Wellness influences declare sea moss can enhance intestine well being, cut back anxiousness and offer you glowing pores and skin. However is there proof it really works?
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
What grows within the ocean, is chock-full of vitamins and, in keeping with wellness influencers, can enhance your intestine well being and offer you glowing pores and skin? It is sea moss, one of many newest superfoods anointed by social media. NPR’s Maria Godoy stories on whether or not there’s proof to assist the hype.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: Sort the phrases sea moss into the TikTok search bar, and you will run into movies like this one from content material creator Georgia Ning.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
GEORGIA NING: I attempted sea moss about three weeks in the past. And, oh, my gosh, that is my holy grail now.
GODOY: She says it helped clear her zits and gave her radiant pores and skin. Different claims for sea moss embrace supporting immunity and thyroid well being, rising power and serving to with weight administration. Curiosity in sea moss has exploded lately, with celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Hailey Bieber touting it as a part of their wellness routines. Vanessa King is a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dietetics (ph). She says you have most likely eaten a sea moss product with out realizing it. It is lengthy been harvested for its carrageenan, which is used within the meals business as a thickening agent.
VANESSA KING: You may discover it in your ice cream, your sauces, any custards and pudding.
GODOY: Lately, sea moss is bought as powders, dried flakes, tablets, gummies. Typically, it is soaked in water and bought in a gooey gel type.
KING: Sea moss is mostly a generic time period to explain totally different pink seaweed vegetation.
GODOY: It grows within the North Atlantic, particularly across the Irish coast, and in hotter waters like elements of the Caribbean. King says in each these areas, it has been used as a type of meals as drugs since no less than the 1800s.
KING: And in all these years, from the 1800s to now, we nonetheless haven’t got a lot analysis to assist the well being claims that our celebrities are endorsing.
GODOY: A lot of the claims are primarily based on cell or animal research, which do not at all times translate to people. That is to not say sea moss has no well being advantages. Dr. Melinda Ring practices integrative drugs at Northwestern College. She says sea moss in its complete type is an efficient supply of fiber, antioxidants, nutritional vitamins and minerals like zinc, which do assist intestine and immune well being. However you can too discover these in different meals.
MELINDA RING: So can it’s probably helpful? Sure. Can it’s extra helpful than different sources? Most likely not. It is simply one among many issues that we are able to use to assist our well being.
GODOY: Ring says there are additionally potential dangers from consuming an excessive amount of sea moss.
RING: Sea moss can accumulate heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury, notably if it has been sourced from contaminated water. In order that’s an enormous concern.
GODOY: One other concern? Sea moss is wealthy in iodine. We’d like some iodine for good thyroid well being.
RING: It is simply once they take an excessive amount of that it turns into an issue.
GODOY: Probably triggering thyroid dysfunction. Ring says folks on blood thinners, with thyroid issues or who’re pregnant or breastfeeding ought to keep away from sea moss. She says others who need to attempt it ought to go for sea moss as an entire meals or gel as a substitute of in dietary supplements. Or you possibly can simply skip sea moss altogether. I requested registered dietitian Diana Guevara if sea moss is extra well being elixir or hype.
DIANA GUEVARA: Undoubtedly hype. You already know, we would like issues to be straightforward and fast.
GODOY: Guevara is with UTHealth Houston. She says in relation to good well being, there isn’t any single magic tablet.
GUEVARA: It truly is simply that complete way of life of together with extra fruits, extra greens, extra complete grains and actually simply in search of that stability.
GODOY: It will not be fashionable, however it’s backed by science.
Maria Godoy, NPR Information.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts could fluctuate. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
