Friday 23 September 2011

Girls are getting little kelp from seaweed - the new Viagra - National News, Frontpage - Independent.ie HOT-BLOODED Irish women are going kelp crazy since it was revealed that the herbal remedy works as a natural Viagra.
Sales of seaweed-based kelp tablets have soared across the country in the past week, with some health-food shops completely selling out of the supplement.

Kelp's popularity rose this week with the launch of a new book by an American author who wrote about how she went sex-mad after taking a course of it at the age of 66.

Pensioner Jane Juska became so frisky that she took out a classified ad stating that she'd like to have sex before she turned 67 the following year. Juska got 60 responses to the ad and met six of the men before settling with a man 30 years her junior.

Since the book was published, women all over the world who want to improve their libido have started taking the pills, which cost just €3.85 for a jar of 250.

Ireland has been no exception to the kelp explosion with health-food shops reporting a noticeable increase. Lucy Kearney, manager of Nature's Way, in Dublin's Ilac Centre said: "Sales of the product have literally jumped up and we have had a lot of women in here buying it. We've even sold out of the smaller size and will have to order more stock."

In the store's Cork branch, manager Jean Buckley said she has also noticed a huge increase in the sale of kelp tablets. "Kelp contains iodine which is very good for hair, nails and skin and those who take it notice the feel-good factor it gives. Maybe that leads to a heightened libido."

It was men who first discovered its Viagra-like effects, but now women have noticed that it also works for them. Widower Regina, 60, from Waterford confirmed that kelp really works. "I'm interested in homeopathy and took the kelp tablets as part of a cure for night cramps.

"But shortly afterwards I noticed that I was having night sexual dreams, which is unlike me as I'm not a person who has a high sex-drive. I won't be going out looking for a man at this stage of my life, so I don't know what I'll do
Kelp users should take at least one and a maximum of three tablets a day to enjoy the effects.

Sunday 10 April 2011

Sushi slices

p into Sault restaurant market
By SooToday.com Staff
SooToday.com
Sunday, April 10, 2011

It's just opened but the phone almost never stops ringing and Shogun Shushi is often packed at 168 Great Northern Road.

SooToday.com spoke with a group of patrons as they left the restaurant last night.

"We were in there three hours but it was well worth it," said Lucas McFadden. "The food was great."

He said the restaurant is obviously having a few growing pains but expects in a week or so it will straighten out and fly very well.

McFadden said his party made a reservation for Saturday at 5 p.m. the day before.

It only took about 15 minutes to seat them but three hours were spent waiting for food.

"The phone was ringing the whole time we were in there," he said. "Nonstop."

The parking lot was full and some patrons parked in a strip mall across the street from the restaurant, located next door to the Super 8 Motel.

Other patrons also commented on the quality and value of the food served in the restaurant, saying it was among the best they ever ate and at surprisingly good prices.

Shogun Sushi offers all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch and dinner at different prices.

On weekdays all-you-can-eat sushi will set you back $12.95 for adults, $10.95 for seniors and $7.50 for children 12 and under.

There's also an extensive à la carte menu with appetizers, teriyaki, don (rice), maki/ temaki, sushi/ sashimi, rolls, udon, and something called sushi pizza.

Shogun Sushi is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sunday 12 noon to 10 p.m.

It offers take-out food and a variety of party trays.

Something’s fishy: kids like sushi

Something’s fishy: kids like sushi

WHO: Globe features editor Steve Greenlee, his wife, and their three kids

WHAT: Eating sushi

WHERE: Seiyo, 1721 Washington St.

Sushi, sashimi — heck, a slab of raw salmon from the market — I could eat it four, five times a week. I’d rather eat sushi than just about any other food on the planet. Trouble is, my wife doesn’t love sushi, so we never hit a sushi joint when we have date night.

It was high time I recruited — or tried to develop — some sushi connoisseurs in the family.

Now, I’m well aware that some people worry about whether it’s safe for children to eat sushi. But even those who are concerned about it generally agree that sushi is OK for children 8 and older (my youngest is 9 this month). Anyway, kids in Japan eat sushi as soon as they can chew.

We took the kids to Seiyo in the South End for their introductory outing. Seiyo is one of my favorite sushi spots, for a whole bunch of reasons: (1) The menu is extensive. (2) The sushi is excellent. (3) It’s reasonably priced. (4) The restaurant is comfortable and inviting. (5) It’s always easy to find on-street parking.

Because my kids were just starting out with sushi, we kept it simple, with a giant wooden board of basic maki (rolls) that I chose — a mixture of raw salmon, spicy raw tuna, and cooked-fish options wrapped in rice and seaweed. These included unagi (eel) and California maki, made with steamed crab meat, in case the raw fish didn’t go over so well. We also threw in a couple of appetizers that we knew would appeal to the kids: shrimp shumai (dumplings) and edamame (soybeans in their pods).

Now, my kids are adventurous eaters, but I still was a bit stunned when my 11-year-old boys wolfed down the maki — not just the California roll but the eel, the salmon, and even the spicy tuna. In fact, Aidan and Liam both said they preferred the sushi made with raw fish. Amelia didn’t care for the raw fish, sticking to the California roll and the shumai, but she nevertheless tried a few different kinds before rendering her verdict.

