TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.

TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.

TerraVita is packed in tamper-proof, food-grade, recyclable containers.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.

Country of Origin: Atlantic Ocean

Latin Botanical Name: Ascophyllum Nodosum

Plant Parts Used: Whole Algae

TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.

TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.

TerraVita is packed in tamper-proof, food-grade, recyclable containers.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.

Bianca Rosa is an exclusive line of premium-quality natural products sourced from only the finest and purest ingredients from around the world. Bianca Rosa is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, stability and freshness. All Bianca Rosa products are prepared with the highest level of quality control, from the raw materials used through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the finished product is sealed for freshness and shipped to you. Our highest possible standards backed by our personal guarantee.

Bianca Rosa makes all products as affordable as possible and we are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you. Bianca Rosa has been a trusted household name for many families throughout the world since the 1990s. Bianca Rosa is packed in tamper-proof, recyclable containers.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of all Bianca Rosa products, including creams, salves and oils in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.

• Traditionally used to help support cellulite, thyroid ailments, weight gain, irritations and much more.


• Supports thyroid ailments, cellulite, skin irritations, weight gain, and much more.

Found growing on the shores of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, kelp is a brown seaweed that has been used in various culinary and health applications.

As a dietary supplement, it is usually found in capsules, and like other sea plants kelp has a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals.

One of the benefits of kelp is its ability to provide important minerals such as iodine for maintaining healthy thyroid function and iron for red blood cell composition.

Kelp also assists the body in managing metabolic processes and it helps to preserve a normal balance of blood lipid concentrations.

The nutrients in kelp may be beneficial to the skeletal system of the body by sustaining a healthy bone composition.

Kelp is a large, leafy brown edible seaweed rich in vitamins and minerals that grows along colder coastlines. Kelp is an excellent source of iodine, vital for maintaining healthy function of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate the body's metabolism, and therefore its growth and development. Iodine is a major component of thyroxine and triiodothyronine in particular, hormones that affect weight gain and cellular metabolic rates. A characteristic sign of iodine deficiency is the swelling of the thyroid gland in the front of the neck, also known as the goiter.

Kelp, or seaweed, also contains the following: Carotenoids, phenolic compounds, cathechic compounds, amino acids, organic iodine and biominerals. Kelp also contain minerals like copper and iron for healthy blood, magnesium for the proper functioning of muscles and nerves, calcium for healthy bones, potassium for the maintenance of the body's cells and balance of fluids, and zinc for the body's immune system. The alginates in kelp (complex polysaccharides), like other soluble fibers, have a soothing and cleansing effect on the digestive tract.

Kelp (Laminarta species) is salty and cold in nature and has trace amounts of iodine, which activates thyroid function. It is generally used in Chinese health to soften any hard lumps. It is rich in polysaccharides, which have known immunity-boosting properties. It also is able to inhibit the growth hormone of bad cells.

Kelp

Laminariales

English Common Names

Kelp.

"Kelp" commonly refers to seaweeds of the brown algal order Laminariales, which have large flat, leaf-like fronds (kelp is used both as singular and plural).

French Common Names

Varech (= kelp).

Morphology

Many of the Laminariales are huge, tough, leathery plants. While rather variable, most kelp have a root-like holdfast, a flexible stipe (stem-like portion), and blades (flattened expansions often resembling leaves). The life cycle of the kelp involves alternation of a large spore-producing stage (the sporophyte) and a microscopic gamete-producing stage (the gametophyte). Macrocystis is perhaps the most impressive of the kelp, sometimes developing weights of over 200 kg. The longest known Macrocystis measured 47 m.

Classification and Geography

Most of the kelp are found in the Pacific Ocean, with a restricted number in the Atlantic.

