Originally published February 2 2004
Small team successfully farms red seaweed, one of the most powerful
healing superfoods on Earth
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
>From a nutritional point of view, there's nothing healthier for the
human body than sea vegetables and simple plants grown in water (like
chlorella, one of my favorites). These sea vegetables like as sea kelp
or seaweed offer extraordinary properties and health-enhancing compounds
that simply aren't found in plants grown on land. Seaweed, for example,
is high in both macrominerals and trace minerals, and it has a unique
polysaccharide structure that is widely used against diseases like
cancer and diabetes. These polysaccharides, found in brown seaweed,
green seaweed and red seaweed, are known to fight diabetes, regulate
blood sugar, lubricate the digestive tract, shrink tumors, and much
more. They are truly the most powerful superfoods on the planet. And
yet most Americans wouldn't touch seaweed with a six-foot pole. But
populations in Japan, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands have depended on
seaweed as a staple of their diet for literally thousands of years. It
may be part of the reason the Japanese, for example, are far healthier
than most Americans: they frequently eat seaweed in the form of sushi
and other traditional Japanese dishes.
The most highly sought-after
sea vegetable, according to some, has been red seaweed. But excessive
wildcrafting (harvesting) of it has led to a depletion in red seaweed
populations. Until now, no one has been able to successfully revive
these populations or farm red seaweed for mass consumption.
Today,
however, one team, lead by an expert in marine agronomy from the
University of Arizona, has been able to plant and harvest entire crops
of red seaweed, making them available to commercial purchasers. It's a
notable success story, not only because it creates a new industry for
the people of the rather remote island of Molokai, but more importantly
because it results in the availability of a dietary supplement that
offers extraordinary healing properties and the ability to both prevent
and reverse serious diseases.
This is good medicine, it's good for
the environment, it's good for humans, it's good for the ocean, and it's
good for business. You don't find that combination very often these
days.
Although a yearning to surf was what first drove native Tucsonan
Edward Glenn to Hawaii, what keeps him going back is his life-long
interest in marine agronomy.
Now, instead of hanging out in the waves, Glenn spends his time on the
leeward side of the island of Molokai, working with the local community
on sustainable aquaculture projects for the ancient fishponds that dot
the island's south coast.
The alga, known as "long ogo" by the Japanese, is eaten by people in
Hawaii, Asia and the Pacific and is also a source of agar, a common
thickening agent in Japanese cooking.
Some large-scale seaweed-processing plants use harsh chemicals to
extract the agar, but Nelson sees an opportunity to extract Molokai agar
in gentler ways so it can be marketed as an organic product.
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