Miracle Moss 92 - Gold Sea Moss

Product Notes:

There's been a growing interest in sea moss products recently, especially those sourced from the St. Lucia island region in the Caribbean. The attention has seen an ever-increasing number of resellers pop up as well, leading to some confusion about product sourcing and labeling about which type is actually being offered.

In particular, many sellers have either deliberately or accidentally run together two similar yet distinct families of red algae:

- Irish Moss, of the Gigartinaceae family, whose scientific name is Chondrus crispus, which has broader leaves and contains a great deal of carrageenan (which got its name from a region of Ireland which first discovered and used a lot of that specific type of red algae to make foods like home-made candy and pudding); and,

- (more generic) Sea Moss, of the genus Gracilaria and family Gracilariaceae, which is 'stringier' and does not have as much of a seafood smell when reconstituted, and looks a bit like vermicelli when dried.

This type is the latter, which does not contain carrageenan, which may be just as well, because even though relatively small amounts of carrageenan are widely used in a variety of foods and personal products as an emulsifier, thickener, gelling agent, and stabilizer, larger doses of it can cause inflammation that can aggravate those with irritable bowels or ulcerative colitis, and you're probably getting quite enough of it in your diet already.

For those seeking Irish Moss primarily as a natural herbal source of a demulcent to soothe coughs or colds or the mucous membranes of your GI tract, we would thus advise Slippery Elm, instead. It should also be noted that carrageenan is not the only type of polysaccharide in red algae that can make it gelatinous when heated or blended: there are other gelling agents such as agar (and possibly alginate) which are clearly present in this type, since it does in fact form a gel (Miracle Moss 92 also makes and sells its Gold Sea Moss in gel form, which we may have in stock in-store (ask for PLU 26957) but do not sell online), and both this genus Gracilaria and a different Gelidium genus of red seaweed have been the primary sources of agar-agar thickening products.

Apart from the presence or absence of carrageenan versus agar as the primary thickening or demulcent agent, where the two types do converge is reflected Miracle Moss 92's name: they both reportedly contain about 92 of the 102* minerals that are present in our bodies.

That includes iodine, of course (seaweed is often the source of that, among supplements), but also two that should be of particular interest to those prone to developing muscle cramps: each single tablespoon serving of the gel provides 10% of your daily magnesium needs, and 56% of the potassium (something almost no conventional supplements do).

Both types also have fibre, which can not only help keep you 'regular,' but also help keep your appetite in check, as well as some vitamins (especially C), and some of their other trace mineral content such as copper and zinc can help support the immune system.

Another potential benefit of internal consumption may include aiding in muscle-building and recovery, thanks to its taurine amino acid content.

Sea moss can also have benefits for the skin to help improve its hydration, reduce its inflammation, harmful bacteria, and excessive oil production, and protect against UV damage, thanks to its vitamin, omega-3 fatty acid (especially EPA), protein (including both many of the amino acids our bodies use to build collagen as well as Mycosporine-Like Amino Acids (MAAs), which confer UV-protection), and sulphur content.

Accordingly, some recommend using Sea Moss gel as a face mask once a week to help rebalance the skin microbiome and help build up the its moisture barrier.

* Apparently, the ten minerals that sea moss is 'missing' include these more rarified ones we scarcely knew were in our bodies: thulium, tin, titanium, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, xenon, ytterbium, yttrium, zirconium.