Bladder wrack

Bladder wrack is a brown seaweed (dark brown-olive green in colour) with vesicles (lighter-coloured pneumatocysts) filled with gas, that allow them to maintain a certain buoyancy while remaining attached to the substrate by an uneven shaped holdfast. Its fronds are divided into ribbons of 20 to 100 cm long and can reach 2 cm wide.

Latin name

Fucus Vesiculosus L.

Origin

North Sea, western Baltic, Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Used part

The thallus.

Active components

Polyphenols (phlorotannins): antioxidants that also have antibiotic, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties.

Minerals (such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron): essential for good health.

Iodine: stimulates the metabolism because it is an essential nutrient for the thyroid.

Mucilages: have a soothing effect and are an interesting component for cosmetics.They also have a laxative action.

Carotenes (fucoxanthin): an antioxidant with a slimming action.

Usage

Asian populations consume algae as a food in different forms: raw in a salad, as a vegetable, a condiment or in a sweet jelly but also cooked in a soup. Bladder wrack is used as a phytotherapeutic agent in cosmetics, treatments for coughs, asthma, haemorrhoids, goitre, stomach ache, certain urinary conditions, ulcers and headaches. It can help women with irregular menstrual cycles. Bladder wrack is known to promote digestion and stimulate transit by acting as a binding agent. It has a stimulating effect on the metabolism of energy.1-11 It acts as an appetite suppressant and has a slimming effect and can be used to help control and maintain body weight