Walking back to the car, Liam announced: “Sushi is my new favorite food.’’ Aidan agreed, and we decided our next “boys night’’ would include some sushi.

Welcome to the force, my new recruits.

Saturday 9 April 2011

Sushi prices expected to spike because of Japan earthquake | Wausau Daily Herald | wausaudailyherald.com

Seaweed fertilizers | Gardening Tips and Guides

Seaweed fertilizers | Gardening Tips and Guides
Seaweed fertilizers
Seaweed has been used as a manure and fertilizer for centuries in seaside areas and now branded products derived from seaweed have become generally available all over the world.

Like all plant materials, seaweed contains nutrients. But since seaweeds are rather unusual plants – they’re actually algae -and since they grow in a rather unusual environment, it is not surprising that they contain a rather unusual blend of nutrients.

Seaweed contains all three of the major plant foods – nitrogen, phosphate and potash. It contains about 1 per cent of potash, rather more than most composts and for this reason can be valuable on flowering and fruiting plants. One popular brand of seaweed-derived fertilizer is recommended especially for tomatoes, which have a high potash requirement.

On the other hand, seaweed has precious little phosphate, the nutrient that promotes healthy roots.

Seaweed also contains fairly high levels of trace elements such as iron and magnesium. Many gardeners feel that this confers special advantages, but. since most soils aren’t short of trace elements anyway, there is little evidence for the belief. On balance, therefore, seaweed makes a useful fertilizer, but by no means an exceptional one. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether its potash and its trace elements are worth paying more for.

Not surprisingly, considering its origin, fresh seaweed also has fairly high levels of sodium and chlorine, the chemical raw materials of common salt. That’s fine if you want to grow the very few plants which need plenty of sodium – sugar beet, for example -but it can be a problem in gardens. The solution is to compost any fresh seaweed you buy or collect: partly to allow the salt to be washed out by rain: partly to ensure (as with any fresh organic material) that the soil is not depleted of nitrogen while it rots down: and partly to avoid the swarms of flies that always seem to congregate whenever piles of seaweed are left uncovered.

Friday 8 April 2011

Seaweed Eczema Treatment

Severe Eczema Linked to Lasting Milk, Egg Allergy in Kids
Mild cases of the skin condition suggest children may outgrow the food reactions, researchers say
SATURDAY, March 19 (HealthDay News) -- Children with more severe cases of the skin condition known as eczema are less likely than others to outgrow their milk or egg allergy, the results of a new study suggest.

Unlike peanut or seafood allergies, children often outgrow allergies to egg and milk, according to a team of researchers from Duke University Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, National Jewish Health Center, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the University of Arkansas Medical School.

The study included more than 500 children, aged 3 months to 15 months, with egg or milk allergy. They were assessed for eczema and categorized as "none-mild" or "moderate-severe." Eczema, also often called atopic dermatitis, usually takes the form of swollen, irritated, itchy skin.

During two years of follow-up, milk allergy was outgrown by 46 percent of children with none-mild eczema at enrollment, compared with 25 percent of those with moderate-severe eczema, the investigators found.

The study also found that 39 percent of children with none-mild eczema outgrew their egg allergy, compared with 21 percent of those with moderate-severe eczema.

The study was scheduled for presentation Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI), in San Francisco.

"These findings will help clinicians caring for infants with eczema and milk or egg allergy, and provide more accurate advice to parents about the likely course of their child's milk or egg allergy," study author Dr. Robert A. Wood, chief of pediatric allergy and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in an AAAAI news release.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the findings should be viewed as preliminary until they are published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about food allergy.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, news release, March 19, 2011

Real weight loss through metabolism correction

Facial Eczema Report 04th April 2011

Seasonal Seaweed Cleanup Efforts Underway Along Island Beaches | Corpus Christi, TX | KZTV10.com |

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Great photos from shetland by Thordale photography http://ping.fm/bzJv5

sea lettuce for sushi

fresh green sea lettuce http://ping.fm/VDdIM

feed the world

The Dutch are using their market-gardening skills to look at what the sea has to offer, writes ISABEL CONWAY

The Irish Times - Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The sea can feed the world

THE IDEA THAT in 2050 the world will have nine billion people to feed and possibly only half of today’s available land on which to grow crops and produce food, is making a group of Dutch scientists very worried.

They are so worried, in fact, that they are developing the world’s first experimental sea farm to grow a variety of sea vegetables, such as sea lettuce and nutritionally valuable seaweeds, and also to develop and harvest new species.

Scientists at Wageningen University, one of Europe’s leading agricultural institutes, are convinced that the predicted serious food shortages – which will be caused by a variety of factors from scarcity of fresh water to climate change, increased urbanisation and pollution – can be offset by using sea farms.

“They could offer a sustainable way of producing food,” says plant research scientist Willem Brandenberg. “You wouldn’t be using fresh water and the protein that some seaweed produces is of an exceptionally high quality.”

With that in mind, the Dutch have just trained the world’s first sea farmer, Julia Wald, to oversee the growing and harvesting of sea vegetables on a pilot farm off southwest Holland’s low lying Zeeland coast. The “fields” will consist of little floating terraces held together by cables. Racks and lines underwater will collect seaweed.

