WHAT IS FUCOIDAN AND DO YOU NEED IT?

WHAT IS FUCOIDAN?

Fucoidan is a sulfated viscous polysaccharide, a main component of brown seaweeds such as wakame, kombu, and mozuku. It was discovered by Professor Kylin at Uppsala University in Sweden in 1913, which he described as a slippery kelp and a type of soluble fiber.

Chemically, the major component of fucoidan is sulfated fucose and other sugars such as galactose, mannose, xylose, uronic acid that are bound together. Fucoidan is a raw material of dietary supplements, functional food, and food additives. It has shown to lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent blood vessel damage by excreting cholesterol; thus this also prevents in advance lifestyle diseases caused by obesity. In addition, studies done in Japan and the United States reported that fucoidan has anticoagulation activity, antitumor activity, peptic ulcer prevention, antimicrobial activity, balancing blood pressure, inducing hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) activity, lowering blood sugar activity, anti-allergic activity and antiviral activity.

It has also been reported that fucoidan is especially effective in healing 70-80% of gastrointestinal cancers and it is recognized as an excellent adjutant substance for most cancer types. Since the day fucoidan was introduced as a substance which has the ability to induce cancer cells to self-destruct in the 55th Japan Cancer Society Conference in 1996, extensive research on Fucoidan has been done. As of April 2014, about 1,140 research papers and reports have been reported in the National Library of Mediine’s database.

WHO MAY BENEFIT FROM FUCOIDAN?

• People with high blood pressure and diabetes: Fucoidan is useful for regulating blood pressure and lowering blood sugar activity
• People who are going through cancer treatments: chemotherapy and radiotherapy can have negative effects on patients; therefore, taking fucoidan helps with these adverse side effects of cancer treatments, and thus help patients to have enough energy and a stronger immune system to finish their cancer treatments.
• People who suffer from viral infections: fucoidan exhibits viral inhibition in early stages of infection and also represents a potential low-toxicity level, which can make fucoidan an ideal compound for treatments as it does not interfere with other antiviral drugs
• People whose cancer has metastasized: fucoidan prevents cancer from making new blood vessels and inhibits the cancer from spreading to other organs; fucoidan such as mekabu fucoidan is quite effective in suppressing cancer angiogenesis, which may help stop cancer from spreading further.
• Healthy people: whether your family has a history of cancer or not, it is still best to take preventive actions, one of which is to take fucoidan to boost your immune system and general health. You may not notice the effects of fucoidan immediately after taking fucoidan, but in the long run, it will pay off to have a strong immune system.