I often get asked “What will SeaFibre-3 do for me?”.
There is no simple answer; so bear with me. This answer starts with our improved understanding of human health, and how that is not being fulfilled by the industrialized western diet.
The challenge of lifelong human health is not usually due to one disease in isolation, for example, such as diabetes type II. This, mostly, lifestyle disease is one expression of complex dysfunction between what we eat, how we live, our genes and then the interaction of these that starts across the biggest surface area of our body - our guts. There are, however, some glaring common factors in the modern western diet that contribute collectively to a raft of diseases, including our susceptibility to viruses! Research suggests that 11 million people die each year due to poor diet; that is one in five of us! Beyond that, the National Institutes of Health list that OVER 70 DISORDERS and HALF OF ALL GLOBAL DEATHS are related to poor gut performance and inflammation; including diabetes, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, arthritic issues and mental health.
Because your gut represents the biggest surface area of you, it is your biggest exposure to the outside world through what you eat. Your gut makes up the majority of your immune system as it is literally your biggest frontline of defence. This is a sad news story, when we realise what the industrialised diet has thrown at our guts over a lifetime. HOwever, through our guts, we know that we can make our lives a whole lot better by changing what we eat. That is great news!
Now that we are armed with the knowledge that lifestyle changes can make a difference, in a big way, which changes should we make?
The answer to this is going to be a personal journey, but it is probably a story of adding or reducing things, balancing them, rather than eliminating things from your diet.
“...more global deaths were caused people eating too little amounts of certain food groups – such as whole grains, fruits and nuts – than by diets rich in trans fats and sugary drinks.” (Global Burden of Disease study).
The simplicity of blaming things like lactose in milk and gluten in grains, is far too simplistic in most cases, and more often than not elimination is not the answer. In contrast, adding things back to your diet where there are glaring deficiencies is more likely to be the answer to your health concerns. Indeed a recent study in the Lancet indicates that limiting intakes of specific things is considered to be detrimental more often than not.
I have always recommended that we shouldn’t add stress to our lives by obsessing too much about not eating specific components in our diets, unless we are one of the 2% with true food allergies. The best daily diet is a natural one of mostly, but diverse, plants (nuts, wholegrains, fruit and vegetables), adequate protein (plant or animal), lots of colour and regular seafood including a bit of seaweed every day. However, if you are a typical Australian living in Australia, then you are probably lacking in many of these. Over a lifetime they contribute significantly to poor health.
Do you get 50g to 150g of diverse fibres every day? Unless you are a Hadza bushman, probably not. The average Australian would consume about 15g per day.
Are you eating like the Japanese or eat fish four times per week? If not, then you probably need more long chain Omega-3.
Fibre and long chain Omega-3 oils are two common chronic deficiencies in the western industrialised diet , and they are a leading cause of diseases and premature deaths globally. This is why FILLING DIET GAPS with seaweed components was such a no-brainer to me. Generally seaweeds are the king of soluble fibres, however each seaweed is different just like each of the land plants we eat are different. I set out to demonstrate how a unique Australian seaweed species can contribute to better health in this way. In developing SeaFibre-3, I worked with a team at the University of Wollongong to explore addressing the chronic fibre deficiency with diverse seaweed glycans. Then I addressed the low intake of Omega-3 with algal sourced DHA, the origin of fish oil, as Australian's get less than 25% of the marine Omega-3 that we need for brain health and reducing inflammation. These broad population dietary gaps are major contributors to Australia's health challenges and I focused our research on addressing the chronic deficiencies in the western diet that lead to both glucose control issues and inflammation.
So, to answer the initial question…. SeaFibre-3 is designed to be a dietary gap filler for the majority of Australians who could benefit from increasing and diversifying their fibre and Omega-3 intake. In addition to the changes to inflammation and metabolism in our clinical trial participants, we have many customers now who report anecdotally that, since taking SeaFibre-3, they can enjoy meals with the family through improved food tolerances, have regular and better stools, improved gut health generally, reduced psoriasis outbreaks, and even odd reports like the 75 year old who now swears he can run marathons again!?!
The best thing we can all do is to get complete nutrition from wholefoods in our diets. However, sometimes no matter how hard we want to make this change, the patterns of our lives make it hard. This is where the SeaFibre-3, like any supplement, should come in. As a backup when you diet lets you down.
There will be numerous little things that are specific to you that your can learn to change by trial and error and with your GP. This requires you to pay attention to and reflect on your own diet for your personal, precision nutrition; for example, low levels of iron, not enough anti-oxidants, or too little protein in older years. Seaweed can help here as well and that is why we use whole seaweed in our food range. There is a big chance that a bit of seaweed everyday can help you fill dietary gaps immediately towards lifelong wellness, and a daily dose of SeaFibre-3 is designed specifically for the big gaps.
