Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid that is reported to have numerous health benefits, including weight loss.
Experts suggest that this herb provide antioxidant properties which could help delay aging and fight disease-causing free radicals.
So is Fucoxanthin the next supplement for your health needs? How ideal is this herb and is it safe?
Read this short but detailed article and learn if the alleged health benefits of Fucoxanthin are all based in conclusive evidence or just mere hype.
What is Fucoxanthin?
Fucoxanthin is a natural substance sourced from brown seaweed (such as wakame and hijiki) as well as few other marine sources. It is known to offer many health benefits.
A carotenoid plant that has similar structure to xanthophyll and vitamin A, this seaweed is known to have antioxidant effects (1).
When you ingest Fucoxanthin and when it enters the gastrointestinal tract, this substance is metabolized by digestive enzymes to fucoxanthinol and then absorbed in the intestines. In the liver, fucoxanthinol is converted into amarouciaxanthin A.
There are reports that taking fucoxanthin from food sources is poorly absorbed by the body. So it is widely recommended to take fucoxanthin in dietary supplement form to get adequate amounts of fucoxanthinol.
One major benefit of this seaweed is weight loss. According to reports, fucoxanthin can induce fat loss while inhibiting fat cell differentiation and proliferation (2). So it is a promising non-stimulating fat burning agent.
Other known benefits for this seaweed include cholesterol and triglyceride levels reduction, regulating glucose metabolism, reductions in blood pressure, decrease in liver fat stores and liver enzyme values and many others.
History of Fucoxanthin
Brown seaweed has been used for years to help treat various health conditions, long before fucoxanthin was discovered.
Chinese used seafood and seaweed compounds as their herbal medical remedies. Koreans on the other hand, fed their mothers following childbirth with mieok, a type of soup that is made of seaweed. It is thought to give vitamins and minerals during pregnancy.
Around 2002, a Russian biochemist named Zakir Ramazanov, PhD, began having success isolating a carotenoid called fucoxanthin from brown seaweed and discovered its many health-enhancing potentials. And the rest are history.
Potential Therapeutic Applications
According to NCBI (3), fucoxanthin may help reduce weight, improve blood lipid profiles and decreased in insulin resistance in animal models of obesity.
It has been shown to induce G1 cell-cylce arrest and apoptosis in various cancer cell lines and tumor growth in animal models of cancer. This is mainly because of fucoxanthin’s antioxidant effects.
Here are the complete list of all the possible health benefits of this seaweed.
Weight Loss
Experts suggest that this seaweed supports weight loss by increasing your metabolism and stimulating your body’s ability to burn fat.
Its anti-obesity effects are caused by influencing gene expression related to fat metabolism (4). This include acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase, glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase, acyl-CoA cholesterol acyltransferase, SREBP-1c and hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl coenzyme A.
A recent study by NCBI showed that a combination of fucoxanthin and pomegranate seed oil helped increased weight loss and reduced body and liver fat in non-diabetic women with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Fucoxanthin is also proven for weight loss in animal tests.
Antioxidant Benefits
As a carotenoid, fucoxanthin offers antioxidant effects that will highly benefit your body.
This substance may help blocked the premature aging of skin, delaying the aging process. Fucoxanthin has been proven to help protect against sunburn caused by ultraviolet radiation.
It can also protect your body from developing cancers and tumors caused by aggressive free radicals. In cells, fucoxanthin can help reduce damage caused by oxidative stress (5).
Protects Your Brain
Animal tests showed that fucoxanthin intake helped reduce brain cell death caused by traumatic head injury.
This substance also helped reduce cognitive impairments in animals given brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s disease (6).
Fucoxanthin also has the potential to help fight depression especially in women during pregnancy.
Helps Reduce Inflammation
According to ScienceDirect, fucoxanthin has the potential anti-inflammatory effect via inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) production in lipoplysaccharide induced RAW macrophage cells.
The highest nitric oxide inhibitory effect was detected in the chloroform fraction and the active compound in the study was found to be fucoxanthin.
Inflammatory signals nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) protein expression were significantly inhibited by fucoxanthin (7).
The study highly suggest that this substance is a useful therapeutic approach for various inflammatory health problems.
Anti-Diabetes Effect
According to a high-fat diet-induced mice study by NCBI, fucoxanthin (wakame lipids) significantly suppressed body weight and white adipose tissue weight gain induced by the high fat diet.
Dietary administration of wakame lipids resulted in hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia in mice (8).
The study suggest that ingesting wakame lipids (which are rich in fucoxanthin) may help improve alterations in lipid metabolism and insulin resistance, and thus making this substance a helpful agent in preventing diabetes.
Helps Prevent Bone Disease
Calcium is not the only nutrient you need to help fight bone diseases.
According to recent studies, fucoxanthin blocks the development of osteoclasts, which is a type of cell that helps break down bone to restore calcium to the blood (9).
