Uses of Seaweed 

  • Womenscorner Desk
  • October 14, 2020

Food : Seaweed is consumed across the planet , particularly in East Asia, e.g. Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan and Southeast Asia , e.g. Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia, also as in South Africa , Belize, Peru, Chile, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, South West England, Ireland, Wales, Hawaii and California, and Scotland.

Gim (김, Korea), nori (海苔, Japan) and zicai (紫菜, China) are sheets of dried Porphyra utilized in soups, sushi or onigiri (rice balls). Irish moss ('Irish moss' or carrageenan moss) is employed in food additives, along side Kappaphycus and Gigartinoid seaweed. Porphyra is employed in Wales to form laverbread (sometimes with oat flour). In northern Belize, seaweed is mixed with milk, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla to form "dulce" ("sweet").

Read More : Seaweed

Alginate, agar and carrageenan are gelatinous seaweed products collectively referred to as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids. Hydrocolloids are food additives. The food industry exploits their gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties. Agar is employed in foods like confectionery, meat and poultry products, desserts and beverages and moulded foods. Carrageenan is employed in salad dressings and sauces, dietetic foods, and as a preservative in meat and fish, dairy items and food .

Medicine and herbs : Alginates are utilized in wound dressings (see alginate dressing), and dental moulds. In microbiology, agar is employed as a medium. Carrageenans, alginates and agaroses, with other macroalgal polysaccharides, have biomedicine applications. Delisea pulchra may interfere with bacterial colonization. Sulfated saccharides from red and chlorophyte inhibit some DNA and RNA-enveloped viruses.

Seaweed extract is employed in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills exploit an equivalent effect as gastric banding, expanding within the stomach to form the stomach feel more full.

Edible packaging : Seaweed can also be used to produce edible packaging.

Bioremediation : Algae's strong photosynthesis creates an outsized affinity for nutrients; this enables the seaweed to be wont to remove undesired nutrients from water (as as an example in dead zones). Seaweed also generates oxygen, which benefits hypoxic (=oxygen-poor) dead zones. Nutrients like ammonia, ammonium nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, iron, copper, also as CO2 are rapidly consumed by growing seaweed. Reefs and lakes are naturally filtered this way (seaweed is consumed by fish and invertebrates), and this filtering process is duplicated in artificial seaweed filters like algae scrubbers. China could remove its entire phosphorus effluent by increasing seaweed production by 150%.

Read More : Risk Factors of Depression 

Seaweed (macroalgae), as against phytoplankton (microalgae), is employed almost universally for filtration purposes due to the necessity to be ready to easily remove (harvest) the algae from the water, which then removes the nutrients. Microalgae require more processing to break away the water than macroalgae do; macroalgae is simply pulled out.

Marine species of Cladophora, Ulva (sea lettuce) and Chaetomorpha are preferred for filtration. Freshwater filtration applications commonly involve species like Spirogyra.

Other uses : Other seaweed could also be used as fertilizer, compost for landscaping, or to combat erosion through burial in beach dunes. Seaweed is into account as a possible source of bioethanol. Alginates are utilized in industrial products like paper coatings, adhesives, dyes, gels, explosives and in processes like paper sizing, textile printing, hydro-mulching and drilling. Seaweed is an ingredient in toothpaste, cosmetics and paints. Seaweed is employed for the assembly of bio yarn (a textile). Several of those resources are often obtained from seaweed through biorefining. Seaweed collecting is that the process of collecting, drying and pressing seaweed. it had been a well-liked pastime within the Victorian era and remains a hobby today. In some emerging countries, Seaweed is harvested daily to support communities.

Seaweed is usually wont to build roofs on houses on Læsø in Denmark. Seaweeds are used as animal feeds. they need long been grazed by sheep, horses and cattle in northern Europe . they're valued for fish production. Adding seaweed to livestock feed can substantially reduce methane emissions from cattle.

Read More : Different Causes of Depression

Related Content

Leave a Comment