What is Fucoidan?

Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide (MW: average 20,000) found mainly in various species of brown seaweed such as kombu, limu moui, bladderwrack, wakame, mozuku, and hijiki (variant forms of fucoidan have also been found in animal species, including the sea cucumber).

Substantial pharmaceutical research has been done on fucoidan, focusing primarily on two distinct forms: F-fucoidan, which is >95% composed of sulfated esters of fucose, and U-fucoidan, which is approximately 20% glucuronic acid. As a consequence of this research, U-fucoidan and F-fucoidan are now being marketed as a nutraceutical, a supposed "miracle drug", and a food supplement.^[1]

Researchers began studying fucoidan around 1970, and since that time fucoidan has been cited in approximately 700 studies published in the National Library of Medicine's database. The overall findings of this large body of research, coupled with anecdotal evidence provided by a long history of use of fucoidan-bearing seaweed in areas such as Japan, Hawaii and Tonga, indicate that fucoidan demonstrates great potential as a safe nutritional answer for a wide variety of health complaints. ^{[citation needed]}

A study ^[2] released in 2005 by Japanese researchers have indicated that F-fucoidan can induce apoptosis in human lymphoma cell lines; as well, French researchers showed in 2002 ^[3] that F-fucoidan can inhibit hyperplasia in rabbits.