Seaweeds and antitumour-active algae (2)

For obvious reasons, the species at present known to  curative are found in Japanese waters. The four genera mentioned represent green, brown and red algae. A variety of species were investigated, although the first reports did not specify exactly how many, which leaves the chance open that antitumour substances may be present in a considerable number of species for all regions. Evidently the resource will not be a problem for pharmaceutical quantities. Codium och Sargassum are abundantly available in all oceans and are much in demand  for other purposes, the widespread genus Dictyopteris is consumend in many areas and the East Asian Gloiopeltis, funori, is used for silk sizing. The active substances are polysaccarids found in crude water extracts. Therefore another open question is whether a regular intake of seaweed may be prophylactic. As already mentioned such an assumption might increase the demand for seaweed for human consumption.