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Review

Kelp

No authors listed
In: LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases; 2012.
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Review

Kelp

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Excerpt

Kelp is a form of seaweed belonging to the order Laminariales that is used as a food and a source of vitamins and minerals, administered as a botanical supplement, and employed in food processing and production of fertilizers. Preparations of kelp are generally recognized as safe, and there is no evidence that they can cause elevations in liver related enzymes or clinically apparent liver injury.

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References

    1. Zimmerman HJ. Unconventional drugs. Miscellaneous drugs and diagnostic chemicals. In, Zimmerman, HJ. Hepatotoxicity: the adverse effects of drugs and other chemicals on the liver. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott,1999: pp. 731-4.(Expert review of hepatotoxicity published in 1999; several herbal medications are discussed, but not seaweed or kelp).
    1. Liu LU, Schiano TD. Hepatotoxicity of herbal medicines, vitamins and natural hepatotoxins. In, Kaplowitz N, DeLeve LD, eds. Drug-induced liver disease. 2nd ed. New York: Informa Healthcare USA, 2007, pp. 733-54.(Review of hepatotoxicity of herbal and dietary supplements [HDS] published in 2007; no mention of seaweed or kelp).
    1. Kelp. In, PDR for Herbal Medicines. 4th ed. Montvale, New Jersey: Thomson Healthcare Inc. 2007: pp. 496-497.(Compilation of short monographs on herbal medications and dietary supplements, mentions that kelp is generally considered as safe and that “no health hazards or side effects are known in conjunction with the proper administration…”).
    1. Hu J, Geng M, Li J, Xin X, Wang J, Tang M, Zhang J, et al.. Acidic oligosaccharide sugar chain, a marine-derived acidic oligosaccharide, inhibits the cytotoxicity and aggregation of amyloid beta protein. J Pharmacol Sci. 2004;95:248–255.(Acidic oligosaccharide sugar chain [AOSC] is a derivative of brown algae seaweed Echlonia kurome Okam polysaccharide, which is digested to a smaller linear oligosaccharides of approximately 1300 molecular weight, prevented beta amyloid fibril formation in vitro and decreased the toxicity of beta amyloid aggregates to neuronal cells in culture). - PubMed
    1. Jacobsson I, Jönsson AK, Gerdén B, Hägg S. Spontaneously reported adverse reactions in association with complementary and alternative medicine substances in Sweden. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2009;18:1039–1047.(Among 778 spontaneous reports of adverse reactions to herbal and alterative medicines to a national Swedish Registry, no cases were attributed to seaweed or kelp). - PubMed

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