BLADDERWRACK
Bladderwrack: Benefits, Uses, and Side Effects
Bladderwrack is an edible brown seaweed that has been used as a natural medicine for centuries. It’s available dried, powdered, as a tea, or in supplement form. But it’s effectiveness is questionable.
Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) is a type of brown seaweed that’s tied to traditional medicine. It’s also known as rockweed, red fucus, dyers fucus, rock wrack, black tang, and bladder fucus (1Trusted Source)
Growing up to 35 inches (90 cm) tall, bladderwrack grows along the coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the North and Baltic Seas, and various waters in Canada and the United States (1Trusted Source).
Traditional medicinal practices have used it for centuries to treat an array of conditions, such as iodine deficiency, obesity, joint pain, aging skin, digestive issues, urinary tract infection, and thyroid dysfunction, including hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, and goiter development.
Rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, many people believe that bladderwrack’s impressive nutrient profile can provide health benefits, though critics argue the claims are ahead of the research (1Trusted Source).
This article tells you all you need to know about bladderwrack, including its benefits, uses, and side effects.
For centuries, many cultures have consumed seaweed as part of their regular diet due to its impressive nutrient profile.
Bladderwrack is a type of seaweed that’s rich in vitamins and minerals, such as calcium, iodine, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc, and vitamins A and C (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).
It’s also high in phytochemicals. These health-promoting plant compounds, which include phlorotannins and fucoxanthin, may help lower oxidative stress — an imbalance between free radical and antioxidant levels in your body(3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
Bladderwrack is high in fiber, which can support a healthy gut. In particular, it’s high in alginic acid and fucoidans, which have both been shown to have health-promoting properties (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).
Summary
Bladderwrack is high in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and health-promoting plant compounds known as phytochemicals.
