What Are The Benefits Of Seaweed Extract For Arthritis?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arthritis affects nearly 21 million adults, making it the leading cause of disability in the United States. This painful, sometimes debilitating disease happens to many people as they age, but diet may also play a role in causing arthritis symptoms. Researchers and patients hoping to avoid the long-term side effects of prescription arthritis medications are turning to alternative dietary sources like seaweed extracts. However, if you suffer from this condition, check first with your doctor before taking seaweed supplements.

Identification

Seaweed is a simple marine algae, a type of plant, with over 10,000 species that fall into three main groups, including green, brown and red. Seaweed is used in sushi wraps and processed foods, including ice cream, but seaweed extracts are also found in fertilizer, medicine and cosmetics. Seaweed extract is any liquid or powder made from seaweed, and in supplement form is marketed for everything from burning fat to promoting healthy lymphatic tissue, although few of these claims have been verified in clinical trials.

Seaweed Compounds

Osteoarthritis is thought to be caused by a breakdown in your body's balance between cartilage damage and repair, leading to an overproduction of reactive oxygen species molecules called cytokines and prostaglandins. Phlorotannins, a type of antioxidant found in brown algae but not terrestrial plants, have demonstrated the ability to inhibit the activity of reactive oxygen species. Seaweed extracts also contain other anti-inflammatory compounds called fucoidans and polyphloroglucinols that act like corticosteroids and help fight osteoarthritis.

Range of Motion

A commercial mineral supplement derived from a red seaweed species may help people with knee arthritis improve their range of motion. Researchers published results of a study in "Nutrition Journal" in 2009 showing that patients with moderate-to-severe knee arthritis had improvements in both walking ability and range of motion in the knee joint after 12 weeks of taking the supplement, compared to a control group.

Pain Management

Research published in March 2010 in "Biologics: Targets & Therapy" gave brown seaweed fucoidan extract to patients with knee arthritis for 12 weeks. Subjects given 100 mg of the extract daily had an 18 percent reduction in osteoarthritis pain and other symptoms, based on the Comprehensive Osteoarthritis Test assessment protocol. Those taking 1,000 mg per day of the seaweed extract reported a 52 percent decrease in symptoms. However, patients in the study were also taking over-the-counter NSAID painkillers, and the positive results tended to cease when the NSAIDs were stopped entirely. The researchers concluded that the seaweed extract could help arthritis patients use smaller doses of NSAIDs, which often have serious side effects when used long term.

Considerations

In the studies referenced above, there were no serious complications caused by the seaweed extracts in the doses used. In other studies, seaweed extract dosages of 900 to 2,500 mg per kilogram of body weight have caused bleeding problems in people taking blood thinners like warfarin and clopidogrel. Seaweed contains high levels of iodine that may affect patients taking thyroid medications. Excessive consumption of dried seaweed has also been reported to cause skin yellowing.