Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) is a miraculous health treasure from the sea accommodating a well-balanced amount of nutritional values including minerals, trace elements, and it is particularly marked with its beneficial properties of iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, potassium and copper. It contributes to satisfy the recommended daily doses of vitamins in addition to containing significant properties of beta-carotene and vitamin B12. In fact, wakame is dark green seaweed which helps prevent osteoporosis and anemia, enhance the immune system while promoting the well-being of the human body.
Wakame is dark green seaweed highly packed with iron, calcium, iodine, folate and protein, in addition to copper, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Besides that, wakame contributes to meet the recommended daily requirement of vitamins, trace elements and especially beta-carotene and vitamin B12. This is another reason why wakame has been touted as the “health treasure from the sea” for its powerful nutritional properties that help to prevent anemia and osteoporosis.
Wakame is a Nutritional Powerhouse for Calcium
As an excellent source of calcium that is easily to assimilated by the human body, each 100 grams of raw wakame contains 150 milligrams of calcium. Also, wakame contains higher level of vital minerals such as magnesium essential for calcium absorption due to its ability to stimulate the production of calcitonin, the hormone which helps increase calcium in the bones. Apart from that, wakame is a great source for natural vitamin D, which also helps enhance calcium absorption making it essential for bone health and muscle function.
Wakame is Not Just Seaweed
Wakame is not just seaweed growing on top of the sea bed; its well-balanced nutrients play an important role in preventing blood clotting, breast cancer, hyperlipidema (a medical condition which shows elevated fats/cholesterol level in the bloodstream) and obesity. It is also such an amazing food that has beneficial effects on stroke, hypertension (high blood pressure), viral infections, tumors, oxidation and inflammation while promoting a good immune system. With such tremendous health benefits, wakame is an ideal diet for patients with diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is certainly a valuable, perfect ingredient to be added in a daily meal for people of any age, particularly vegans and vegetarians. In addition, phytochemicals present in wakame help to reduce the risk of degenerative diseases, including heart disease and cancer.
Easily Assimilated Iron
Wakame, with its higher deposits of folate, copper and beta-carotene, dramatically enhances iron absorption by the body. This is because iron is most effectively absorbed when foods high in beta-carotene, copper and/ or folate are eaten simultaneously.
Each 100 grams of raw wakame contains 2.2 milligrams of iron. Hence, the regular addition of wakame into the daily diets, especially for those who are vegetarians and vegans do help replenish and maintain body stores of iron, thereby preventing anemia.
Wakame is a Non-animal Source of Vitamin B12
A lack of vitamin B12 can lead to a fatal form of anemia, commonly known as pernicious anemia. This situation happens when the stomach fails to absorb vitamin B12, which will ultimately cause an abnormal formation of red blood cells, lesions of the spinal cord and gastrointestinal disturbance. As such, wakame has been found to be one of the very few non-animal sources that are loaded with vitamin B12 to help curb the occurrence of aforementioned circumstance.
Wakame is a safety Absorption net from Excessive Iron Intake
While absorbing heme iron found in meats, fish and poultry, our body takes the iron rapidly in an unvarying rate regardless of whether our body needs it or not. As a result, we tend to overdose on iron from eating animal based foods. In contrast, our body takes much higher amounts of non-heme iron found in plant based foods more slowly because our body will regulate the amount of non-heme iron that will be absorbed into the body. Therefore, when consuming iron from plant sources, such as wakame, we help protect ourselves from possible excessive iron intake.
Large amounts of iron can act as an oxidizing agent and cause free radical damage and genetic mutation in our cells and blood vessels as well. Iron overdose has been linked to iron toxicity. Hence, excessive iron intake has been scientifically proven to be a potential risk of getting illnesses like cancer and coronary heart disease.
When we consume iron from animal sources, we are actually putting ourselves in a greater risk of overdose of iron. In fact the body lacks safety measures of turning down the absorption rate when in excess.
Getting Calcium from Plant Sources like Wakame
Often, we believe that dairy products such as milk are an indispensable calcium source and without it, we consider our intake of calcium will fall short. Well, not all medical experts agree with this conventional statement.
To date, plants foods like wakame not only provide significant amounts of calcium but also a wealth of protective substances such as phytochemicals. The calcium obtained from wakame is by far the best alternative since it does not cause the calcium-robbing proteins as it is commonly found in animal foods. That’s why; vegans and vegetarians who eat a varied diet that has wakame included in their daily diet need not worry over inadequate amounts of calcium intake.
Calcium Intake from Wakame does not interfere with Calcium Absorption
In regards to the dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for calcium, the US Food and Nutritional Board of the Institute of Medicine suggests that people until 50 years of age, adults of both genders should maintain their daily calcium intake of 1,000 milligrams. Despite that, people have been able to maintain a satisfactory calcium intake as little as 200 to 400 milligrams daily.
Generally, Calcium requirement for an individual is actually influenced by high protein intake. Foods high in protein from animal sources have been seen to markedly give rise to the amount of calcium loss from the body daily. Specifically, consumption of animal products and animal proteins are the main culprit that can cause a drastic increase of calcium excretion via human’s excretory system in the form of urine, feces, and sweat and hence heightening risks of bone fracture and osteoporosis.
In addition to the above explanation, saturated fats are main ingredients primarily found present in all animal-based foods. And the saturated fats here have been associated with heart disease. Rather, the combination of saturated fats with calcium can form compounds called soap-like emulsifier, preventing calcium from being absorbed while depressing digestibility of fecal matter.
As protein-rich animal-based meals tend to have higher saturated fats, calcium is prone to being lost before it is absorbed into the body. Apparently, plant foods such as wakame do not interfere with calcium absorption since they contain neither cholesterol nor fats. Also, calcium derived from wakame does not increase calcium excretion via urine, feces and sweat, the same way as proteins from animal-based foods do, even though they may be consumed at higher amounts. This explanation gives a solid reason for its well-absorbed calcium into the body.
In another case, we have seen an example of young adults, who had a protein intake of 48 grams daily, had no significant case of net loss of calcium, although the calcium level in their diet was as low as 500 milligrams. In contrary, a typical calcium intake of 112 grams among Americans on a diet high in protein has caused a substantial loss of calcium in their urine and feces, even though their calcium intakes were over 1,400 milligrams per day.
Clearly, getting calcium and iron from plants sources is a good choice to help prevent anemia and osteoporosis.
