Sunday June 29, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating Japanese kelp or Laminaria japonica extract may help type 2 diabetics to better control blood sugar among other things, according to a new study recently published in Experimental Biology and Medicine.

In the study, polysaccharides from Laminaria japonica commonly known as Japanese kelp was tested and found able to lower fasting blood sugar and cholesterol in mice with chemically induced type 2 diabetes mellitus.

For the study, mice were exposed to alloxan in a dose of 200 mg per kg body weight to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Ill mice were then randomized to receive one of the four treatments, placebo, glibenclamide, low dose of polysaccharides from Laminaria japonica (PLJ), and high dose of PLJ. Wild mice were used as controls.

After 28 days of intervention, LJP treatment prevented body weight loss, decreased fasting blood glucose, and increased plasma insulin levels in diabetic mice.

Additionally, LJP supplementation decreased total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol in the mice with diabetes mellitus. 

The study results "indicate LJP possesses hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities and polysaccharides from LJP may hold promise for the development of a drug of natural origin for the treatment of DM (diabetes mellitus)."

Jia X, Yang J, Wang Z, Liu R, Xie R.  Polysaccharides from Laminaria japonica show hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities in mice with experimentally induced diabetes.  Exp Biol Med (Maywood). 2014 Jun 13. pii: 1535370214537751.