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Can sea moss help you lose weight?

Sea moss for weight loss

Sea moss (Chondrus crispus) is a red algae popular amongst health enthusiasts due to its purported health benefits, including weight loss. This article explores its benefits and downsides, as well as whether it can help you lose weight.

Weight Management
Evidence-based
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Can sea moss help you lose weight?
Last updated on August 8, 2023, and last reviewed by an expert on June 11, 2022.

Sea moss (Chondrus crispus) is a red algae popular among health enthusiasts due to its purported health benefits, including weight loss.

Can sea moss help you lose weight?

While research supports the idea that sea moss has multiple benefits, you may still be wondering whether the weight loss claims about it are true.

This article reviews the benefits and downsides of sea moss and explores whether it may help you lose weight.

In this article

What is sea moss?

Sea moss is a red seaweed, also known as Irish moss.

It commonly grows on the Northern Atlantic coasts of America and Europe, mainly in Canada, Ireland, and Iceland.

Sea moss is harvested due to its high carrageenan content — namely lambda-carrageenan. This is a polysaccharide widely used as a thickener and stabilizer in the cosmetic and food industries.

It’s also rich in minerals, such as:

These are necessary for numerous body functions, including thyroid function, bone health, building muscle, and transporting oxygen.

Also, sea moss is very low in calories. A serving of 2 tablespoons (10 grams) of sea moss contains just 5 calories and 1 gram of carbs.

While sea moss is currently touted for its weight loss effects, it is traditionally used as a home remedy to treat sore throats and congestion.

Summary: Sea moss is a red seaweed low in calories and high in carrageenan, a polysaccharide used for its thickening and stabilizing properties.

Sea moss may help you lose weight

Sea moss has a few properties that may support weight loss.

Research indicates it may help:

Sea moss may increase feelings of fullness

Carrageenan is one of sea moss’s main bioactive compounds. Due to its gelling ability and the fact that your body can’t digest it, it acts like soluble fiber in your digestive tract.

Soluble fiber absorbs water and forms a gel-like substance. This slows digestion by increasing the rate at which food moves through your digestive tract and delaying the rate at which your stomach empties its contents.

So, it may leave you feeling fuller for longer, which may help you eat less. Regular soluble fiber intake has been linked to lower body weight.

Sea moss: Benefits, nutrition, and how to prepare it
Suggested read: Sea moss: Benefits, nutrition, and how to prepare it

Sea moss may help reduce body fat

Some research on red seaweed suggests that carrageenan may potentially prevent weight gain.

Animal studies indicate that it may help reduce body fat by:

Additionally, a 12-week study including 78 adults with obesity determined that supplementing 1,000 milligrams per day of red seaweed extract significantly reduced body weight and total body fat mass, compared with the control group.

Still, more human research is needed to validate this effect.

Sea moss may have a prebiotic effect

Prebiotics are groups of fibers that act as food for your gut’s friendly bacteria — or gut microbiota.

Recent studies suggest that the composition of your gut’s microbiota may influence your risk of obesity. The proposed mechanism is that specific types of bacteria in your gut may affect your weight by regulating energy expenditure and storage.

That said, prebiotics may help make your gut microbiota healthier. And research on carrageenan shows promising results that it may improve the gut’s composition.

Animal studies have shown that it may help increase beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium breve and reduce harmful species such as Clostridium septicum and Streptococcus pneumonia.

Summary: Sea moss may aid in weight loss due to its carrageenan content, which may increase feelings of fullness, lower body fat, and improve your microbiota profile.

Side effects and dosage of sea moss

Consuming large amounts of sea moss is not recommended, due to its high iodine content.

Suggested read: Pectin: Nutrition, types, uses, and benefits

Excessive iodine intake may have a poisonous effect and lead to goiter, thyroid cancer, and hyper- or hypothyroidism.

It may also cause fever, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, as well as a burning sensation in the mouth, throat, and stomach.

Additionally, seaweeds such as sea moss may accumulate toxic metals like arsenic, mercury, and lead — a potential health risk.

What’s more, evidence suggests that sea moss may have potent anticoagulant or blood-thinning properties. That’s why you should avoid consuming it if you’re taking blood-thinning medication.

Due to a lack of research on specific populations, pregnant and breastfeeding people should avoid consuming it.

Finally, there’s no official recommended dosage for sea moss.

However, one study found that taking 0.14 ounces (4 grams) per day doesn’t pose a health risk. Frequent users suggest limiting their intake to 2 tablespoons (10 grams) per day.

Sea moss is available in capsule, powdered, dried, and gel form.

Consult with your doctor before adding it to your diet and don’t exceed the daily serving suggestions listed on the label.

Summary: Large amounts of sea moss may lead to excessive iodine intake, which may have detrimental health effects. Pregnant and breastfeeding people and those taking blood thinners should avoid consuming it. More research is needed in this area.

Summary

Sea moss is a red seaweed low in calories but rich in carrageenan. This polysaccharide acts as a soluble fiber, and it’s responsible for sea moss’s potential weight loss effects.

It may aid in weight loss by:

However, there’s currently no determined safe dosage, and high intakes of sea moss may be detrimental to your health. It may cause iodine toxicity and also interfere with medications, such as blood thinners.

Remember to always consult with your health care provider before adding sea moss to your diet.

Suggested read: 7 science-backed health benefits of seaweed

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