Medicinal Properties

Saved by seaweeds (II): Traditional knowledge, home remedies, medicine, surgery, and pharmacopoeia

“…cf. Table 1 (Dudgeon 1874;Chengkui and Junfu 1984;Cho et al 2007;Kandale et al 2011;Liu et al 2012;Oshima 2013;Vonthron-Sénécheau 2016). Dudgeon (1874) refers to several therapeutic properties of some Chinese brown seaweeds and the ways of administration: "This same Herbal [Compendium of Materia Medica] mentions various species of seaweed as possessing strong and well-known therapeutic properties, and of special value in the dispersion of hard tumours-goître, for example.…”

“…Red seaweeds have also been widely used in traditional Asian pharmacopoeia, medicine, and home remedies. Among the most commonly used genera are the agarophyte Gracilaria (to treat goitre, edema, urinary infections, chronic constipation, tuberculosis, testicular swelling, and to prevent ulcers) (Schwimmer and Schwimmer 1955;Vonthron-Sénécheau 2016), the carrageenophyte Chondrus (for bronchitis, tonsillitis, asthma, stomach disorders and constipation (Oshima 2013), another agarophyte Gelidium (lung diseases, scrofula, constipation, stomach aches and ulcers) (Schwimmer and Schwimmer 1955), Gloiopeltis (presumably fucoidan rich; against diarrhoea, goitre, and scrofula) (Chengkui and Junfu 1984;Zheng et al 2012), and Porphyra (perhaps the sulphated polysaccharide porphyrin; against goitre, bronchitis, tonsillitis, sore throat and cough) (Kandale et al 2011) (Table 1). A viscous solution (kwanpu or hai tai) derived from the carrageenophyte Laminaria bracteata (current accepted name Gigartina bracteata) was used by the Chinese for menstrual difficulties (Chapman 1950).…”

“…Another species sold in Asian pharmacies for anthelmintic purposes is the dried red alga Digenea simplex (Hairencao in Chinese and Kaininso in Japanese). After extraction, its extract (tse-koo-ts'oi in Cantonese) was used in the treatment of ascariasis and oxyuriasis (Chengkui and Junfu 1984;Simoons 1991;Vonthron-Sénécheau 2016).…”