{"id":4518,"date":"2016-05-20T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=4518"},"modified":"2018-08-14T17:14:08","modified_gmt":"2018-08-14T23:14:08","slug":"pcc-ancient-seaweed-modern-algae-formulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/4518\/pcc-ancient-seaweed-modern-algae-formulations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient seaweed cures find new life in modern algae formulations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"algae02\"Seaweed is the general term for numerous species of marine plants that grow in oceans, rivers, lakes and other water bodies. Marine algae<\/a> (red, green and brown) represent a very large and diverse group encompassing at least 28,000 species. Algae are among the most ancient of all known living organisms and date back at least 3.5 billion years.<\/p>\n

Seaweeds are typically 20 to 50% dry weight. Minerals commonly found in seaweeds include potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, chloride, sulfur, phosphorous, vanadium, cobalt, manganese, selenium, bromine, iodine, arsenic, iron and fluorine.<\/p>\n

Many seaweeds contain anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial actives and may have been used for thousands of years to treat various skin disorders. The ancient Romans used them to treat wounds, burns and rashes, and anecdotal evidence suggests that ancient Egyptians may have used them as a treatment for breast cancer.<\/p>\n

Micro-algae are among the fastest growing photosynthesizing unicellular organisms known and can complete an entire growing cycle in a few days. Currently the most commercially important seaweed derivatives are algae oil, carrageenan<\/a>, sodium alginate<\/a>, and agar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Looking for seaweed or algae-derived ingredients for your skincare formulation?<\/h3>\n

Prospector lists ingredients from global suppliers and offers the ability to view technical data, request samples and more.<\/p>\n


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Algae species have a very high oil content (up to 75% oil by weight) and can produce up to up to 15,000 gallons of oil per acre, per year under optimum growing conditions. It is believed that the majority of oil and natural gas currently produced from ocean oil rigs originated from decomposed algae.<\/p>\n

I believe that in the future, farmed algae will be an important oil feedstock to produce many cosmetic ingredients, such as fatty alcohols<\/a>, fatty acids<\/a>, emollients<\/a> and other oleochemicals. The largest commercial producer of algae oil is TerraVia<\/a> (formerly called Solazyme); the company offers algae-oil formulations for food, personal care and aquaculture uses.<\/p>\n

Carrageenans<\/a> are linear, sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from edible red seaweeds. Carrageenan is the most important seaweed-derived thickener used in personal-care products. It is a sulfated, anionic polysaccharide that exists in three forms: Kappa, which has one sulfate group per galactose molecule; Iota, which has two sulfate groups; and Lamba, which has three sulfate groups. Only the Iota form is widely used as a thickener. The Kappa form produces only hard gels.<\/p>\n

Sodium alginate<\/a> is a natural anionic polysaccharide extracted from brown seaweed that grows in cold-water regions. In the presence of calcium, sodium alginate can form a viscous gel or insoluble film, depending on the calcium level. This reaction can be used to produce alginate encapsulates that contain oil or peel-off masks.<\/p>\n

Agar<\/a> is derived from certain species of red algae and consists of a mixture of agarose<\/a> and agaropectin. The polysaccharide agarose is released when solutions are boiled. Solutions of agar form hard gels when heated to 85 degrees Celsius and cooled without mixing. If the solutions are mixed using high shear through the set point, viscous dispersions can be produced that have a good skin-feel and can thicken water-based formulations. Agar can also be used to form soft encapsulates that easily break when rubbed.<\/p>\n

Interesting seaweed-derived ingredients:<\/b><\/p>\n