High cholesterol treated with TCM sargassum seaweed

What is sargassum seaweed(Hai Zao)? Medicinally it mainly refers to the dried seaweed of Sargassum pallidum (Turn.) C. Ag., Or Sargassum fusiforme (Harv.) Setch., two types of seaweed in the family Sargasso. Other common name of this herb includes Herba Sargassii, gulfweed, and brown seaweed. It is generally acknowledged that the best harvesting time is summer and autumn. And next it needs to remove the impurities, wash clean, and dry in the sun.

Sargassum, a cryptogam in the plant kingdom, is a type of algae usually found in coral reefs and shallow water. Algae absorb sunlight for photosynthesis to produce energy. It is generally considered a simple plant, mainly characterized as no vascular tissue, no real root, stem, leaf’s differentiation; no flowering, no fruits and seeds; genitals without specialized conservation organizations and spores or gametes often directly produced from a single cell; and no embryo formation. Due to its simple structure, it is classified into lower plant’s thallophyte along with fungus.

Sargassum seaweed health benefits
Sea vegetables, such as sargassum, kelp, nori, enteromorpha, undaria pinnatifida, eucheuma, contain essential proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. That’s to say, it nutritional value is much higher than the terrestrial vegetables. This is simply because seaweed takes advantage of photosynthesis to turn all the inorganic into organic matter and thus it contains some compounds that are not available in terrestrial vegetables. And today, there are many seaweed food products available, such as low-carb diet, salad, supplement, snacks, powder, and capsules used for weight loss and a variety of other medicinal purposes. Else, it can serve as facial mask, fertilizer and biosorbent for heavy metals too. And its pharmacological actions can reveal the mechanism behind its amazing healing properties.

Modern sargassum algae pharmacology
1. It contains iodide, which has wonderful therapeutic effect on iodine deficiency induced endemic goiter. And it can temporarily inhibit hyperthyroidism and increased basal metabolic rate;
2. Sodium alginate sulfate contained can resist Hyperlipidemia, lower serum cholesterol and reduce Atherosclerosis;
3. Its water exact has antihypertensive effect;
4. Alginic acid contained has a heparin-like effect, manifested as antagonizing blood coagulation, resisting thrombus, lowering blood viscosity and improving microcirculation;
5. Sargassum fusiforme inhibits Bacillus subtilis;
6. Algal polysaccharides has inhibition on typeⅠherpes simplex virus (HSV).