Pharmacological Properties and Therapeutic Benefits of Seaweeds (A Review)

Seaweed is a general nomenclature used species of algae and marine plants breed in water bodies like rivers and oceans. They grow in a wide range of sizes from microscopic to stupendous. Seaweed, or macroalgae as it is known scientifically, includes over 10,000 species of the fastest growing plants on earth. Seaweeds come in an amazing variety of beautiful shapes, colors and sizes, and are found in all of the World. They are most abundant in shallow rocky coastal areas, especially where they are exposed at low tide. Seaweed is taxonomically classified under four groups according to the color of photosynthetic pigments namely red algae (rhodophyta), brown algae (phaeophyta), green algae (chlorophyta), and blue-green algae (cyanophyta).

Seaweeds are one of the most nutritionally and therapeutically valuable foods. Their value to health is largely due to their high mineral content and the therapeutic sulfated polysaccharides. Seaweeds are also a source of all the known vitamins, chlorophylls, lignans, polyphenols, antioxidants and chemical diversity including pigments, polysacccharides, organic, and inorganic compounds which are used as animal fodder, food, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmeceutical. 

The aim of this review is to accumulate in brief, the therapeutics and medicinal uses of seaweed on the some mentioned ailments.