“A deficiency of even a single trace element in a soil can prevent plants thriving, even if all the major nutrient elements, water and light are present in optimal amounts” (77).

“In the last 50 years, runner beans have lost 100% of their sodium, watercress 90% its copper, broccoli 75% its calcium. Levels of other important minerals including magnesium, iron, phosphorous and potassium have also plummeted” (7).

In the 51 years from 1940 to 1991, farmed meat lost 41% of its calcium and 54% of its iron, while vegetables lost an average 50% calcium, 25% iron and magnesium, 76% copper and 59% zinc (97).

To illustrate a mere fraction of the problem this presents, the body requires magnesium for 300 different daily enzyme reactions, zinc for 200, and so on. For these micronutrients alone, there is no better natural source than certain good quality seaweeds.

It is salutory to recall that the benefits of many micronutrients including those of over half the currently known trace elements were unrecognised until the 1970s (98).

Over the same post-War period the saturated fat content of beef and chicken has risen by more than 400%, whilst essential omega-3 fats critical to the nervous, immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive and eliminatory systems have declined in the same proportion (99).

“Britons typically now eat 4 kilograms of additives annually, while the fat content of the average chicken has risen from 2% to 22%...our intake of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids has decreased while the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids has gone through the roof...while...good health requires the two to be in balance...and the trans-fats routinely found in highly processed foods (eg. ready meals, sweets, crisps, salty snacks, takeaways) assume the same position in the brain as essential fatty acids” (103).

“Thousands of young mothers-to-be are putting their children’s health at risk as a result of their unhealthy diets and ‘faddy’ weight loss regimes such as the high-protein, low-carbohydrate regime beloved by celebrities.

A new study of 12,000 women has shown that 4 in 10 young women have such poor diets that when they become pregnant their children are deprived of essential nutrients in the womb.

The health of an unborn baby can be affected long before conception, because foetuses do not merely rely on the food consumed by the mother in pregnancy, but draw on nutrients stored in their bodies over preceeding months.

Poor diets before and during pregnancy can leave children susceptible to a range of diseases in later life includiong diabetes and heart disease” (90).

“Seaweed is the most nutritious form of vegetation on this planet...it contains almost the whole alphabet of nutrients” (8).

“(Certain seaweeds are) so concentrated in minerals that they arenormally used as a supplementary item in recipes to provide a mineral foundation for better utilization of protein and all other nutrients...

A broad range of protein content in addition to a remarkable ability to combine with other vegetables, grains and legumes.

Not only do they contribute valuable protein and other nutrients, but their mineralization is superior to that of any other plant or animal food”(1 p107).

“Modern science confirms seaweed as one of Nature’s all-roundpharmaceutical miracles that can accomplish everything from warding offand treating several types of cancer, lowering blood cholesterol andblood pressure, thinning the blood, preventing ulcers, killingbacteria, even curing constipation” (10).

“Seaweeds are highly nutritious, support digestion, help alkalinize the body and aid detox. They generally contain over 70 of the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that your body needs for health and are also packed with amino acids (proteins). They are also rich in compounds called polysaccharides which cleanse and heal the intestines and help the breakdown of food. These compounds also bind with heavy metals so they can assist with removal of mercury, lead, cadmium etc from the body. There are many different types of seaweed and lots of delicious seaweed recipes. If you really don’t like the taste, texture or aroma then try Seagreens seaweed capsules or condiments, made from organic bladderwrack, which can be sprinkled on food – delicious!” (107).