I have discovered a mysterious sea moss, often called Irish seam moss, just recently. Because I didn’t know what it was, where it comes from, and what it is for I decided to do my little research and found out more about this so-called “new superfood”. Here’s what I’ve found.
What is (Irish) sea moss anyway?
Saying it in the easiest and simplest way, sea moss, often called Irish sea moss belongs to an algae family. It’s red algae with latin name Chondrus crispus.
Like other healthy foods and superfoods, such as some berries, nuts or quinoa, sea moss has been used for cooking and beauty products for thousands of years. It has just happened that in the last few years, Irish sea moss has been rediscovered by celebrities and nutritionists. Everyone started to praise sea moss for its amazing source of nutrients and as a perfect ingredient for beauty products.
The sea most grows predominantly on rocks along the sea coast of the Atlantic ocean. It grows in abundance along the coast of the British Isles and some other parts in Europe (mostly North Europe), Ireland, and in North America. It has been seen growing in Jamaica and a few other islands in the Caribbean.
Despite insufficient research on Irish sea moss, scientists and beauty therapists believe that sea moss has many outstanding health benefits. Using and consuming sea moss regularly in one of its many forms can lead to improving health, appearance, and strengthening the immune system. For sure, there is strong evidence of using sea moss for enhancing body healthy for centuries.
Sea moss is experiencing a big boom in the health, beauty, and food industries at the moment. There are a few reasons why. Let’s have a look at them!
How to use superfood sea moss?
Rather than consuming sea moss in its natural algae-like form, many people boil it and prepare a gel or use it as a thickening agent in smoothies, porridges, drinks, puddings, cakes, and nut milks. When making a gel out of the sea moss, it resembles aloe very gel. In cooking and baking, it can be used instead of cornstarch or agar-agar. Sometimes the sea moss is referred to as “vegan gelatin”.
If you want to give it a try and prepare your own Irish sea moss gel, I have good news for you. It’s relatively easy to make this gel at home in your kitchen! Follow this easy recipe on how to prepare your own Irish sea moss gel.
If you want to buy sea moss in a form ready to consume, you will most likely come across sea moss as powder or pills. In these forms, sea moss can be added to your drinks or boiled and mixed with milk or water and a little bit of sugar, maple syrup or a favourite sweetener.
How to incorporate sea moss in cooking and baking?
Because of its a fairly strong sea-like smell and also flavour, it’s probably safer to add sea moss in a very small amount to savoury dishes first. I would recommend trying to add a little bit of sea moss to soups, one-pot meals and dishes cooked in a slow-cooker. Most definitely sea moss will taste great in salad dressings, vegan (nut) cheeses, and nut and seed dairy-free milks and butters.
Once you get used to the strong ocean-like scent and seaweed flavour, I would suggest adding sea moss into raw desserts, such as cakes or chocolate pudding, and your morning smoothies.
Advanced cooks may use sea moss for making gelatine for vegan baking and cooking and replace agar-agar powder or cornstarch, just like I have mentioned a few lines above.
Health benefits of superfood sea moss
Helps fighting flu and cold
Sea moss has a positive effect on our immune system and it helps strengthen and enhances our immunity against the common flu and cold. It helps in cold prevention and once you feel sick with a cold and have mild cold symptoms, adding sea moss in a hot drink relieves these cold symptoms.
It’s definitely helpful to add sea moss to your food and drinks every now and then but the best is to consume sea moss regularly during a flu season and cold and winter months.
Irish sea moss works as a natural antiviral and antibacterial agent due to its components, potent in strengthening our immune system. Sea moss also contains potassium chloride which helps with nausea, vomiting-like feelings, and nose congestion.
Thanks to this property, sea moss is used to improve other health conditions that impact breathing, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and chest cough.
Supports digestion
Basically, sea most is a prebiotic – a type of dietary fibre. It enhanced a balanced and healthy environment in our guts. That is good for our digestion. Sea moss supports the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut and therefore improve digestion and regular bowel movements.
Sea moss can even help prevent some types of cancer, such as intestine or bowel cancer because it supports the development of short-chain fatty acids in the colon. That leads to more good bacteria and less bad bacteria!
Improves skin and hair conditions
Sea moss is rich in certain nutrients that have a positive impact on our cell health and function, especially on our hair, nails, and skin. Irish sea moss contains magnesium, vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin B, folate, iron, and zinc. In 100 g of Irish sea moss, there is 8.9 mg iron, 144 mg magnesium, 0.4 mg manganese, 2 mg zinc, and 0.5 mg vitamin B2 (riboflavin). It also contains 45% of the daily dosage of folate.
Because of its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, Irish sea moss improves several skin conditions, such as acne, eczema, wrinkles, and aging skin. When you add sea moss gel into your hair shampoo or conditioner, as a result, you will get smooth and shiny hair, resistant to tangles.