The farm’s main purpose will be to see whether large-scale sea farming could be conducted in the future.

Brandenberg says sea vegetables are an untapped resource that could provide a solution to the world’s worsening food problems in the coming decades.

“On land the possibilities for agricultural expansion are scarce, especially here in Holland,” he says. “The answer lies in the sea. It is a vast underutilised resource.

“Seaweed is very nutritious, and valuable proteins can be extracted and used in other foods. Unlike animal proteins, which require a lot of fresh water [to produce], it needs none. In fact it gives back fresh water as 80 per cent of seaweed is water based.”

To complete the circle on this project will require the construction of a refinery where, after extraction of the valuable proteins, the residue is suitable for bio-ethanol production.

But is all this feasible?

Brandenberg had just eaten some seaweed salad before talking to this reporter and he was planning to have a glass of seaweed-flavoured gin next, but that is not standard fare for most Europeans.

In southeast Asia, generations of people have tucked into seaweed in the hope of reaping rewards of fewer wrinkles, lower cancer and heart disease rates, but sea vegetables would surely need a marketing blitz to gain acceptance among consumers in the west, regardless of the health benefits?

“That is true,” he says. “It’s like everything else, seaweed and its outstanding health benefits and value as a food – perhaps in future on a par with a potato – must be promoted properly for acceptance. Cooks and restaurants have to be brought aboard also.”

Dutch marine biologist Dr Stefan Kraan, the scientific director and co-founder of Ocean Harvest Technology near Tuam Co Galway, is one of the experts involved in research at the pilot farm off the coast of the Netherlands. He says seaweed’s immediate future in aquaculture, biotechnology and biomedicine as well as the bioethanol industry is more exciting.

“Ireland is waking up to the benefits of seaweed and what a valuable resource it is, but whether it will ever really appeal as a daily food stuff to people in western societies is the challenge.

“It may never catch on to the same extent as in east and southeast Asia. But all of us who know the benefits, eat seaweed regularly. I felt a cold coming on this week and I had a bowl of Carrageen to stave it off. We know the remedy works.”

PRIZE CATCH: THE WONDER OF SEAWEED AND SEA VEGETABLES
The use of seaweed and sea vegetables in the Irish diet goes back to pre-historic times. Monastic writings from the fifth and sixth centuries tell of dishes that used seaweed. Carrageen, dulse and sloke are the most common seaweeds still eaten. Carrageen or “Irish moss” found on the rocks around our coast is renowned for combating colds, bronchitis and chronic coughs.

New research shows that it may even block the transmission of the HIV virus as well as sexually transmitted viruses. Demand is now outstripping supply, according to the Irish Seaweed Centre in Co Galway, which helps firms with research and development. It sees a bright future for seaweed production here for use as food or in medical, industrial and other applications.

Long-term inclusion of seaweed or sea kelp in our diet can regulate metabolism and energy, stimulate the immune system, cleanse the blood, maintain healthy cellular function, support gland function, especially the thyroid, calm the digestive tract and protect against bacterial and viral infection.

And if that wasn’t enough to encourage us to switch from occasional sushi nibbling to daily seaweed consumption, we are reminded that sea vegetables are virtually fat free, low calorie and one of the richest sources of minerals and fibre. Their inclusion in our diets can help to build and sustain the broad nutritional balance of vitamins, minerals and vital nutrients, even halt the ageing process, according to the experts.

So why aren’t more of us beating a path to health shops or foraging around on sea rocks to stock up? It’s because our knowledge of seaweed’s invaluable properties is not up to par, it seems. But that is all set to change.

Monday 21 March 2011

garden seaweed for feed fertilizer

Wild hand harvested seaweed for use as fertilizer and mulch on gardens and allotments http://ping.fm/wGYtp

carrageen scottish seaweed

carrageen (Chondrus crispus) Irish moss Edible seaweed
http://ping.fm/QC1YH

carrageen scottish seaweed

carrageen (Chondrus crispus) Irish moss Edible seaweed
http://ping.fm/QC1YH

Friday 18 March 2011

Panic buyers seek out salt, seaweed

Japan nuclear plant: Panic buyers seek out salt, seaweed and red wine as rumour fuels fallout fears

As nuclear panic began to spread around the world, pharmacies and supermarkets thousands of miles from Japan began to run out of anything and everything that was even rumoured to prevent radiation poisoning.

Shoppers mob a supermarket to buy salt in Lanzhou, China Photo: AP

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter 7:30AM GMT 18 Mar 2011

Russia saw a run on red wine and seaweed; in China people were buying massive amounts of salt, and chemists as far away as Bulgaria reported shortages of iodine tablets.

No matter how many scientists were wheeled out to reassure people that radiation levels outside Japan would not pose a threat to health, widespread distrust of official advice meant thousands placed more faith in old wives' tales.

In China, the government called for calm after shoppers bought huge quantities of salt in the belief that it contains enough iodine to block radiation.

Potassium iodide tablets, which prevent the body from absorbing radiation, have been handed out in Japan to those living near the stricken Fukushima power plant, and in China iodine is added to salt to help prevent iodine deficiency.

