Seaweed???

Question

What is the economic importance of seaweed?

Answer 1

It is eaten,it is used in pharmacuticals,ice cream and many other products,known as gum carrageenen,agar ect.Most useful natural product around.

Answer 2

Seaweed is inexpensive and very nutritious and seaweed is my favourite salad.

Answer 3

Red seaweed is harvested and used for agar. Agar is that stuff at the bottom of the petri dish and is a component of some electrophoresis gels.

Answer 4

Uses of Sea Weeds ==

1)Sea weeds as food=



Seaweed are extensively used as food by coastal peoples, particularly in East Asia, e.g. Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, but also in Indonesia, Peru, the Canadian Maritimes, Scandinavia, Ireland, Wales, Philippines, and Scotland, among other places.

In Asia, gim (in Korea) and nori (in Japan) are sheets of dried Porphyra used in soups or to wrap sushi.

Chondrus crispus (commonly known as Irish moss or carrageenan moss) is another red alga used in producing various food additives, along with Kappaphycus and various gigartinoid seaweeds.

Porphyra is a red alga used in Wales to make laver and laverbread, made from oats and the laver, is a popular dish in Wales.

Seaweeds are also harvested or cultivated for the extraction of alginate, agar and carrageenan, gelatinous substances collectively known as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids.

Hydrocolloids have attained commercial significance, especially in food production as food additives.

The food industry exploits the gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties of these hydrocolloids.

Agar is used in foods such as confectionery, meats and poultry products, desserts and beverages and moulded foods.

Carrageenan is used in preparation of salad dressings and sauces, dietetic foods, and as a preservative in meat and fish products, dairy items and baked goods.

Alginates enjoy many of the same uses as carrageenan, but are also used in production of industrial products such as paper coatings, adhesives, dyes, gels, explosives and in processes such as paper sizing, textile printing, hydro-mulching and drilling.

2 )Sea weeds as Medicine==

In the biomedicine and pharmaceutical industries, alginates are used in wound dressings, and production of dental moulds and have a host of other applications.

In microbiology research, agar is extensively used as culture medium. Carrageenans, alginates and agaroses (the latter are prepared from agar by purification), together with other lesser-known macroalgal polysaccharides, also have several important biological activities or applications in biomedicine.

Seaweed is also a known source of iodine, an element necessary for thyroid function with deficiencies leading to goitre.

It has been asserted that seaweeds may have curative properties for tuberculosis, arthritis, colds and influenza, worm infestations and even tumors.

A number of research studies have been conducted to investigate these claims and other effects of seaweed on human health.

3) Other uses of Sea weeds =

Seaweeds may be used as seaweed fertilizer.

For more click the link below .There is a treasure of information =

http://www.ryandrum.com/seaweeds.htm

http://www.seaweed.ie/uses_general/defau...

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y4765E/y47...

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/Y4765E/y47...

http://freakinfucus.co.uk/guides/the-use...

From = A Botanist