In Canada, several species of kelp are considered economically important: Laminaria saccharina and L. longicruris (regarded as belonging to the same species by some authors), are distributed along the entire Canadian Atlantic coast and south to New York, through the eastern Arctic, and the entire Canadian Pacific coast to Washington. Laminaria setchellii and L. groenlandica have limited economic importance in British Columbia. Nereocystis leutkeana presently has limited economic importance in British Columbia but because of its large biomass has considerable potential. Macrocystis integrifolia is probably the single most economically important kelp in Canada (based on dollar value, not biomass harvested).

Another brown algal order, the Fucales, also contains algae sometimes marketed as kelp (and also often as "fucus"), but these are best referred to as fucoids. Fucus vesiculosus (bladderwrack), frequent on the rocky coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and Ascophyllum nodosum (knotted wrack) of the coasts of the North Sea, the western part of the Baltic Sea, and the east coast of Canada, are the species usually encountered in commerce. The properties of these fucoids are comparable to those of the true kelp.

Ecology

Members of the Laminariales are well-adjusted for cold waters and overcast skies. Kelp usually dominate the lower intertidal and upper subtidal bras. Kelp forests constitute important marine ecosystems in coastal areas of much of the world, and can support important commercial and recreational fisheries. They vastly increase the surface area upon which other marine organisms can locate, thus increasing diversity. Kelp are fast-growing despite their often cool environment, and provide food and habitat for numerous species of marine organisms. Sea urchins are very significant herbivores of kelp, but their numbers are controlled through predation by lobsters, crabs and sea otters. Widespread destruction of kelp beds in shallow water on both the East and West Coasts of Canada has been attributed to the unchecked over-fishing of lobsters and crabs in the East, and the early extirpation of sea otters in the West to supply fur for the European market during the 1700s. Sea otters were recently reintroduced from Alaska to northwestern Vancouver Island and are extending their range along the B.C. coast. The reintroduction has led to a decline in sea urchin populations and a resulting revival in barrier kelp, which was once so extensive that it provided a safe navigation route of sheltered water between the offshore beds and the land.

Medicinal Uses

Seaweed products were used in traditional Chinese herbal health as early as the sixteenth century, and the kelp have also been employed in western traditional health. Until very recently, however, there has been limited evidence of pharmacological value, aside from the effects of compensating for iodine deficiency. Kelp tablets and powders have become popular herbal preparations in North America, and claims have been made that kelp products are useful in supporting a variety of health concerns. The therapeutic properties of kelp have been attributed particularly to content of trace minerals, especially iodine, which is typically 20,000 times as concentrated in the seaweed by comparison with its aquatic habitat. However, the level of iodine has been found to vary considerably among algal species and even within a species, so that commercially available products may deliver different dosages. The very high iodine content of brown algae led to their use in goiter medicines, but the variability of concentrations and the varying absorption for bound and unbound iodine in the plant has algal therapy obsolete. Required daily intake of iodine in adults is only 150 micrograms, and the thyroid gland normally does not make use of excess iodine, and indeed very large doses of iodine can induce or intensify hyperthyroidism. Sixty percent of all edible salt in the world is now iodized, reducing iodine deficiency disorders, the world's leading cause of avoidable mental retardation until recently. Before 1990, approximately 40 million children were born each year at risk of mental impairment due to iodine deficiency in their mothers' diets. By 1997 that figure was close to 28 million. Kelp are currently marketed as a weight-reducing agent, supposed to be a result of increased production of thyroid hormones that increase metabolism and so remove deposited fats. While beneficial effects on weight gain have been claimed, the medical community considers such therapy as potentially dangerous and highly inadvisable.

The polyphenols present in the plants have disinfectant activity, which may be useful for external applications. Algin from kelp is a useful bulk demulcent (soothing) laxative. Fucans from kelp and fucoids are sulfated polysaccharides, also known as kelp slimes. Recent research has suggested that these may be of use as antithrombin, immunity-building and anticoagulant agents. Of these, the immunity-enhancing activity has proven most exciting, with preliminary results indicating that fucan is a very potent way to boost immunity levels. Calcium and magnesium, both desirable as nutritional electrolytes, have been found to be very high in some commercial kelp preparations.

