The properties of Seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to several species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of:
- Phaeophyta (brown algae),
- Chlorophyta (green algae),
- Chrysophyceae (gold algae),
- Rhodophyta (red algae) macroalgae.
Seaweed species such as kelps provide essential nursery habitat for fisheries and other marine species and thus protect food sources; other species, such as planktonic algae, play a vital role in capturing carbon, producing up to 90% of Earth’s oxygen.
Seaweed are a source of biologically active compounds including proteins and polysaccharides with promising uses in nutrition, biomedicine, bioremediation and other uses. Seaweed extract is used in some diet pills. Other seaweed pills exploit the same effect as gastric banding, expanding in the stomach to make the stomach feel more full.
