Seaweed also contains:-

Laminarin a polysaccharide that is helpful in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It helps to balance coagulation of blood.

Alginate a natural absorbent of radioactive elements, heavy metals, and free radicals. It has the unique ability of binding heavy metals and radioactive elements to its own molecules. Because the Alginate cannot be broken down by bile or saliva and cannot be absorbed by the body, it is secreted from the body together with the heavy metals and radioactive substances,as well as strontium 90 from the bones.

Sea vegetables contain 10 to 20 times the minerals and vitamins of land vegetables. Gram for gram, they are higher in vitamins and minerals than any other class of food.

The minerals are available in chelated, colloidal forms that make them especially available to the bodies of humans and animals, a concept known as "bioavailability." All sea vegetables contain significant amounts of protein, sometimes as much as 48%. Sea plants are also a rich sources of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber.

The minerals in seaweeds are in colloidal form, meaning they retain their molecular identity while remaining in liquid suspension. Colloids are very small in size and are easily absorbed by the body's cells. Plants convert metallic minerals, which can be toxic, into colloids with a natural, negative electric charge. Negatively charged minerals have been shown to increase the transport and bioavailability of other foods and supplements.

"Minerals that are attached to other substances such as amino acids are also more bioavailable. These are call chelated minerals, from the Greek word for claw. Seaweeds provide all of the 56 minerals and trace minerals required for your body's physiological functions in chelated, colloidal forms. Most enzymatic functions depend on minute amounts of bioavailable trace minerals. The major minerals are instrumental in all kinds of life-sustaining activities in your body: magnesium is crucial in calcium absorption, iodine in thyroid function, iron in blood oxygen exchange, and chromium in blood sugar regulation. All of these functions are facilitated by the presence of chelated, colloidal minerals."

"Seaweeds (iodine) have exceptional value in the treatment of candida overgrowth. They contain selenium and (all the) other minerals necessary for rebuilding immunity; furthermore the rich iodine content is used by enzymes in the body to produce iodine-charged free radicals which deactivate yeasts. Before the advent of anti-fungal drugs, iodine was the standard medical treatment for yeasts. When candidiasis is complicated with tumours or cancers, then seaweed is of additional benefit.".(P. Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods, Revised Edition, North Atlantic Books, 36, 1993)