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Natural Kelp, Vitamins & Minerals
Whole Food Nutritional Support
Control Your Metabolism:
Organic Iodine feeds your thyroid gland, which controls metabolism and
promotes maturation of the nervous system.
Disinfect Your Blood:
Iodine is also the main natural disinfecting agent in our body. Every
15 minutes, all of your blood goes through that small organ - the thyroid
gland.
Prevent Cardiovascular Disease:
Laminarin is a polysaccharide that is helpful in the prevention and treatment
of cardiovascular diseases. It helps to balance coagulation of blood.
Detoxify From Heavy Metals:
Alginate is a natural absorbent of radioactive elements, heavy metals,
and free radicals. It has the unique ability of binding heavy metals and
radioactive elements to its own molecules. Because the Alginate cannot
be broken down by bile or saliva and cannot be absorbed by the body, it
is secreted from the body together with the heavy metals and radioactive
substances.
Directions for Use: Take 3 capsules every day.
Kelp, Seaweed
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I started using your Vickery Essential Amino Acids
years ago and am in pretty good shape for a 79 year old. I had one
problem however which was getting worse over a 10 year span. This
was BPH or benign prostatic hypertrophy or enlargement of the prostate.
My PSA went up to 8.0 as I was taking saw palmetto which helps to
control this somewhat. In spite of that the PSA was steadily rising
and I had to see my urologist every four months. I also heard that
saw palmetto works by destroying prostatic cells. About three months
ago I started to take Vickery Sea Plant Minerals and Glyconutrients.
On my recent checkup the doctor asked me what I was taking and proceeded
to tell him. He said, I don't know anything about that but keep
on doing what you are doing because your PSA is down to 6 and I
won't see you for six months"! Thanks again for this simple
solution to my problem. I hope that this will help other men who
are having the same problem, which my urologist says is very common
after 70.
Donald K.
Aiken, SC
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Coastal peoples all over the world have prized seaweed as a source of
valuable nutrients, primarily minerals, for millennia. In coastal areas
the inland native peoples used to trade their most precious possessions
for a bag of dried seaweed laboriously carried on someone's back from
the coast.
Knowledge of the tonic and healing powers of seaweed was passed down
among coastal peoples from generation to generation. Much of their knowledge
is in the process of being confirmed by modern scientific analysis. And
demographic studies have shown that people who regularly incorporate edible
seaweeds into their diets have fewer problems from mineral depletion and
live longer than other peoples. (1.)
Sea vegetables contain 10 to 20 times the minerals and vitamins of land
vegetables. Gram for gram, they are higher in vitamins and minerals than
any other class of food. (2.)
The minerals are available in chelated, colloidal forms that make them
especially available to the bodies of humans and animals, a concept known
as "bioavailability." All sea vegetables contain significant
amounts of protein, sometimes as much as 48%. Sea plants are also a rich
sources of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber. (3.)
The large brown seaweeds known as the "kelps" (including wakame
and kombu) contain alginic acid. Studies have shown that alginic acid
removes heavy metals and radioactive isotopes from the digestive tract,
as well as strontium 90 from the bones. (4.)
Essential for Type "O" Blood Type Diets!
Sea vegetables have traditionally been used in Asia to treat heart disease,
hypertension, cancer, and thyroid problems. Modern researchers are trying
to understand the physiological mechanisms by which seaweed can be used
to successfully treat these diseases, with some promising results. One
especially exciting theory proposes that consumption of Laminaria (kombu)
explains the low breast cancer rate in post-menopausal Japanese women.
(5 .)
Much more will be learned in future years as the study of these wondrous
plants from the sea continues.
Vitamins
Seaweed contains vitamins A, B, C, and E. (6.)
Many seaweeds contain significant amounts of vitamin B-12, a vitamin
normally found only in animal products. Avoiding B-12 deficiency has traditionally
posed a problem for people on raw foods, vegan, macrobiotic, and vegetarian
diets, but seaweed just might solve the problem. The source of the B-12
in seaweed remains a mystery (is it made by bacteria living on the surface
or in the water?), and researchers wonder if it really is B-12 or an "analogue"
- something that resembles B-12 but cannot be utilized by the human body.