Reducing stress and helping with mental health issues
Irish sea moss is a rich source of potassium – about 63mg potassium in 100g sea moss (1% of the daily dosage). Potassium is an important mineral that works as an electrolyte in the human body. It maintains the right muscle contraction and transmitting signals through nerves. Potassium is also extremely important for maintaining a steady heartbeat.
Because of the high amount of potassium concentrated in Irish sea moss, this superfood strongly regulates a mental functioning and can even help improve some mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, moodiness or agitation!
Having and receiving enough potassium is very important for a good and healthy nervous system. If you have enough potassium, you less like to be stressed or nervous and you regulate your body functioning better.
Supporting thyroid function
As mentioned before, Irish sea moss contains folate and iodine which are both important for the right function of the thyroid. Folate is a crucial nutrient during pregnancy and infancy for the development of bones and brain. Apart from it, iodine supports healthy breast tissue.
Iodine is a mineral that we need for normal thyroid function. Without iodine, thyroid won’t be able to create and manage thyroid hormones. These hormones influence many body functions, such as regulating body metabolism and other important functions.
Because iodine is found in such a high concentration in sea moss, it’s no surprise that consuming sea moss may treat a thyroid disfunction. In addition, sea moss also contains a high concentration of mineral selenium which is also important for producing thyroid hormones.
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Concerns about consuming sea moss
Inspite of all the great heath benefits, there are a few concerns about consuming sea moss. What are they?
Too much iodine
You might be surprised but if you eat too much sea moss you can increase the level of iodine in your body too much. The daily dose of iodine is about 150 mcg for adults.
Too much iodine can have the same symptoms as getting too little iodine. What would you experience? You would probably notice an enlarged thyroid gland. This can result in thyroid gland inflammation. In the worst-case scenario, it can even lead to thyroid cancer. Consuming too much iodine can be risky for people with autoimmune thyroid conditions.
But… Is it even possible to get too much iodine by eating sea moss??
It!s nearly impossible and chances are very small. So don’t panic! You can still enjoy your sea moss without any fear. Just check the package and nutrition label of sea moss before consuming it because the amount of iodine varies a lot with each brand.
You can get about 60 mcg of iodine with one brand whereas another brand offers sea moss containing 1500 mcg!
Allergic reactions
Like with any other new skin and body products you start using, you may or may not develop allergic reactions. Sea moss products usually don’t have any side effects for skin, body, and hair.
If you use sea moss products for a certain health problem (for example acne), you probably won’t see positive results traight away. Sometimes it takes weeks for your skin to react to a new product and its active ingredients.
Carrageenan
Another issue with sea moss that I have found is carrageenan. In this study, you will find that carrageenan is often found in organic foods and it’s derived from Irish sea moss. A lot of scientists claim that carrageenan is a carcinogen and can be toxic to human cells.
Carrageenan is highly inflammatory to the human digestive tract and can cause colitis, IBS, rheumaotid arthritis and other heaht issues. However, sea moss and carrageenan is NOT THE SAME THING.
Carrageenan is mostly used in processed and unhealthy foods whereas Irish sea moss is a whole food. Can you see the difference? I believe is unfair to compare carrageenan and sea moss and say it’s same. It is NOT.
Consuming sea moss is safe and it will remain safe as long as you don’t overeat it and use it in right ways.
What sea moss products to buy?
Probably the easiest is to buy dry sea moss. The prepacked sea moss is completely dry, salt-free, sand-free, raw, gluten-free, and vegan!
Sometimes you find better to use dry sea moss that is blended into a powder. You can add this sea moss powder in your smoothies, porridges, drinks etc. The sea moss powder doesn’t have any taste or smell so it’s perfect for adding extra minerals and nutrients!
If you want to consume sea mos for beauty purposes, I recommend starting taking pills. Sea moss pills are suitbale for vegans and they are gluten-free. They help with a healthy thyroid function and promote beaitufl glowing skin, hair, and nails. Some poeple would like to use sea moss capsules for improving their gut and as a part of their detox.
You might also like to try sea moss gel (if you don’t decide to make your own). In this form, Irish sea moss is very easy to be used in smoothies and drinks .
Organic Irish sea moss drops can be useful if you want to use sea mos for smooth skin or cooking.
New superfood Irish sea moss
After reading this article, you probably make up your own opinion about sea moss and how to use it and when. I personally call sea moss a superfood because it helps our health in so many ways!
Considering the advantages and negative effects of sea moss on your health, it’s clear that sea moss improves our health in immense ways.
Whatever sea moss products you decide to use, I guarantee you will see and notice a positive effect on your health, both physical and mental. Enhance your vegan cooking and baking with homemade or store-bought sea moss gel and add it to your meals every time you can!
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Klara Walterova
Klara is a professional freelance writer for hire. She offers web content, blog posting, ghostwriting and copywriting. She writes for a healthy lifestyle, wellness and travel websites. She focuses on veganism and the vegan diet. When she's not writing, she develops new tasty vegan recipes, travels the world or plays with her cats. Please contact her for her online writing services on her website writtenbyvegan.com or visit her Instagram profile @writtenbyvegan.