4.1.6 Seaweed

4.1.6 Seaweed

Seaweed (Sargassum) has a salty taste and a cold nature, entering the Liver and Kidney meridians. It clears phlegm and softens hard masses, promotes diuresis and reduces edema. Seaweed polysaccharides are the main components of seaweed thalli, and their primary anti-tumor mechanism involves altering tumor cell membrane properties, affecting intercellular communication, providing antioxidant and anti-free radical effects, and inducing tumor cell differentiation and apoptosis [99]. Cho J [100] found that kelp extracts and fucoidan can increase the activity of certain antioxidant enzymes and reduce free radical production. Fucoidan in kelp can inhibit the growth of tumor blood vessels, exhibiting obvious anti-tumor effects, possibly through blocking the binding of VEGF165 to cell surface receptors [101]. Yang Wenhao [102] and others were the first to extract cyclic peptide compounds A1 and A2 from seaweed, which have strong anti-cancer activity—significantly stronger than doxorubicin.