15 Jul 2017

Seaweed: can it boost health?

From This Way Up, 12:25 pm on 15 July 2017

Pia Winberg sees a future for seaweed far beyond wrapping our sushi.

seaweed salad

Photo: via Medlicker.com

The Australian seaweed scientist and entrepreneur is aiming for a world where its health benefits are accepted and the red, brown and green marine algae appears on dinner plates across the globe as a mainstream, everyday food and source of fibre.

Pia's got a 20-year history with seaweed, first in aquaculture and attempts to grow it more sustainably. But a decade ago she got more interested in seaweed as a food: what it contained, its nutritional qualities, and what it could add to our increasingly processed Western diet.

Now she's studying seaweed almost as medicine, with one clinical trial finished and a new one about to start. She is trying to show how seaweed could help people suffering from metabolic disorders, pre-diabetes and skin diseases.