Some scientists believe that maritime people boated from Japan to Alaska along the Aleutian and Kurile Islands thousands of years ago.

Before that, people may have island-hopped their way to Australia using kelp for nutrition. Scientists have discovered settlements thousands of years old along the coasts of some of these Pacific islands, which also have ecologically-rich kelp forests nearby that Erlandson believes existed when people were island hopping.

The remains of kelp resources have been discovered in a settlement in Daisy Cave in the Channel Islands off southern California, dated thousands of years old. The fact that productive kelp forests are found adjacent to some of the earliest coastal archaeological sites in the Americas supports the idea that such forests may have facilitated human coastal migrations around the Pacific Rim.

Why would anyone want to eat sea vegetables? Because they offer the broadest range of minerals of any food, containing virtually all the minerals found in the ocean-the same minerals that are found in human blood.

Sea vegetables are an excellent source of iodine and vitamin K, a very good source of the B-vitamin folate, magnesium and a good source of iron, calcium and the B-vitamins riboflavin and pantothenic acid.

In addition, sea vegetables contain good amounts of lignans, plant compounds with cancer-protective properties.

Kelp contains the following nutrients but are not limited to vitamin A IU, vitamin A RE, A (carotenoid), A (retinol), A (beta carotene), thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), niacin equiv, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, biotin, vitamin C, vitamin D IU, vitamin D mcg vitamin E alpha equiv, vitamin E IU, vitamin E mg, folate, vitamin K, pantothenic acid, boron, calcium, chloride, chromium, copper, fluoride, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, phosphorus potassium, selenium, sodium, zinc and other trace minerals.

Excessive amounts of kelp may cause diarrhea.

The information provided is for educational purposes only and must not be taken or interpreted as a suggestion or as medical advise.

If you have any medical conditions, you should consult your health care professional.