The mere mention of the word iodine was enough to prompt panic buying of salt amid fears that a change in the wind direction could blow a radioactive cloud across China from its near neighbour.

iodine in kelp helps protect against radioactive fallout (apparently)

Fears of nuclear fallout from Japan's quake-crippled nuclear plant have prompted a surge in sales of iodine-rich kelp in Russia's Far East.

Officials say there is no evidence the radiation has spread to Russia's Pacific coast and advise people against taking radiation antidotes. Iodine lessens the amount of radiation the human body can absorb.

Emergency workers continue pouring water on troubled reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to try and avert a meltdown of nuclear cores, but say progress is slow.

Fukushima has been hit a number of explosions since last week's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Seaweed for Gardens and Allotments http://ping.fm/wy9ol

caring for kelp zones

The good condition of seaweed beds is essential to have a sustainable abalone industry. (Photo: Stock File/FIS)

Caring for seaweed zones ensures sustainability of abalone

Click on the flag for more information about Chile

CHILE
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 01:40 (GMT + 9)

The first stage of a survey that was conducted on macro algae in the country revealed the need to care for seaweed meadows in order to avoid exhaustion and to ensure the sustainability of the abalone industry.

"What we look for in this type of project, along with other government initiatives, is to be proactive, so not to wait for natural seaweed grasslands to be massively affected by extraction pressures relating to the resource," said Franklin Pincheira, Aquaculture Engineer at the Catholic University of the North and a consultant at the company Aquaculture Consultant Engineer (A.C.E. Ltd).

The research project, entitled 'Transfer of knowledge and training required for the sustainable development of brown seaweed growing on the coast of Region III from hatchery and planting techniques at sea', was commissioned to Pincheira by theCorporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO), the Corporation for the Development of the Atacama Region (CORPROA) and the Project for Improvement of Competitiveness in the Aquatacama (PMC AquAtacama), reports El Diario de Atacama.

Both government officials and professionals of the aquaculture sector agreed on the need to address this research after identifying that the removal of seaweed historically went hand in hand with natural varazone resources.

"Although there is currently data regarding the consumption of seaweed from abalone and chemical industries, extracting these resources far exceed the same tonnage of seaweed which are removed naturally. That led us to conclude that they were being artificially obtained in natural grasslands, which is a threat to the survival of these banks," said the expert.

Although some seaweed zones can become 50 hectares in size, it is not large enough to withstand the level of extraction.

Pincheira stressed that they "seek to train the workers in the area [farmers and fisherfolk] to have more knowledge about how to handle these grasslands, perpetuated in time, working with technical suspension systems and stocking of seaweed in order to allow them to recover."

For his part, Matías Cassanello, manager of PMC AquAtacama stated that this project will last for a duration of 11 months and will cost around CLP 56 million (USD 114,000). But he said that it will benefit some 500 people and the aquaculture sector of the Atacama.

The first phase lasted two months and had the purpose of seeking the best areas for which to award recipients with pilot installations and the potential Management and Exploitation of Areas for Benthic Resources (AMERB) for testing repopulation.

Nestor Lloyd, director for the Atacama at the National Fisheries Service(Sernapesca), underlined the importance of developing fisheries studies such as those for seaweed, which are vital but which have few technical grounds.

"It helps guide both extraction and marketing and even industry standards requiring adaptability to the changing methods surrounding this activity," he said.

According to Irma Oviedo, Regional Director of CORFO, the most important part of this study is that it will allow "them to know the effective tools in other sectors and will be designed to repopulate those areas which are overexploited due to a lack of technical knowledge and even of regulation."

Finally, Manuel Andrade, a professional at the Fisheries Directorate of Zonal Regions for Atacama and Coquimbo, said: "The delivery of the results for this part of the study has a national importance as the brown seaweed cultivation has become crucial to the exploitation of other species, so it is to facilitate the development of aquaculture aimed at reversing the decline. Any initiative to improve the sector is welcome."

By Analia Muriaseditorial@fis.com
www.fis.com

kombu seaweed for Japanese cookong

Kombu seaweed vitamins A1 B1 B2 B6 B12 C E K, iodine 60 trace elements http://ping.fm/Bs4CP

(NaturalNews) It's happening everywhere now: Potassium Iodide supplements are getting wiped out as people concerned about the possibility of radiation fallout are purchasing them for their own protection. Yesterday evening, we posted a story about an alternative source of iodine -- Nascent Iodine -- and now it has been completely sold out everywhere in North America, too. (Our store was sold out within minutes and now the product is back-ordered with 1,000 more bottles arriving on Monday and another 1,000 four days later.) The U.S. Surgeon General has even publicly supported the idea of buying potassium iodide as a "precaution" in case the radioactive fallout reaches the United States.

In the midst of all this, some sellers are jacking up their prices to exploit the shortage for their own financial gain. One seller hiked his price from $49 / bottle to $499 / bottle on eBay. Another guy was asking $1500!

The NaturalNews Store has been the lowest price on the 'net for Nascent Iodine, and we kept our prices on sale through this entire iodine shortage because we always strive to deliver exceptional values to our customers (and we operate with ethics, too, meaning we don't price gouge just because people are desperate -- shame on all the pricks and shysters who are trying to rip people off in this moment of crisis! They remind me of the price gouging practices of the pharmaceutical industry...).

