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The Health Benefits Of Seaweed

MIAMI (CBS4) - Is seaweed a miracle ingedient? Holistic Health counselor Andrea Beaman thinks it might be.

"They're so rich in nutrients. You only need a small amount," she said about the seaweed or sea vegetables, which she said are loaded with vitamins and minerals.

"I think more and more Americans are starting to eat them and find the benefits of them. Nori is probably the most popular sea vegetable. That's the black wrap or green wrap you see around sushi," explained Beaman.

Lydia Sarfati claims seaweed is so powerful she made it her business.

"We harvest our seaweed from the Brittany Coast in France," she said. "We use about 12 different kinds for therapeutic purposes for face, body and cosmetics.

Sarfati said her company manufactures an entire line of seaweed beauty products in New Jersey. She said seaweed can detoxify and beautify the skin. "It will help with actually making your skin feel and look firmer without causing damage."

"Seaweek has a lot of B-Vitamins. It also has vitamin E, vitamin C. So it is anti-inflammatory and anything that is anti-inflammatory affects free radicals and free radicals damage the skin," explained Dr. Debra Jaliman, a dermatologist.

She is not convinced that seaweek is a miracle. She does believe it has powerful properties that could help conditions like rosacea and eczema.

"You might want to look for it if you have inflammation in your skin. So it might be for someone with redness in their skin. It is more for inflammation than it is so much for anti-aging," said Jaliman.

Now researchers are hoping seaweed's anti-inflammatory properties could lead to treatments for medical conditions like heart disease and arthritis. Dr. Peter McCann said at least one new study holds particular promise.

"This was a good study and a great start and the future is to do more credible studies to see if there really is an effect... a beneficial effect that we can prove." declared McCann.

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