(7.)
Dr. Norman Cousens is quite convinced that the B-12 in seaweed is bioavailable,
(8.) and the experience of some long-term vegan/vegetarians seems to confirm
that view. (9.)
Minerals
The mineral content of sea vegetables is extraordinary, and is probably
at the root of most of their healing properties. Several of the theories
put forth to explain the ability of seaweed to reduce heart disease and
hypertension are based in the high mineral content of seaweed, particularly
potassium, calcium, sodium, and chloride. In the words of Shep Erhart,
author of Sea Vegetable Celebration, "Every second of every day your
body depends on minerals to generate billions of tiny electric impulses
throughout your nervous system. Your heart would stop, your muscles would
freeze, and your brain would black out if these minerals were not available
in just the right amounts and the right form. The minerals in seaweeds
are in colloidal form, meaning they retain their molecular identity while
remaining in liquid suspension. Colloids are very small in size and are
easily absorbed by the body's cells. Plants convert metallic minerals,
which can be toxic, into colloids with a natural, negative electric charge.
Negatively charged minerals have been shown to increase the transport
and bioavailability of other foods and supplements. (10.)
"Minerals that are attached to other substances such as amino acids
are also more bioavailable. These are call chelated (key-lated) minerals,
from the Greek word for claw. Seaweeds provide all of the 56 minerals
and trace minerals required for your body's physiological functions
in chelated, colloidal forms. Most enzymatic functions depend on minute
amounts of bioavailable trace minerals. The major minerals are instrumental
in all kinds of life-sustaining activities in your body: magnesium is
crucial in calcium absorption, iodine in thyroid function, iron in blood
oxygen exchange, and chromium in blood sugar regulation. All of these
functions are facilitated by the presence of chelated, colloidal minerals."
(11.)
The minerals in sea vegetables are more important to humans and animals
today than ever. The 1997 edition of Food Composition Handbook shows a
25-50% decline in the vitamin and mineral content of foods since the last
survey done in 1975. "This decline suggests a steady deterioration
in soil, air, and water quality, as well as reduced seed vitality, that
is depleting minerals and other inorganic compounds from our food."
(12.)
Minerals in Relation to Tofu, Beans, and Grains
Tofu, beans, and grains contain a substance called phytic acid which
blocks the absorption of minerals. With beans and grains you can mitigate
this problem by soaking them for 18 hours before cooking. The soaking
activates the seed embryo, which neutralizes the phytic acid. Alternatively,
you can add seaweed to your pot of grain or beans, which makes more minerals
available and ensures that some will be absorbed.
In Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon and Mary Enig point out that
Americans are using tofu very differently than it is used in Asia. In
Asia small quantities of tofu are usually served in a fish-based broth
with seaweed. The seaweed and the fish provide additional minerals that
balance the mineral-leaching effect of the phytic acid in the tofu. But
Americans, having identified tofu as a vegetable source of protein, have
isolated it from its culinary tradition and consume huge quantities of
it the way we would consume steak or hamburgers. Hundreds of substitute
meat products consist mainly of texturized soy protein, and many people
simply dip a slab of tofu in tamari and yeast and fry it. We would be
wise to eat in harmony with Asian traditions and use tofu in smaller quantities
and in combination with fish and/or seaweed.
References
1.) Erhart, Shep and Cerier, Leslie, Sea Vegetable Celebration, Book
Publishing Company, Summertown, TN, 2001, p. 22.
2.) Cousens, Gabriel, Conscious Eating, Essene Vision Books, Patagonia,
AZ, 1992, p 484.
3.) Erhart and Cerier, 25-27.
4.) Erhart and Cerier, 30.
5.) Erhart and Cerier, 29.
6.) Cousens, 484
7.) Erhart and Cerier, 24-25.
8.) Cousens, 484.
9.) Erhart and Cerier, 25.
10.) Erhart and Cerier, 27-28.
11.) Erhart and Cerier, 21-22.
12.) Jack, Alex, Let Food Be Thy Medicine, One Peaceful World Newsletter,
1999, 200 as quoted in Erhart and Cerier, Sea Vegetable Celebration, 22.
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