Another interesting medical application is based on the affinity of the dried stipes of Laminaria to expand their original circumference 3-5 times on wetting. These dried stipes have been used to produce non-instrument mechanical dilation of the cervical canal during birth and gynecological situations.

Chemistry

The brown algae have considerable amounts of the high molecular weight polysaccharide algin, which comprises almost half the dry weight of some species. Algin produces viscous colloidal solutions or gels in water, like carageenans and agars commercially obtained from red algae. All of these "hydrocolloids" are primary cell wall structural constituents of brown and red algae. Unlike cellulose in land plants, which provides rigidity to withstand gravity, the hydrocolloids provide seaweeds with flexibility to withstand currents and waves. While primarily useful for a variety of industrial and food uses, the algins also can be used to support health, particularly as a carrier for pharmaceuticals.

Non-medicinal Uses

The larger marine algae or seaweeds have a diversity of uses, like many terrestrial plants. Many brown algae have been extensively used as agricultural fertilizers, especially as a source of potash (which supplies potassium). As a soil amendment, seaweeds also tend to be rich in micronutrients and nitrogen, but are low in phosphate. They have the advantage of being free of terrestrial weeds and fungi. Just as there has developed a certain mystique about the health benefits of brown algae for humans, so too are some convinced that algae have particular nutritional benefits for land plants. This has led to considerable research on plant growth factors in seaweeds (possibly plant hormones, particularly cytokinins), and the marketing of seaweed extracts for use as plant growth stimulants. The hope has also been expressed that alginic acid (marketed as Nomozan) may inoculate some crops.

Algin from kelp and other algae is used in the manufacture of more than 300 commercial products, and is particularly valued for its ability to suspend agents in food, cosmetics, and a variety of commercial liquid mixtures. Illustrating food applications, algin stops ice crystal formation in ice cream, may act as an emulsifier in salad dressings, sherbets, and cheeses, clarifies and stabilizes the foam of beer, is a filler in candy bars, and a thickener in gravies and puddings. Non-edible products using alginates include plastics, paints, adhesives and rubber tires. Algin can be used as a fiber in fire-resistant clothes and in audio speakers. Alginates are also used in the paper and welding industries. Ascophyllum nodosum of Canada's east coast is harvested for its algin content.

Kelp carbohydrates are not normally digested by humans, and three quarters of the dry bulk of the most edible brown seaweeds is indigestible. Nevertheless kelp are used directly as vegetables and condiments, principally in China and Japan. Like other seaweeds, kelp are also harvested as dried fodder for terrestrial livestock in coastal areas (despite the limited digestibility), and sometimes grown as forage for cultivated aquatic animals, such as abalone. A special roe on kelp, greatly valued in sushi bars of Japan, has been produced in British Columbia by herring spawning in penned kelp enclosures. The industry is largely managed by native people and the harvest is valued at over 20 million dollars annually.

A recent development is the use of kelp as a substrate for biogas (methane) production, a technology that was developed during the OPEC crisis by General Electric of the United States. The value of this technology in reducing the high energy costs in the Canadian Arctic is currently being explored by Canadian companies.

Agricultural and Commercial Aspects

Uncontrolled harvesting has led to reductions of wild supplies of some algae, but seaweed fanns are well established in parts of the world, reducing the pressure on natural stands. "Polyculture" (combining fish farming and seaweed culture) is a clever way of using seaweeds to metabolize by-products of the fish culture. China is a major seaweed producer, growing over 2.5 million tonnes of Laminaria japonica annually. Japan's primary aquaculture seaweed is non (mostly Porphyra yezoensis, belonging to the red algae, not the brown), with an estimated value of US $1.5 billion annually (by contrast, the edible seaweed market in the US is currently valued at only about $30 million annually). Canada's development of a cultivated seaweed industry lags far behind that of several countries with low labor costs and a warm climate that allows year-round cultivation. However, there has been some cultivation of Laminaria saccharina and L. groenlandica on the Pacific coast, for the Oriental anif health food markets.

