Breathe that seaweed and improve your wellbeing!

The restorative powers of seaweed are already well documented – but now you can improve your wellbeing by just living close to the coast…and breathing it all in.

That’s because iodine – a key element in bodily and mental function – floats in the air in coastal areas where seaweed grows in abundance…west Connemara being one of them.

This gaseous iodine is ingested by people simply by breathing it in and the benefits of this have now been gauged scientifically.

The results of a study led by Dr Peter Smith, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at NUIG shows that women and children who live close to a seaweed rich seashore are far more likely to have high and healthy levels of bodily iodine compared to their counterparts inland.

Low levels of iodine may damage bodily organs; lower levels in women of child bearing age may result in children being born with impaired brain development.

The study entitled “Iodine Status over two Decades: Influence of Seaweed Exposure” was carried out over a twenty one year period from 1998 until 2008 and the results have been published in this month’s edition of the Irish Medical Times.

The assessments of the effects of seaweed in relation to bodily iodine content was organised by Dr Michael Casey in Carna in Connemara.  His general practice takes in a coastal region where there is plenty of seaweed growth.

People in two other areas were studied by the research team – the seaside cities of Galway, Dublin and Belfast where there is little seaweed growth and the inland areas of Dungannon and Mullingar.

The results showed that 46% of the children in the Carna and west Connemara area had iodine readings of greater than 150 ug/L, a reading based on urinary iodine.

The corresponding percentage figures for the coastal area without seaweed was 3.6% and the high readings inland stood at only 2.2%.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.