Remarkably, our Nascent Iodine still sells for just $23 even though the exact same product costs at least 50% more elsewhere (http://store.naturalnews.com/index....). (The manufacturer will only allow us to run this low price for another week or so, after which we will be forced to raise it back to "regular" pricing, which is just under $36 a bottle. We often negotiate incredible discount deals for NaturalNews readers, but the always have a time limit window of opportunity...)

Not surprisingly, at this price we sold out very, very quickly. And now people are asking what else they can consume to increase their intake of natural iodine.

Fortunately, there are several key foods that are very high in iodine -- and no, table salt isn't one of them. To boost your levels of iodine from table salt, you'd practically have to poison yourself with an excess of salt. The best forms of natural iodine, it turns out, are sea vegetables.

And YES, sea vegetables can provide sufficient levels of iodine to help prevent radiation poisoning of your glandular system. One quarter of a teaspoon of organic kelp granules (see below), for example, provides 3mg of iodine (milligrams, not micrograms).

Remember, 1 mg = 1,000 mcg. And the recommended daily intake of iodine is just 150 mcg (micrograms). Dr. David Brownstein recommends a daily intake that is significantly higher -- as much as 6 - 12mg per day, which you can reasonably achieve from eating a planned quantity of sea vegetables. Of course, an iodine supplement such as Nascent Iodine (http://www.naturalnews.com/031708_i...) is going to provide a far larger serving of iodine, which it's why it's worth ordering some and having them on hand for the future.

Sea vegetables with natural iodine: Kelp, Nori, Kombu and Sea Spaghetti

One of the very best natural sources of iodine is Kelp. The NaturalNews Store consistently carries an inventory of Organic Kelp Granules that provide 3mg (yes, milligrams, not micrograms) of iodine in just a 1/4 teaspoon serving.

You can find that product at this link:
http://store.naturalnews.com/index....

We are probably already sold out by the time you read this, but we have 1,000 more bottles arriving on Monday, so if you order now, you can most likely receive them within 10 - 14 working days.

You can also find this same product sold at health food stores and online nutritional retailers. It will be the next iodine source that's sold out as soon as enough people realize that kelp is an abundant source of natural iodine.

This product is normally used as a kind of natural salt shaker, to add a salty taste to soups, salads or just about any meal, by the way. It's a regular superfood source that's also very high in other trace minerals.

All seaweeds contain iodine in a natural state. One of the highest is kombu, which contains up to 2500 mcg (micrograms) per gram of kombu. You can find kombu seaweed at many local health food stores, too. Just soak it in water to reconstitute it, then you can cook it into foods, eat it on a salad, or whatever you want. Cooking does not destroy iodine, so don't be afraid to heat it if you want to. Iodine is a trace mineral, and no minerals are destroyed through high-heat cooking (just vitamins, proteins and other phytonutrients).

Nori sheets (the seaweed sheets used to make sushi) are also a source of iodine, although they only contain about 16mcg per gram. So they're not nearly as iodine rich as kombu. But nori is easy to find and delicious to eat. Make some nori wraps!

Nori is often very easy to find at health food stores, and we also sell it at a special sale price at the NaturalNews Store: http://store.naturalnews.com/index....

Can you overdose on iodine from nori sheets? It's almost impossible to do so. You'd have to eat hundreds of nori sheets at one setting to get that much iodine. And given that most people are chronically deficient in iodine, a person can safely consume up to 50 mg of iodine per day to restore sufficient levels in the body, according to Dr. David Brownstein (yes, 50 milligrams, not micrograms). The U.S. government's "official" numbers on iodine are, just like all the other nutrients, kept artificially low (like with vitamin D) in order to encourage people to actually stay deficient in essential nutrients (http://www.naturalnews.com/030598_v...).

Sea Spaghetti

As luck would have it, we just launched a new seaweed-based superfood product at the NaturalNews Store called Sea Spaghetti. It's made entirely from a natural brown seaweed called himanthalia elongata. It's made in France, and we just got it into our store yesterday.

It's a natural source for many trace minerals, including iodine. Although it's not a huge amount, each 5-gram portion (a very small amount) of sea spaghetti delivers 500 micrograms of iodine (333% of daily value). This is not enough to correct a severe iodine deficiency, but every little bit helps, and even seemingly small portions of this food can start to add up to several milligrams of iodine. It can truly help supply a steady source of iodine to meet your body's nutritional needs.

This is also a fantastic product for completely removing grains and pastas from your diet. You can just make your favorite spaghetti sauces using these sea noodles instead! It contains just 12 calories per serving! (Yes, 12.)

Pick some up at:
http://store.naturalnews.com/index....

