What is Kelp powder?

What is Kelp powder?
Kelp powder, a type of seaweed, is also known as "kunbu" or "river cabbage" in Chinese. It gets its name from growing in seawater with a soft, ribbon-like texture. Low in cost and rich in nutrients, it is an important marine resource. China is currently the world's largest kelp farming country, but kelp is not native to China. It originated in the Oyashio cold current basins of the Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, including the Kuril Islands, Japan's Hokkaido, and the Pacific coast of northern Honshu. Introduced to China in the 1920s, it gradually adapted to China's marine environment and began to reproduce naturally. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the state attached great importance to the kelp industry, successively overcoming a series of technical difficulties such as kelp seedling cultivation, raft culture, and southward cultivation, which enabled the rapid development of the kelp farming industry. In 2022, China's kelp output reached 1.431 million tons, accounting for 52.7% of the total output of algae cultivation in China (source: 2023 China Fishery Statistical Yearbook). It is mainly distributed in Fujian, Shandong, and Liaoning provinces, where the kelp farming output accounts for more than 90% of the national total. Every year from March to July, it is a busy harvest season for kelp in China. Mature kelp, attached to breeding rafts and growing upside down in seawater, stretches from coastal waters to several kilometers offshore. From an aerial view, the dark "kelp fields" are neatly arranged and stretch as far as the eye can see. We all know that kelp is a nutritious dish, but in recent years, with the rapid development of the health product industry, kelp has been extracted into kelp extract powder and made into various health products or functional foods, which are convenient to eat and carry. So what nutritional components are there in these extracted kelp products?
The main nutritional components of kelp extract include active substances such as brown algae polysaccharides, mannitol, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals.
· Brown algae polysaccharides: Kelp extract is rich in brown algae polysaccharides (such as laminarin, fucoidan, etc.), which have biological activities such as antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-tumor, and blood sugar regulation effects, and can enhance immunity and help prevent diseases.
· Mannitol: The extract contains mannitol, a natural sweet substance with a sweetness about 60% that of sucrose. It has a diuretic effect, can promote the growth of beneficial intestinal flora, and improve the intestinal microecological environment.
· Amino acids and vitamins: Kelp extract contains various amino acids (such as glycine, alanine, etc.) and vitamins (such as B vitamins, vitamin A, vitamin C, etc.). Among them, B vitamins are crucial for energy metabolism and nervous system function.
· Minerals: It is rich in minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. The calcium content is particularly prominent, which is beneficial to bone health, and it also contains active substances that promote calcium absorption.
Kelp extract powder has the following benefits:
1. Anti-radiation: Kelp polysaccharide, an extract of kelp, has an anti-radiation effect by inhibiting the apoptosis of immune cells.
2. Preventing goiter: Kelp is rich in iodine, an essential trace element for the human body and a raw material for synthesizing thyroid hormones. Eating kelp can prevent goiter caused by long-term iodine deficiency, and it can also help prevent and reduce gray hair.
3. Delaying aging: Kelp is rich in calcium and iodine, which are helpful for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. The combination of these two elements can not only beautify the skin but also delay aging.
4. Brain-boosting and intelligence-enhancing: Kelp contains taurine, which plays a very important role in children's brain development and growth. The brown surface layer of kelp also contains glutamic acid, which promotes children's development, with a content 30 times higher than that of cod liver oil. It can nourish the brain and help children grow healthily.
5. Promoting intestinal health: Kelp is rich in cellulose, which can promptly remove waste and toxins in the intestines, thus effectively preventing rectal cancer and constipation.
However, excessive consumption of kelp may also have some adverse effects on the body, including excessive iodine intake, indigestion, and metal residues.
1. Excessive iodine intake: Kelp is a food rich in iodine. Excessive iodine intake may lead to hyperthyroidism or other thyroid problems. For people already suffering from thyroid diseases, excessive iodine intake may aggravate their condition.
2. Indigestion: Kelp contains some soluble dietary fiber. Excessive consumption may cause indigestion, abdominal distension, abdominal pain, and other problems.
3. Metal residues: Kelp may absorb metal elements from the environment during growth, such as arsenic and mercury. Excessive intake of kelp may lead to the accumulation of these metals in the body, posing a potential threat to health.
China is one of the world's largest producers and consumers of kelp. With the promotion of healthy diets and the popularity of kelp as a traditional ingredient, domestic market demand for kelp continues to grow, especially in southern and coastal regions.
Japan and South Korea have a huge demand for kelp, where it is a core component of daily meals. Traditional dishes such as kelp soup and kelp rice remain widely popular.
Kelp consumption in Europe and America is mainly driven by trends in healthy food, vegetarianism, and plant-based diets. As kelp is widely recognized as a superfood, it has enormous growth potential in European and American markets.
The scale of China's kelp market has been growing steadily, rising from 62.06 billion yuan in 2016 to 108.76 billion yuan in 2019, with a growth rate of 75.2%. By 2023, the scale of China's kelp market had reached 124 billion yuan.
At present, products related to kelp extract are very common in the health product market, which shows that people's attention to the nutritional and health benefits of kelp extract is constantly increasing. It is hoped that everyone will pay more attention to nutritional matching in daily life, intake scientifically and reasonably, and comprehensively improve immunity. It is also hoped that China's kelp health products and related products will go global, step onto the world stage, and develop better and better!