[Vowel Lady]

Seems there is a lot of buzz lately on this supplement (seaweed?) that is said to help increase metabolism? Anyone hear anything about this?
http://fucoxanthin.info/

What other supplements might be helpful with reference to this? Seems most of this stuff, if not all of it, is bogus.

Thanks.

[mrsD]

when faced with something like this is go to PubMed.

this is what I found:

Br J Nutr. 2008 Jan 11;:1-5 [Epub ahead of print]Click here to read Links
Low bioavailability of dietary epoxyxanthophylls in humans.
Asai A, Yonekura L, Nagao A.

National Food Research Institute, NARO, 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan.

Epoxyxanthophylls (epoxide-containing xanthophylls), a group of carotenoids, are ubiquitously distributed in edible plants. Among them, neoxanthin in green leafy vegetables and fucoxanthin in brown algae have been reported to exhibit an antiproliferative effect on several human cancer cells in vitro. However, there is little information about the intestinal absorption and metabolic fate of dietary epoxyxanthophylls in humans. To estimate the intestinal absorption of neoxanthin and fucoxanthin in humans, we evaluated the plasma epoxyxanthophyll concentrations before and after 1-week dietary interventions with spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and wakame (Undaria pinnatifida). The epoxyxanthophylls and their metabolites in the plasma extracts were determined by HPLC after partial purification and concentration with solid-phase extraction cartridges. Even after 1 week of spinach intake (3.0 mg neoxanthin/d), the plasma concentrations of neoxanthin and its metabolites (neochrome stereoisomers) remained very low (about 1 nmol/l), whereas those of beta-carotene and lutein were markedly increased. Similarly, the plasma concentration of fucoxanthinol, a gastrointestinal metabolite of fucoxanthin, was < 1 nmol/l after 1 week of wakame intake (6.1 mg fucoxanthin/d). These results indicated that the plasma response to dietary epoxyxanthophylls was very low in humans even after 1-week intake of epoxyxanthophyll-rich diets.

PMID: 18186952 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

There are various PATCHES offered with this ingredient. Oral administration doesn't do much it appears.

I find the name rather funny.... say it fast a couple of times! LOL

Here is an interesting report fucoxanthin + fish oil :
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
works better than fucoxanthin alone.

This study shows some Cox-2 suppression, but only with INJECTED fucoxanthin:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/heal...ight-loss-ads/
I have to say that if fucoxanthin were so great we'd all know about it in short order.
The fact that we have to ASK (and that several years have passed since it came up in studies) means
not many repeat customers, IMO.