Although Canada currently provides less than 2% of the world's seaweed resources, there is considerable potential for increasing commerce, particularly on the species-rich Pacific coast. In fact, with 20 kelp species, coastal British Columbia is one of the world's major regions of kelp diversity, and it has been estimated that 650,000 tonnes of wild kelp currently grow along the B.C. coastline. Current Canadian regulations permit 100,000 tonnes to be harvested annually under strict conservation guidelines, but less than 1% of this amount was harvested in 1996.

Canada has the longest coastline of any nation, suggesting that greater use should be made of the cold-water marine plant resources. Canada's marine environment may remain much less polluted than elsewhere, providing an attractive situation for algae and algal products intended for human consumption. This potentially very valuable natural resource deserves the best protection possible.

Myths, Legends, Tales, Folklore, and Interesting Facts

• The Ainu in northern Japan collected Laminaria for food as early as the eighth century A.D., and during a later period only the privileged classes of Japan were allowed to eat this sea vegetable.
• British Columbia coastal Indians stretched kelp stipes to make fishing lines and used the hollow bulbs and stipe bases as bottles.
• An old sailor's superstition held that winds could be called by circling a strand of kelp over one's head and whistling.
• According to another old superstition, to ensure a steady flow of money into the home, fill a jar with whiskey, place some kelp in it, cap tightly, and place in a kitchen window.
  
  Kelp is the name commonly used for marine alga. Kelp takes in fat and it's been proven to help support symptoms of weight gain, cellulitis and joint pain. It is rich in nutrients, incorporating 30 minerals, so it can be principally profitable for all and assist anyone who is deficient in minerals. It has been noted to be profitable for the brain, the nerve system and the spinal cord. Kelp motivates the thyroid gland resulting from its high iodine (I) content. Kelp can also be used for duodenum lesions, skin, nails and hair, weight gain, radioactive emission defense and tender stools. Kelp consists of provitamin A, sulphur (S), calcium, silicone, B-complex, and supplements C, K, E and R.
  
  References: Balch, 1997; BHMA Medical Committee, 1996; Hallowell, 1994; Hoffman, 1994; Tyler, 1993; Tyler, 1994; Wishard, 1995.
  
  Kelp is the name frequently used for seaweed. Kelp absorbs fat and it has been proven to have effectiveness for cellulitis, weight gain and inflammation of the joints. It is loaded in vitamins and minerals, containing at least 30 minerals, so it is certainly lucrative for any individual who is deficient in minerals. It has been rumoured to be lucrative for the brain, the central nervous system and the spinal cord. Kelp stimulates the thyroid due to its high iodine (atomic number 53) content. Kelp can also be applicable for healthy weight, stomach lesions, pores and skin, nails and hair, radioactive rays defense and tender stools. Kelp includes provitamin A, sulphur (atomic number 16), calcium (Ca), silicone (atomic number 14), B-complex, and nutrients C, K, E and R.
  
  References: Balch, 1997; BHMA Clinical Committee, 1996; Hallowell, 1994; Hoffman, 1994; Tyler, 1993; Tyler, 1994; Wishard, 1995.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.

TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.

TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.

TerraVita is packed in tamper-proof, food-grade, recyclable containers.

Bianca Rosa is an exclusive line of premium-quality natural products sourced from only the finest and purest ingredients from around the world. Bianca Rosa is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, stability and freshness. All Bianca Rosa products are prepared with the highest level of quality control, from the raw materials used through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the finished product is sealed for freshness and shipped to you. Our highest possible standards backed by our personal guarantee.

Bianca Rosa makes all products as affordable as possible and we are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you. Bianca Rosa has been a trusted household name for many families throughout the world since the 1990s. Bianca Rosa is packed in tamper-proof, recyclable containers.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of all Bianca Rosa products, including creams, salves and oils in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.

TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.

TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.

TerraVita is packed in tamper-proof, food-grade, recyclable containers.

ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to 1-844-449-0444.