Kelp is a sea vegetable (seaweed), which, like cacao, is extraordinarily rich in minerals, including alkaline minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Sufficient mineralization from proper nutrition has been known to normalize and calm behavior. A lack of proper mineral nutrition has been implicated in practically every symptom of poor health and emotionally extreme behavior.
Kelp is an especially rich source of potassium, iron, iodine, vitamin B6, riboflavin, and dietary fiber. It also contains glutamic acid, which enhances flavor and tenderizes fibrous foods. Phytochemicals in kelp have been shown to absorb and eliminate radioactive elements and heavy metal contaminants from our bodies.
Kelp is the most abundant, iodine-rich, sea vegetable. The iodine in kelp helps restore thyroid function, allowing one to improve metabolism and lose weight swiftly. The iodine and other minerals in kelp increase the mineral content of all the organs, allowing them to function more effectively. The better our organs function, the more readily they are able to throw off toxins and rejuvenate. Kelp also helps displace toxic minerals with healthy minerals (e.g., radioactive iodine with healthy iodine). Kelp is ideal as a seasoning substitute for salt.
The essential sugar (polysaccharide) known as xylose is also found in kelp. Xylose is antibacterial, antifungal, and helps prevent cancer of the digestive system.
Kelp contains another essential sugar known as fucose, which is antiviral, supports long-term memory, fights allergies, and guards against lung diseases. Fucose also helps alleviate cystic fibrosis, diabetes, cancer, and herpes.
Kelp is an excellent source of an additional essential sugar known as galactose, which improves memory, the absorption of good calcium, and the speedy healing of injuries.
Iodine itself is a poisonous gas, as are the related halogens chlorine, fluorine, and bromine. However, as with chlorine, the salts or negatively charged ions of iodine (iodides) are soluble in water, and in that form are essential in trace amounts to many life-forms. Most plants do not need iodine, but humans require it for the production of thyroid hormones that regulate the metabolic energy of the body and set the basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Iodine is well absorbed from the stomach into the blood. About 30 percent goes to the thyroid gland, depending on the need. Iodine is eliminated rapidly. Most of the remaining 70 percent is utilized by the immune system. What remains is filtered by the kidneys into the urine. Our bodies do not conserve iodine as they do iron, and we must obtain it regularly from the diet.
Along with the element tin, iodine shares right- and left-sided cell receptors and is considered essential to human health. Tin is associated with iodine in the same way calcium is associated with magnesium, with tin supporting the adrenals, and iodine supporting the thyroid. The schizandra berry (a Chinese superherb) is the best-known source of the trace mineral tin.
The thyroid is a small gland in the neck measuring about one inch across that lies just under the skin below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid gland secretes thyroid hormones that control the speed of the body’s metabolic rate.
To produce thyroid hormones, the thyroid gland needs iodine, an element contained in an ideal form in kelp. The thyroid gland traps iodine and processes it into thyroid hormones. As thyroid hormones are used up, some of the iodine contained in the hormones returns to the thyroid gland, where some is lost and the rest is recycled to produce more thyroid hormones.
As the thyroid stimulates energy production of the cellular mitochondria, it influences all body functions. Nerve health, bone formation, reproduction, the mineral condition of the skin, hair, nails, and teeth, as well as our speech and mental state are all influenced by thyroid. Thyroid and thus iodine also affect the conversion of carotene to vitamin A and of RNA to protein.
Iodine is a good example of a trace mineral whose deficiency creates an illness that is easily corrected by reintroducing it into the diet. Goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland, develops when the thyroid does not have enough iodine to manufacture hormones. As it increases its cell size to try to trap more iodine, the whole gland increases in size, creating a swelling in the neck. Even when a minor deficiency in the correct type of iodine occurs, a hypothyroid condition results, likely leading to fatigue and sluggishness, weight gain, and coldness of the body.