Fucoxanthin Benefits

Fucoxanthin is a type of carotenoid that isnaturally found inwakame, edible brown seaweed, as well as hijiki, both widely used in Asian cuisine. Wakame is the seaweed that is used in miso soup. Fucoxanthin can also be found in smaller amounts in red seaweed (found commonly in Japanese sushi rolls), as well as green seaweed.

Both wakame and hijiki are found at hard to find Japanese speciality food stores, as well as through supplement form on the web. And whlile brown seaweed is the natural, richest source of fucoxanthin, you’d have to eat an extraordinary amount of it to get sufficient levels.

Fucoxanthin Benefits

One benefit of fucoxanthin is weight loss, but more research is needed. So far, only animal tests have been done with fucoxanthin and they have found the it promotes the loss of abdominal fat in mice and rats that are obese. Some animals lost anywhere from five to 10% of their body weight. Although it’s not entirely clear how weight loss may work with fucoxanthin, it seems that a protein called UCP1 increases the rate at which the fat in the abdomin is burned.

The next benefit of fucoxanthin is with diabetes. Fucoxanthin has been tested with animals and has found the it decreases insulin and blood glucose levels. Researchers have tried to hypothesize this lowering of insulin and blood glucose and believe that it may be because fucoxanthin appears to encourage the forming of DHA (fish oil omega-3 fatty acid). DHA is believed to do all of these things, plus more.

Test tube research has indicated that fucoxanthin may have some kind of anti-tumor effects. Although, it’s much too early in research to say whether or not this holds any scientific truth.