This blog will discuss about Menopause, a concern of many women, and the effects of fucoidan.

Menopause has a total of 34 symptoms including hot flashes, fatigue, memory lapses, night sweat, vaginal dryness, mood swing, urinary tract infection, bloating, dizziness, sleep disorders, osteoporosis, insomnia and depression. Fucoidan may indirectly help reduce some of the symptoms. However, in this blog, I will only be discussing about 3 of the symptoms which are hot flash, fatigue and urinary tract infection. I will discuss about fucoidan and rest of the symptoms at a later time.

1. Hot flash and the effects of fucoidan: hot flash can be caused by depression, hypertension and or insomnia. Fucoidan can help reduce these effects. According to Bombi Lee et al., administering fucoidan to restrain stress in rats, significantly improved their helpless behavior, possibly by modulating the central noradrenergic system. Thus, fucoidan can be a useful agent to treat complex symptoms like depressive disorder. According to Xiaofeo Li et al., hypertension results from an increased vasomotor tone activity that is regulated by endothelial NOS (eNOS) in vascular endothelium. Fucoidan increases nitric oxide production by activating inhibitors of eNOS and phosphorylation of AKT. This nitric oxide helps expand blood vessels and regulates the flow of blood smoothly. The hypertensive rat model helped us better understand the effects of the fucoidan treatment. It showed us that there was a persistent and potent reduction in high blood pressure (BP) after the withdrawal of the drug. 

2. Fatigue and the effects of fucoidan: According to Yi-Ming Chen et al., a test was conducted on mice. They were made to do exercise while under the influence of fucoidan administration. It was found that fucoidan exhibited anti-fatigue action in mice. The results denoted that fucoidan supplements increased grip strength (p = 0.0002) and endurance swimming time (p = 0.0195) in a dose-dependent manner. There was also a decrease in serum levels of lactate (p < 0.0001) and ammonia (p = 0.0025). A 15-minute swimming test showed an increase in glucose level (p < 0.0001). Therefore, I can suggest that with the supplementation of fucoidan there is a wide spectrum if bioactivities on health promotion, performance improvement and anti-fatigue.

3. Urinary tract infection and the effects of fucoidan: According to Katsumi Doh-ura, complex sulfated polysaccharides, are known to have various biological activities: anticoagulant, antiviral, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory, anti-infection, and so on, since they have the ability to imitate patterns of sulfate substitution on glycosaminoglycans and other sulfated glycans. Thus, I believe that fucoidan would be able to help treat the urinary tract infection as well.

The various biological activities of fucoidan and its effects on diseases will be discussed in my future blogs.