In mice, this substance also has anti-osteoporosis effects, though this hasn’t been proven in humans yet.
Other Health Benefits of Fucoxanthin
As mentioned above, this seaweed substance can also significantly reduce cholesterol (10) and triglyceride levels.
And with anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, cholesterol and anti-obesity effects of fucoxanthin, we can expect that it can also be beneficial for your heart.
Possible Side Effects and Interactions
The good thing about this herb is that, it doesn’t have any known side effects so far in humans because of limited trials.
But remember that seaweeds (there are no pure fucoxanthin available) are high in iodine, and too much of iodine is not a good thing.
So it is important that you moderate your intake of seaweed because of this risk. Allergies from seaweed are another concern for people with allergic reactions to seafood.
Some minor side effects have been reported online though it wasn’t proven to be a direct cause from taking fucoxanthin. This include headaches, gastric problems, diarrhea and constipation (11).
With regards interactions, fucoxanthin may have have bad interaction with nutrients like fatty acids, fish oil and medium chain triglycerides.
So be sure to consult your doctor first before you take seaweed or any type of fucoxanthin supplements.
Bottom Line
Overall, fucoxanthin is a promising herbal agent that can help improve key areas of your health, especially with regards to weight loss.
It is proven to be a potent antioxidant, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammatory agent, which prevents you from developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancers, arthritis and many others.
Fucoxanthin also helps promote good bone health, lowers your risk of depression and protects your brain from cell damage.
With all these benefits, you still have to be cautious when taking herbal agents such as fucoxanthin. Talking to your doctor is the best way to know if this substance is ideal for your health or not.
In the market, there are hundreds of fucoxanthin supplements to choose from. You can start your search in Amazon through the link below.
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References:
Photo Credit by Emma Forsberg via https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ CC by 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/echoforsberg/3605800313
Fucoxanthin: A Promising Medicinal and Nutritional Ingredient
by: Hui Zhang, Yibo Tang, Ying Zhang, Shuofeng Zhang, Jing Qu, Xu Wang, Ran Kong, Chunchao Han, and Zhenquan Liu
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4461761/
Anti-Obesity and Anti-Diabetic Effects of Fucoxanthin on Diet-Induced Obesity Conditions in a Murine Model
by: Hayato, Maeda, Masahshi Hoisokawa, Tokutake Sashima, Katsura Murakami-Funayama, Kazuo Miyashita
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21475918/
Health Benefits of Fucoxanthin in the Prevention of Chronic Diseases
by: Minkyung Bae, Mi-Bo Kim, Young-Ki Park, and Ju-Young Lee
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31931174/
Fucoxanthin and Lipid Metabolism: A Minireview
by: Kh Muradian, A Vaiserman, K-J Min, and V E Fraifeld
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26141943/
Fucoxanthin, A Carotenoid Derived from Phaeodactylum Tricornutum Exerts Antiproliferative and Antioxidant Activities in Vitro
by: Nemann U, Derwenskus, Flaiz Flister V, Schmid-Staiger, Hirth T and Bischoff SC
https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/6617271
Fucoxanthin Inhibits Amyloid Assembly and Attenuates Amyloid Oligomer-Induced Cognitive Impairements
by: Siying Xiang, Fufen Liu, Jiajia Lin, Huixin Chen, Chunhui Huang, Liping Chen Yiying Zhou, Luying Ye, Ke Zhang, Jiukal Jin, Jiacheng Zhen, Chuang Wang, Shan He, Qiunwen Wang, Wei Cui and Jirong Zhang
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.7b00805
Evaluation of Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Fucoxanthin Isolated from Brown Algae in Lipopolysaccharide – Stimulated Raw Macrophages
by: Soo-Jin Heo, Weon-Jong Woon, Kil-Nam Kim, Gina-Nae Ahn, Sung-Myung Kang, Do-Hyung Kang, Abu Affan, Chulhong Oh, Won-Kyo Jung, You-Jin Jeon
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20457205/
Fucoxanthin-Rich Brown Algae Extract Improves Male Reproductive Function on Streptozotocin-Nicotinamide-Induced Diabetic Rat Model
by: Zwe-Ling Kong, Sabri Sudirman, Yu-Chun Hsu, Chieh-Yu Su, and Hsiang-Ping Kuo
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6770327/
The OSteogenic Potential of Brown Seaweed Extracts
by: Pamela J Walsh, Susan McGrath, Steven McKelvey, Lauren Ford, Gary Sheldrake, and Susan A Clarke
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6470556/
Effects of Dietary Fucoxanthin on Cholesterol Metabolism in Diabetic/Obese Mice
by: Fumiaki, Beppu, Masashi Hosokawa, Yoshimi Niwano, and Kazuo Miyashita
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3477094/
Risks and Benefits of Consuming Edible Seaweeds
by: Paul Cherry, Cathal O’Hara, Pamela J Maggee, Emeir M McSorley, and Philip J Alisopp
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6551690/
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