The nutrition facts on this product are:

Serving size 5 g
Servings per bag 10
Calories per serving 12
Protein 1.5% DV
Fat 0.4% DV
Fiber 6% DV
Sodium 7% DV
Carbs 0.5% DV
Vitamin C 7% DV
Potassium 13% DV
Magnesium 50% DV
Calcium 3% DV
Iodine 333% DV

DV = Daily Value

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031717_iodine_sea_vegetables.html#ixzz1GkDXJCKJ

Sunday 13 March 2011

New Treating Agents from Kelp

Search for promising treating agents has come a long way from testing all possible substances, hoping, that something would help, to making treatment with given properties in near future. Currently we are between these two stages with choosing from several hundreds substances and then modifying best of them by chemical means.

Sea dwellers have always been promising from a point of view of a treatment hunter. A group of Russian and foreign biologists is focused on studying fucoidans – sulfated polysaccharides from kelp. During studies researchers have tested biological activity of polysaccharides from various types of kelp and found out that Laminaria saccharina, a close relative of edible kelp, was the most promising source of new treating agents. Recent paper in PLoS ONE describes the study very well.

In the beginning of the studies scientists thought that there was only one polysaccharide of their interest. However, after applying fractionation technique researchers showed that what was considered to be one compound turned out to be a mixture of various polysaccharides and extremely varied structure. Researchers successfully isolated main active component of the mixture – it turned out to be fucoidan. Now scientists want to compare biological activity of fucoidan with other polysaccharides, contained in the extracted mixture. Experiments showed that fucoidan had anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic and anticoagulant properties.

As for anticoagulant properties, they aren’t very important for researchers, since plenty of anticoagulant agents already exist. More interesting properties of thepolysaccharide from kelp are anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic activities – fucoidan was demonstrated to prevent blood vessel growth inside a tumor. Mentioned properties were studied in culture and on laboratory animals.

Laminaria saccharina

General mechanism of fucoidan’s anti-inflammatory activity is not a mystery, and researchers have found a protein receptor, responsible for binding with the polysaccharide. How fucoidan prevents blood vessels of tumor from growing – this is the question. Researchers are not going to perform any clinical trials of whole fucoidan molecule, because it is almost impossible to certify a sulfated polysaccharide due to extremely poor reproducibility of some tests. Fucoidan itself will not be a treating agent – its low molecular weight fragments, synthesized by biochemical means, will.

Currently researchers proceed with studying fucoidan by means of computer modeling. They virtually break the polysaccharide into low molecular weight fragments and check whether they are able to bind with mentioned receptors. This study is aimed at identifying parts of the polysaccharide, responsible for a particular therapeutic effect.

After mentioned studies promising from a therapeutic point of view fragments of fucoidan will be synthesized in laboratory conditions. Techniques, developed in the Institute of Organic Chemistry of Russian academy of sciences, allow synthesizing long fragments of polysaccharides. Such fragment will later be tested on laboratory animals, and the best ones become the basis for human treating agents.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

the aphrodisiac power of seaweed

seaweed

the aphrodisiac power of

seaweed

There is evidence of seaweed’s appreciation as a potent aphrodisiac by many cultures around the world and through the ages. The ancient Roman poet Juvenal advised arguing lovers to douse their anger with a snack of seaweed. In Shakespearean times, the bountiful vegetables of the sea were celebrated throughout England.
In the Caribbean, a traditional drink still enjoyed today is an aphrodisiac potion made from Irish moss (a variety of seaweed named for its moss-like appearance) with milk. In some regions, rum and spices are added for extra potency. The drink is so popular that one clever manufacturer has mass-marketed the seaweed drink, selling it in cans. In Belize you’ll get a wink and a giggle for just mentioning a desire for seaweed. In Tobago, you’ll get a scoop of it made into ice cream, served on a cone.
And while culinary use of seaweed is reserved for dairy products in the Caribbean, in Japan, seaweed is served as a salad, a wrapper for sushi and even dried and used as a salt-like seasoning. In New England, seaweed is used to steam shellfish at clambakes. A variety commonly called sea lettuce can be dried until crisp and served much like paper-thin potato chips.
From a nutritional standpoint, it is easy to see why seaweed is classified as an aphrodisiac the world over. Low in fat and calories, it is rich in vitamin B1, which combats fatigue and depression. Seaweed’s B2 content aids in hormone production.
Seaweed boasts a dose of vitamin E, which helps in maintenance of healthy sperm by fighting free radicals in the sperm membrane. (It can take as much as three months of steady vitamin E doses to reap this reward). E has also proven useful in helping regulate the function of sex glands. In addition, seaweed contains soluble fiber, iodine and selenium. Nori, the seaweed prominent in sushi restaurants, is valued for its protein content which composes as much as 30% of this seaweed’s dry weight. Lastly, seaweed is a good source of manganese, a mineral known to help maintain a healthy sex drive.

Sunday 6 February 2011

another mile stone in the seaweed revolution

Seaweed cuisine on crest of a wave

Published Date: 06 February 2011

By Emma Cowing

IT'S slimy, smelly and Scottish, and it's coming soon to a dinner plate near you.

• Rich bounty: Iain Mckellar at work harvesting seaweed on the Isle of Bute by cutting it with a clam shell. People want to eat the nutritious sea vegetable he says, they just don't know it yet. Photograph: Robert Perry

Scottish seaweed, best known as a slippery hazard at the seaside but now rechristened "sea vegetable," is on track to become one of the restaurant world's most fashionable dishes.

