Questions about sea vegetables

[kurt28]

I heard sea vegetable are suppose to be really nutritious and chalked full of minerals. But, I was wondering if sea vegetable are safe. If the fish have heavy metal toxins in them like mercury, then what about the sea vegetables? Do they obsorb these heavy metals?

They put dulse in Ann Wigmore's Energy soup. What are some other popular kinds of sea vegetables other than dulse?

I baught some dulse at a health food store but it was dehydrated. Are sea vegetables always sold dehydrated? Does it lose it's nutritional value when dehydrated?

I guess there consumed because of their high mineral content. Any recommendations on how much to consume daily?

How do you incorparate them into your diet? What do you do with them?

Thank you for help.

[DebB]

Hi kurt28 ~ I can help with your last 2 questions. I find sea veggies taste pretty strong, but I find (so far) that I can use dulse, nori and arame successfully.

Dulse I buy dulse in a shaker jar (http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/470/) and flakes in a bag (http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/469/). I add these as I would a seasoning, just sprinkling them on salads and such.

Nori ~ I buy the untoasted sheets and make nori rolls. These are the strongest of the three I eat. Once in a while I will crumble up a sheet onto a salad if it's got flavors in the salad that will tone down the nori's flavor.

The other veggie I use is arame (http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/6829/). I soak it for a couple hours and make this salad. I find the arame has no outstanding (strong) flavor in this salad and I really enjoy it! My husband loves this salad too and so do other family members who have tried it.

My tweaks are under the recipe *Ü*

Raw Food Recipe - Cucumber Arame Salad
This recipe is adapted from Donna Gates’ The Body Ecology Diet.


1.5 Oz of Arame
4 cucumbers, peeled and very thinly sliced
2 tsp. sea salt
1 red pepper, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp unrefined oil
pinch of pepper

Soak arame for 15 mins in enough water to cover. Sprinkle sea salt on cucumbers and let set for several minutes to release juices. Discard soaking water from arame. Chop arame and add to cucumbers. Add all other ingredients and toss!

http://renegadehealth.com/blog/raw-food-recipe-for-cucumber-arame-salad/

*Deb's notes: A package of arame is 2.1 ounces. I use 1/2 the package for this recipe and that is a very good ratio. I also like to soak the arame longer, a couple hours at least.

[Aleesha Sattva]

could you use any seaweed in this? or perhaps a mixture? i'm thinking i'd loooooooove this!!!

[DebB]

could you use any seaweed in this? or perhaps a mixture? i'm thinking i'd loooooooove this!!!

I honestly don't know Aleesha ~ I've only used the arame. I buy it just for this salad. :D

[Pitaya]

thanks for the recipe : )

i use dehydrated sea vegetable powder in my smoothies everyday! :)

[DebB]

i use dehydrated sea vegetable powder in my smoothies everyday! :)

That's a great idea - I never thought of that...! *Ü*

[MelanieBear]

I love sea veggies and was devastated to hear one of my herbal medicine lectuerers report that Hijiki is almost always terribly contaminated. I've since learned of a wonderful herbalist and "wild man" named Ryan Drum who does a lot of ethical, sustainable harvesting of sea veggies and sells them via the web or mail-order. As soon as I build my savings back up from my move, I'm going to be ordering some from him. I hear that the sea veggies he gathers are the best around! Google him and check it out.

Mmmmm....sea veg.....

Melanie

[kurt28]

Should I be concerned about sea vegetables being contaminated?

Sea vegetables have been a topic of ongoing debate and research concerning their potential to be contaminated by heavy metals found in the waters in which they grow.

In the world of marine biology and marine ecology, sea vegetables are widely recognized as plants with an excellent ability to take up minerals from the water and hold onto these minerals in their cells. This ability makes sea vegetables a rich source of many wonderful minerals, including magnesium, calcium, iron, and iodine. However, in waters that have become polluted with heavy metal elements—including arsenic, lead, and cadmium—sea vegetables can also act like a sponge in absorbing these unwanted contaminants. Some marine ecologists actually use sea vegetables as a kind of "biomonitor" to determine levels of heavy metal pollution in bodies of water.

Among all of the heavy metals, arsenic appears to be most problematic when it comes to sea vegetable toxicity risk. Virtually all types of sea vegetables have been determined to contain traces of arsenic. These types include arame, hijiki, kombu, nori, and wakame. Among all types of sea vegetable, however, hijiki stands out as being particularly high-risk when it comes to arsenic exposure. During the period 2000-2005, government-related agencies in England, New Zealand, and Canada issued public health recommendations advising against consumption of hijiki sea vegetable unless verified as containing very low levels of inorganic arsenic. Based on these reports, we recommend avoidance of hijiki as a sea vegetable unless available in the form of certified organic hijiki.

The levels of arsenic found in other types of sea vegetable have been relatively small. For example, after preparation using water soaking, a British study found wakame to contain an average of 3 milligrams arsenic per kilogram of sea vegetable. In practical terms, this amount represents about 43 micrograms per half ounce of wakame. However, even in this case of relatively small exposure, health risks appear possible.

Our reason for discussing information about these possible risks involves a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1993 to set an oral Reference Dose (RfD) level of .0003 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day for inorganic arsenic. In practical terms, this maximum safe dose level would allow an adult weighing 150 lbs. to consume about 20 micrograms of inorganic arsenic every day and stay beneath the RfD level.

While a person might be unlikely to eat sea vegetables on a daily basis, you can see from this example how an arsenic-related health risk might be possible with routine consumption of an arsenic-containing sea vegetable. It's important to note here that scientists continue to debate the health risks associated with inorganic (versus organic) forms of arsenic, and that the arsenic found in sea vegetables exists primarily in an inorganic form. It is also important to note that methods of preparing sea vegetables can make a difference in the amount of arsenic found in edible portions.

We continue to include sea vegetables among the World's Healthiest Foods because of their incredibly rich mineral content and other unique health benefits and because the toxicity risks described above can be prevented through the purchase of certified organic sea vegetables! Because most certified organic sea vegetables can be purchased in dried form and reconstituted at home, they can often be ordered from outside of your local area and shipped to you at a relatively low cost.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If I got that last part right, we should be getting organic dried sea vegetables. Is that correct? Isn't all sea vegetables organic? And, how would it loss it's toxicity just because it's been dehydrated or dried out? Thank you.