Health evidence for fucoidan stacks up as a new Australian study finds that the seaweed polysaccharide has potential to battle Helictobacter pylori-related diseases and gastric cancer through an anti-adhesion mechanism.
The in vitro study carried out by scientists from the University of Western Australia showed that fucoidan extracts are effective at dislodging H. pylori bacteria from infected human stomach cancer cells.
“The results show that fucoidans inhibit H. pylori attachment to gastric epithelial cells in vitro. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Fucus B, a secondary fucoidan fraction with high polyphenol content extracted from Fucus vesiculosus, is the most toxic against AGS carcinoma cells,”wrote the researchers.
Helictobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a bacteria that colonises the stomachs of half of the world’s population. It causes chronic active gastritis which can progress to peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. Effective treatments for infection with the bacteria are limited, with a rising percentage of treatment failures, primarily due to antibiotic resistance.These findings indicate that fucoidan could be an alternative to increasingly inadequate antibiotic treatments.