The surge in popularity follows former milkman Iain McKellar setting himself up as Scotland's only commercial seller of a range of edible seaweeds including kombu, bladderwrack and carrageen from his base on Bute. He is now inundated with orders from top London restaurants.

McKellar, who just 18 months ago was on the dole after being made redundant from his job driving a milk lorry, now harvests 18 varieties of seaweed from the beach outside the island capital Rothesay, where he cuts them off the rocks with a clam shell.

After setting up his business online, McKellar's seaweed is on the menu at some of the top restaurants in the country, including Michelin-starred eateries such as Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley in London, L'enclume in Cumbria and The Burlington in Yorkshire. He has also fielded interest from Scotland's Michelin-starred chefs Andrew Fairlie, and George McIvor, a former chairman of the Master Chefs of Great Britain.

It has now become so popular Mckellar will this month start foraging courses to teach chefs how to source sea "vegetables" themselves.

"When I started out I couldn't understand why people were buying imported foreign dried seaweed when we're surrounded by the fresh stuff and it's all edible," said Mckellar. "Seaweed is a beautiful, nutritious, fresh vegetable. People want to eat seaweed - they just don't know it yet."

There are more than 100 varieties in the waters around Scotland, but they have been traditionally shunned as food. Seaweed has experienced a recent rise in popularity in culinary circles after Danish restaurant Noma, recently ranked the world's number one restaurant ahead of Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck, started using sea vegetables on its menu. Blumenthal also recently released a range of stocks for Waitrose that include kombu, as well as a beef, ale and kombu pie.

"There are so many uses for sea vegetables," said John Quigley, head chef and proprietor at Glasgow's Red Onion Bistro. "The problem is I don't think a lot of people see beyond the fact that it's a sea vegetable and it comes out the sea and it's slimy. That's the problem."

Roy Brett, head chef at Edinburgh seafood restaurant Ondine, agreed. He said: "I really like working with sea vegetables. They do have a place on the menu. They give you so many nutrients and vitamins and we always get so many great comments when we use seaweed in our dishes. People enjoy it.It's got great flavour."

Mckellar is now hoping to supply more top restaurants and hopes his foraging courses will create even more demand. "We'll get them in their wellies and down to the shore to see what it's actually like," he said.

He added: "Seaweed is not a convenience food, and that's perhaps one of the reasons it's not had the huge surge of popularity until now. There is quite a bit of effort involved, you've got to cut it at a particular time of day, use the clam shell, wash it and rinse it - but it is all worth the effort."

Brett believes there needs to be a change in attitudes to how consumers treat local produce such as seaweed. He said: "We import herbs and salads from Israel yet we've got people out there on our own doorstep putting money into their own economy. We really should be supporting them rather than buying things that have travelled the world."

One dish on Wareing's Berkeley menu that includes seaweed involves Scottish lobster, squash, sea beet and lobster bisque.

Monday 24 January 2011

Philippines catch on while we do nothing

Lanao Norte farmers shift to seaweeds

January 23, 2011, 4:16pm

TUBOD, Lanao del Norte, Philippines – With the strong support of the Lanao del Norte provincial government, many local farmers and fishermen in the province have shifted to seaweed growing which they discovered to be not only more profitable but also less physically laborious, it was learned here recently.

Lanao del Norte Gov. Khalid Q. Dimaporo, with the technical assistance of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), recently implemented the Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency and Employment Program (CLEEP) for seaweed farming in the coastal towns of Kolambugan, Tubod, Maranding, Bacolod, Lala, and Karomatan.

Dimaporo said that in Kolambugan’s seaside village of Manga alone, at least 75 families initially became seaweed growers who received their seedlings from the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO) in this capital town.

The positive impact of PAO’s initial seaweed distribution in Manga, Dimaporo said, prompted other local families to troop to this town to secure their own seedlings even as similar moves were later taken by other villagers from other coastal municipalities until the PAO could hardly cope with the demand for seaweed seedlings.

Dimaporo reported that the DoST recently allocated close to P1 million for the expansion of the local seaweed farming project to more than 300 new family beneficiaries.

He said the PAO has extended the distribution of more seaweed seedlings to recipient families in the villages Simbucao, Mukas,Tabigue, Manga, Pgcaranas, and Taguiguiron. (Tony Pe. Rimando)

Thursday 20 January 2011

HHMMM seaweed dosnt stink untill it rots

Around 15 million tonnes of cultivated wet seaweed are used each year by international seaweed manufacturers for products such as nutraceuticals and traditional Asian foods. Source: The Daily Telegraph

IT'S not mother nature's prettiest work and when it washes up on the beach it stinks but it could just be Australia's next cash cow.

A Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation report has identified a potential export market for seaweed. The global edible seaweed industry is worth $6 billion a year.

The algae is also used to produce pharmaceuticals, health foods and various agricultural products.

Report co-author and Wollongong University's Shoalhaven Marine and Freshwater Centre director Pia Winberg said Australia imported about $20 million of edible seaweed each year, most of it already processed.

One Australian company is already producing pharmaceuticals from seaweed and a Tasmanian firm is making agricultural products, but both rely on costly imports, she said.

