaweed carotenoid, fucoxanthin, as a multi-functional nutrient.
Maeda H, Tsukui T, Sashima T, Hosokawa M, Miyashita K.
Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2008;17 Suppl 1:196-9.
Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18296336

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