INTRODUCTION TO SEAWEED
by I. Yaychuk-Arabei, PhD, MH. RNC
There are several hundred species of seaweed (kelp). Only a handful of these kelp, nori, moss and dulse are familiar to North Americans. Seaweeds are nonpoisonous, although not always palatable. We assume that people living close to the sea (e.g., Japanese, Scandinavians, or Irish) consume seaweeds. They are not the only ones, however. Several decades ago, Dr. Weston Price, a dentist, found that natives of the high Andes carried a small bag attached to the neck. In it was a greenish-brown substance, a quantity of which was consumed everyday. The substance was seaweed obtained from coastal Indians. In spite of the difficulty in obtaining such seaweed, these extraordinarily healthy dwellers of the high Andes would not do without it.
The sea contains in solution every element necessary to maintain healthy life. Thus, seaweeds are considered the most nutritious plants on earth. Their nutritive values greatly exceed those found in other food sources - and are in an organic form that humans can readily utilize. Seaweeds are especially rich in calcium and iodine. It also supplies chromium (essential for glucose utilization), zinc (for collagen strength and health skin), iron, potassium, copper, sulphur, silver, tin, zirconium, phosphorous, and silicon (crucial to skin elasticity), magnesium, manganese, boron, bromides, and other trace minerals necessary for health.