DEEP WATER MEDICINE
Tangleweed and sugar wrack, two sea weeds, are high in iodine, supporting the work of the tyroid gland.
August/September 1999
By KATRIN BODYIKOGLU
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On the shores of Nova Scotia and north on the Atlantic coast, and from California to Alaska on the Pacific coast, there thrives two seaweed plants commonly called tangleweed and sugar wrack.
Tangleweed has a slender, horny stem that is brown to olive green in color and divided into numerous fingers. Sugar wrack has a single shiny brown to olive green blade, which can grow up to 15 feet long. What these two seaweeds have in common is that they both are members of the kelp family—plants with a rich tradition of nutritional and medicinal uses.
In fact, kelp hit the spotlight a few years back when a dental researcher was engaged in an international study of tooth decay. Among his subjects were tribal peoples living at 16,000 feet in the Andes Mountains of Peru. While working with these tribes, he noticed that each individual carried a little bag. Out of curiosity, he looked into the bags and discovered ... kelp. When he asked his study subjects why they had made the long trip from the mountains to the ocean to bring back this seaweed, they replied simply, "To guard the heart."
Somewhere in their ancient tradition these tribal peoples had made a discovery that now finds support in modern biochemical research. Kelp, a seaweed rich in iodine, calcium and other minerals, can be of great value in maintaining a healthy heart.
But there's more to the story. In the 1950s, a Cornell professor of agricultural chemistry, George Cavanaugh conducted research on chickens and discovered that when hens were given kelp supplements, they produced better eggs with harder shells. Cavanaugh's research led to studies on humans, which showed that fractured bones tend to fuse more quickly when patients are given a dietary seaweed supplement. More specifically, the researchers concluded, the healing time of fractures can be reduced by 20% by giving patients a daily dose of kelp.
Why does this little-known plant work so well? Dr. D.C. Jarvis, author of Folk Medicine (Galahad, 1996), points out that the composition of the human body and of seawater are the same. it's only practical, he suggests, that we should turn to the sea to supplement our mineral needs.
