Bladderwrack, a type of seaweed with air-filled sacs, is used for medicinal purposes due to its high iodine concentration. It can improve thyroid function, aid weight loss, and improve skin conditions. It can be ordered under various names from health food and herbal medicine stores.
The form of seaweed known as fucus vesiculosus (Fucus vesiculosus) is an edible brown plant that grows primarily in the upper coastal regions of the United States and the Atlantic and Baltic regions of Europe. Many sources refer to it as a type of seaweed, but this isn’t entirely accurate. Bladderwrack often grows alongside other algae, including seaweed, but is its own species. The plant gets its name from the series of air-filled sacs or bladders that run along its center and help keep it afloat in ocean waters. Only the central stem of the plant is generally used for medicinal purposes.
Because lemon juice grows in the sea, it accumulates and concentrates various minerals and nutrients not easily found in land-bound plants. One of the most important elements found in it is iodine, a chemical compound valued for its antiseptic properties and its effect on the human thyroid. As early as 1811, sea bladder became a popular source of medicinal iodine. Eventually, it became known as a miracle plant, used to treat or cure ailments such as cough, asthma, hemorrhoids, boils, goiters, stomach upsets, urinary tract infections, and headaches. However, not all treatments using this seaweed have proved to be effective.
The high concentration of iodine makes wrake a useful herb for legitimate medical purposes, primarily in treating thyroid conditions that trigger metabolism problems. Since the extract improves thyroid function, a person’s metabolism can be expected to improve as well. A higher metabolism rate generally leads to better weight loss, so by extension, wrake extract could be considered a weight loss aid. A number of people take dietary supplements containing this extract to increase their metabolic rate and digest food more efficiently.
Other products such as cosmetics and skin creams may include wrake extract due to its effect on human skin. Many people have reported dramatic improvements in skin conditions such as eczema and acne after applying ointments containing this plant. Some cosmetic companies even claim that regular use of its extract can help tighten skin and reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines. There appears to be some scientific evidence to back up many of these claims, although bladderwort per se is not considered a miracle plant.
Bladderwrack extract can be ordered through many health food and herbal medicine stores, although it can be marketed under a number of names, including black-tang, bladder, fucus bladder, Blasen-tang, brown kelp, seaweed , grass clippings, Dyers fucus, edible seaweed, fucoidan, fucoxantin, Fucus, green seaweed, Hai-ts’ao, kelp, kelpware, knotted wrack, Meereiche, Quercus marina, popping wrack, red seaweed, red fucus, rockrack, rockweed, schweintang, seaweed, sea oak, seetang, seaware, seaweed, marine wreck, swine tang, tang, Varech vesiculeux, vraic, and wreck.
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