As well as playing an important role harbouring fish food and acting as a cleaning agent in our seas, seaweeds from Scotland are increasingly eaten by us in many everyday products.
Seaweed is something I have been aware of as a growth area in functional foods with benefits to the skin and ‘beauty from within’ products. It has also been shown to prevent obesity and high blood pressure (reducing the risk of stroke) in trials on women in Japan.
A 25-year study of the longest-lived population, the Okinawans, who have clear arteries, low cholesterol and low homocysteine levels (a heart-damaging chemical), showed that sea vegetables were among the 7-10 portions of fruit and vegetables this population eat daily.
Dr Jane Teas of Harvard University published a paper saying that kelp consumption might be a factor in the lower rates of breast cancer in Japan, and she is now researching the effects of seaweed as a natural replacement for HRT.
The Seaweed Health Foundation Exhibition event is being hosted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, from 14-15 September and is a good opportunity for food industry professionals to meet people who work in various aspects of a growing British seaweed industry.
In Ireland and the Caribbean, seaweed-based drinks and soups are drunk regularly as a tonic after illness. It is also said to go well with sushi, tofu, miso soup, salads, vegetable dishes and stir-fries, and as a side plate with greens.
It might be worth learning a little more about it though before you trot down to the sea to find a bundle and rinse off the sand. We will be busy preparing the FoodBev Media stand and the Beverage Innovation Awards at Drinktec in Munich while this exhibition is on, but if any of you would like to report back on it or give your views on seaweed’s potential in functional foods, we will be running an article on this subject in a future issue of Beverage Innovation Magazine.
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