How many times have you heard the phrase”Eat/Finish your greens/vegetables?” It doesn’t really matter where or when you heard it because frankly I think it is a very common one – one that the little ones have to hear/be reminded off constantly (some kids hear it every day over dinner)! But how many times have you heard someone go “eat your sea veges/ sea greens!” Well I say not often enough.
Sea greens or sea vegetables are just fancy names for the greens that grow in the sea. However unlike the ‘land vegetables’ that are of many sorts and types, sea greens are just seaweed. And despite being referenced as ‘vegetables’, seaweeds aren’t plants at all, instead they are actually algae.
Now there may be many species of seaweed (even kelp is a kind of seaweed), but sea vegetables really are just referring to that entire family of algae. And if you think it’s name is deceiving (calling an algae a vegetable) then think again because the name granted to the sea cucumber (Holothuroidea) is even more misleading. Sea cucumbers aren’t at all the ‘ocean’ relative of land cucumbers, they are marine animals with radiating parts!
So back to sea greens. Many of us know it as a rich source of iodine with concentrations that are 100-1000 times higher than that found in fish. But what we don’t realise is how it’s also rich in Vitamins C, niacin, B1, B2, B6 and B12, calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium, iodine, iron and zinc.
We consume seaweed as snacks (you know those dehydrated pieces of crisps?), make delicious meals (seaweed soup is brilliant!) and take them in capsules as supplements. Seaweed is generally more popular among the Asian culture as they identified with the algae’s beneficial properties and have been reaping them since the ancient Chinese and Japanese times.
But that’s just the “old” benefits…because latest discovery has shown that seaweeds give promise of greener cosmetics through the development of a comprehensive range of hair colorants and hair and skin care agents. And this is not just a ‘scientific dream’ or an undeliverable promise because The Technology Strategy Board is confident that in just a short period of 2 years time, green cosmetics will be successfully derived from British seaweeds using sustainable technology (life cycle from source, through production, to end use and appropriate disposal).
If you want to stay updated with the progress then visit the Shetland seaweed company Bod Ayre who is leading the project.