Not only are our unpolluted waters perfect for growing seaweed, Australia is home to two types of nori, which is used to make sushi, and other native species have been found to contain cancer fighting and anti-diabetes properties, she said.

"We have a lot of very clean, untouched waters and we could be using that to target the very clean, green food markets.""It's probably the niche markets that will suit us," Dr Winberg said.

And the seaweed revolution might not be restricted to our pristine coastline. Our saline-affected countryside could also be used to grow seaweed.

"There's great potential for inland areas," she said.

"The problem is that inland salty waters can be quite different to sea water, with higher levels of iron and not as much potassium."

yer ok but fresh is best

Studies prompt interest in seaweed as salt replacer

By Jess Halliday, 19-Jan-2011

Interest in seaweed granules as a salt replacer has soared in the last year, according to the producer, as the first results of a UK government-funded study indicate high consumer acceptability of various bread in which it replaced 50 or 100 per cent of the salt.

The Outer Hebridean Seaweed Company, which produces Seagreens branded consumer products and ingredients from Arctic wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) attracted UK government funding funder the Food Innovation Project in 2007 to conduct research into the seaweed’s potential use as a salt replacer in consumer food products.

The positive findings on taste and preservation were presented at the Chester Food and Environmental Science Week in 2010, and have been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology. Seaweed granules were successfully used to replace up to 100 per cent of the sodium chloride.

Simon Ranger, managing director of Seagreens, told FoodNavigator.com that interest from the food industry has mushroomed since the event in Chester. Its ingredient is distributed by Gee Lawson.

“At this stage we are sticking our head above the parapet for the first time,” saidRanger. “We started out specialty and organic, we are now becoming mainstream”.

He revealed that the company is talking to two of the top five UK supermarkets about using the seaweed granules in baked goods. There are many solutions on the market for reducing salt content in foods, including mineral complexes, as the industry is working to a tough mandate to reduce sodium chloride levels in packaged and prepared products.

But the good performance of the Seagreens granules is attributed to its “perfect balance of minerals”.

Ranger described it as “like an extremely rich and very balanced salt – which salt isn’t, it’s just sodium chloride”.

In addition, the polysaccharides in the seaweed have effect on shelf-life and preservation.

Some trials using Seagreens granules have also been conducted in meat products, like sausages, cheese, and ready meals, but the research with Sheffield Hallam focused on bread because that is where the most pressing need is for salt reduction solutions.

Study findings

The research with Sheffield Hallam, led by Dr Andrew Fairclough, concluded that“as well as maintaining the taste of the food, Seagreens dried granulated seaweed also helped to preserve it, potentially lengthening its shelf life in a similar way to salt”.

Fairclough’s team studied different forms of seaweed in different kinds of loaves, assessing bake and sensory qualities, and rheology. FoodNavigator.com has not seen the full results and methodology, but the initial communication indicates that wholemeal bread slices with 50:50 coarse seaweed granules:salt were preferred by 67 per cent of panellists to “normal salt control”.

Seventy five per cent of panellists preferred white bread with the sesaweed granules to the regular approach.

In sundried tomato and basil bread, the researchers were able to replace 100 per cent of the salt with Seagreens; in this case, there was only 0.3g sodium choloride per 100g bread.

Foundation

Seagreens set up an independent research foundation to conduct more research into seaweed in 2009, with Sheffield Hallam as the first partner.

Ranger’s company puts 20 per cent of ingredient sales into the foundation, representing a small contribution to research costs to be supplemented by government funding and other industry partners.

Ranger called it “a non-profit forum, to share the costs of doing research.”

He said that the main interest is in the role seaweed can play in nutrition, as it is “a wonderful, natural whole food”. In addition, he believes it could be used in foods for special diets, as seaweed contains the same nutrients as are present in wheat and milk, but without the allergens.

The foundation is experimenting with other forms of seaweed which have different properties and nutritional profiles – and which could prove useful either alone or in combination with others.

Friday 23 September 2011

Friday 16 September 2011

Monday 4 July 2011

Monday 27 June 2011

Sunday 26 June 2011

Saturday 25 June 2011

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Saturday 14 May 2011

Sunday 24 April 2011

Monday 11 April 2011

Sunday 10 April 2011

Saturday 9 April 2011

Friday 8 April 2011

Tuesday 22 March 2011

The sea can feed the world

Monday 21 March 2011

Friday 18 March 2011

Japan nuclear plant: Panic buyers seek out salt, seaweed and red wine as rumour fuels fallout fears

As nuclear panic began to spread around the world, pharmacies and supermarkets thousands of miles from Japan began to run out of anything and everything that was even rumoured to prevent radiation poisoning.

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Sunday 13 March 2011

Tuesday 1 March 2011

seaweed

the aphrodisiac power of

seaweed

Sunday 6 February 2011

Seaweed cuisine on crest of a wave

Monday 24 January 2011

Lanao Norte farmers shift to seaweeds

Thursday 20 January 2011

Studies prompt interest in seaweed as salt replacer

Interest in seaweed granules as a salt replacer has soared in the last year, according to the producer, as the first results of a UK government-funded study indicate high consumer acceptability of various bread in which it replaced 50 or 100 per cent of the salt.

The sea can feed the world