Kelp - The secret doctor to our body

I'm sure all you have seen kelp floating around in the ocean when you decided to go 

for a little swim. But have you ever eaten it and wondered why it is 

beneficial to our body?

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To begin with, kelp benefits your body because of the vitamins and minerals in it. Kelp is 
not only composed of natural iodine, but is also consisting of minerals such as potassium, calcium, and iron, while having multiple vitamins such as B1,B2 and B12.

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I know most of you may wonder what the benefits of iodine may be. Well for one, 

natural iodine gives a huge aid to your thyroid glands, making them have proper functions and some resistance to harm.

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The vitamins in kelp each have their own unique functions to help our bodies. B1, also known as thiamine aids in your metabolic functions while B2, known as riboflavin, fights off harmful particles called free radicals as antioxidants. Finally, B12 is especially beneficial by maintaining healthy nerve cells while aiding in the production in DNA and RNA (body's genetic material).

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For those of you in biology, I'm sure you've learned what hypertonic and hypotonic is. Hypotonic is a solution in which there is a higher amount of solutes inside the cell, causing water to diffuse into it. Here, these cells are turgid (swollen) and as seen, has water completely filling the cytoplasm and around the cells. 

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Unlike the previous cells, these cells are in a hypertonic solution in which the concentration of solutes in much higher on the external side of the cell, leading water to diffuse out of the membrane. Cells in hypertonic solutions result in plasmolysis in which protoplasm is shrunken away from the cell wall. 

Kelp contains glutamine , a hydrophillic amino acid consisting of proteins, also known to be the natural form of MSG. Now before you panic, this isn't the artificial msg found in fast food restaurants that result in obesity and other harmful effects on your body. Glutamine actually aids in preventing the breakdown of your muscles. It is the most abundant free amino acid in your blood cell that assists in protein and lipid synthesis, being a nontoxic transporter of ammonia, and much more. 

Following, another very helpful composition of kelp is fucoidan, which is a sulfated polysaccharide which aids in inducing human lymphoma (HS-Sultan cell lines) apoptosis. Studies also show that fucoidan inhibits excessive production of nitric oxide and prostaglandin. 

So next time you are thinking about vegetables to eat on a diet or to your daily meals, consider kelp!