Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Weight loss

Fucoxanthin: This may sound like a character in the latest videogame, but this compound is the future of weight loss. Some of you may know this already but fucoxanthin is found in seaweed, yes, seaweed. According to this article from Irish Health, wakame is a brown seaweed commonly used in Asian soups and salads. Fucoxanthin is the compound in wakame that promotes weight loss and even has anti-diabetic effects.
Dr. Kazuo Miyashita from Hokkaido University told the American Chenical Society National meeting in San Francisco that significant reductions in fat tissue were reported in rats and obese mice fed the edible seaweed carotenoid fucoxanthin.

Fucoxanthin induces expression of the fat-burning protein UCP1 that accumulates in fat tissue around the internal organs. Mice fed fucoxanthin showed clear signs of the fat-burning protein in fat tissue, whereas mice fed a control diet showed little sign of this protein.
Translation? You watch, wakame cafes will take the country by storm (How do you pronounce that kind of cafe?). Soon, one will be near you. They will be serving the "Seaweed Soup and Salad Special." (Say that three times fast) Fucoxanthin will be shortened to "F-thin," and the marketing will be huge. "The F-thin Factor" will be a best selling book, etc. Remember, you heard it here first.

Or, this research will be proved wrong, and you can go back to eating donuts and drinking diet coke again. I'm not a big seaweed fan anyway. Calamari, maybe...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, I'll stick with sashimi . . . ;o) BTW, the name of that stuff sounds obscene.

HP said...

Agree with Difficultpt, except for the sashimi.

I wonder if I can get a take out delivery to Phuket?

Anonymous said...

I tried to go on a seaweed and brown rice diet once. Not for weight loss but because I had heard that the Macrobiotic diet was good for fighting cancer. As a matter of fact, I had just read a book (non-fiction), written by a medical doctor, who had claimed his cancer was cured by the macrobiotic diet.

I went to the oriental health food store and bought 20 lb bags of brown rice and packages of seaweed sheets. They told me how to put the rice in the seaweed sheets and roll it up like a taco to eat..One bite doc. and that was it for me. There is no way in heaven and earth I could eat that stuff. It was sooooo nasty!

Count me out on the eating of seaweed. Been there and done that!

Anonymous said...

give me the seaweed. NOW! so we could get on the weight loss wihtout exercising and counting calories :)

rdl said...

i take it sour worms are not on that diet? I thought you meant Fluoxitine at first and almost ran downstair to take some.

Anonymous said...

Seaweed! Yuck! Seaweed named, um, well - whatever ... I think I'll stick to my beer and chips, thank you!

Healthpsych, you want it delivered where??? >;o)

Anonymous said...

How do you spell (weight) relief? F-U-C-O-X-A-N-T-H-I-N. But, wait, how does one prnounce it? Hey, Doc. I don't know if this is a marketer's dream or nightmare. But go with it. Yup. We heard it here first.
Laugh.Or. Else.

(Sure ephemerize me, herr professor.)

Artemis said...

It'd be f-ing great if this f-ing f-thin really f-ing works.
A

Mo and The Purries said...

so, what do you really think the seaweed cafes will be called?
F-Inn?

HP said...

Phuket, Thailand, Moof.

A beautiful spot to have a lunch but I'm not sure about the seaweed.

Parlancheq said...

Ah, so this is why you served seaweed at the blog-aholics meeting! Now I get it. I just thought you wanted us all to leave right after the meeting. (Because who wants to stick around and eat seaweed? Yuck!)

Liana said...

Hmm, interesting. In Korea, it's traditional to give new mothers soup made from seaweed (miyuk). It's supposed to help you get your strength back. I'm not sure if it's actually supposed to help you lose weight too...

I think seaweed is probably an acquired taste... I love it.

PS Cathy, did you roast and salt the seaweed before you tried to eat it?