Many amazing substances have been presented and are still given to man by nature. One of them is alginic acid, which is actively used in cosmetics, in medicines, as well as in the food industry. It was presented to people by the sea.
And again the sea
The seas of our planet are still not well understood. Even, it would seem, sufficiently studied seafood presents sometimes interesting surprises. Here, for example, algae - brown, red, green. Their structure, lifestyle, and impact on marine ecosystems - all this has already been studied quite well. But at the end of the 19th century, quite by accident, as a by-product of the production of iodine from seaweed, salts of alginic acid — alginates and alginic acid itself — were discovered.
Chemical processes
Everything that happens to us and around us is chemistry. The processes that people study make it possible to constantly obtain new substances needed in medicine, in the food industry, for the synthesis of polymers. All the chemical elements that are known to man today were given by nature. Obtaining alginic acid - biological processes occurring in seaweed.
These living organisms use alginates as a moisture-reducing agent that allows them to survive in low tide conditions. People receiving alginic acid and its derivatives have learned to use it in medicine, in pharmaceuticals, in the food industry, in cosmetology. This amazing substance is alginic acid. Its formula, from the point of view of chemistry, is quite complicated, because it is a heteropolymer that is formed by the remainder of D-mannuric and the remainder of L-guluronic acid in different quantitative proportions, depending on the type of algae. The formula looks like this: (C6H8O6) n.
Algae Polysaccharide
Any chemicals and their compounds that mankind has learned to extract and synthesize, one way or another, find their application. With alginic acid discovered at the beginning of the 19th century, it happened exactly the same, and the spectrum of its use is quite wide. This is due to the properties of the substance extracted from algae. Alginic acid is a polysaccharide - a high molecular weight substance that is of particular importance in the biosphere. There are a lot of such chemical compounds. And a special group consists of algal polysaccharides, which include alginic acid.
Alginate salts
Polysaccharides are actively used in many areas of human activity. For example, one of them is alginic acid. The properties of this substance extracted from brown, red and green algae are very diverse. Of particular importance are salts of alginic acid - alginates of potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium. They are well tolerated by the human body, as it is harmless, not digested and not absorbed, but excreted through the intestines. Another feature is the solubility of alginic acid. This natural polymer carbohydrate (polysaccharide) is insoluble neither in water nor in most organic solvents, which is actively used in medicine and pharmacology. But alginic acid can adsorb an amount of water 300 times larger than itself. And this property also found its application.
Medicine and alginates
Alginic acid is a polysaccharide. It is actively used in pharmaceuticals and medicine. This is due to the properties of both the acid itself and its salts - alginates. Many scientific studies conducted by medical scientists, chemists, and pharmacists have provided reliable results on the successful use of alginic acid in the treatment of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, post-traumatic infections in burns and wounds, immunodeficiency states, and intestinal diseases with impaired intestinal motility.
So, salts of alginic acid have a proven antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal effect. It is widely used in modern medicine in the treatment of various diseases. Alginates help to reduce the manifestations of various types of allergies due to the binding of inactive immune complexes and type E immunoglobulins. At the same time, algal salts activate the production of local protective type A immunoglobulins, which are responsible for the resistance of skin integuments and mucous membranes to pathogenic microorganisms.
Another amazing quality of alginic acid is the ability to bind and remove strontium and cesium radionuclides from the human body, which are widely used in the fight against malignant tumors. In addition, alginates contribute to the active healing of wounds and ulcers, and also have hemostatic properties. A unique substance derived from algae, which turned out to be safe for people, is alginic acid. Drugs based on it become popular even in pediatrics and in the treatment of pregnant and breast-feeding women.
Pharmaceuticals and Algal Acid
Alginic acid is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry. So, for example, capsules of drugs made with alginates allow you to deliver the active substances directly to the intestine, where the capsule is destroyed, the drug begins to work, and the shell is removed from the body.
Another striking example is wound dressings using alginates. They have anti-infective and hemostatic properties. Such dressings do not allow the spread of infection, relieve swelling of the surrounding tissues, and hence their excess injuries. Such medical devices have good drainage properties, which allows the wound to heal faster. The same properties of alginic acid are used in dentistry.
Beauty and Acid
In recent decades, alginic acid has found another area of application - cosmetology. Masks based on this natural substance are becoming increasingly popular, as they have unique properties of skin rejuvenation and healing. Not so long ago, a woman could get such a mask only in the salon. Today, powders for making masks with alginates at home can be purchased at cosmetic stores. The powder is diluted with a certain amount of water, and the resulting gel is applied to the face. The effect, according to the reviews of a huge number of women, is simply amazing!
Due to the properties of alginic acid and its salts, the skin becomes cleaner, small wrinkles and redness disappear, not only the appearance improves, but swelling and swelling are also removed, and thanks to the antibacterial properties of alginates, inflammatory processes take place. Alginate masks allow you to get a session of healing the skin of the face and décolleté at home without harm to health. Such cosmetics often have a complex composition, that is, they contain not only alginic acid or alginates, but also other substances useful for the skin, for example, collagen or chitosan, and plant components such as chamomile, ginger, green tea are often included in such masks . All this makes home cosmetics very effective. The cosmetics industry produces not only masks, but also creams with alginates that help restore the skin, improve their condition.
Food supplement E400
Alginic acid has found its wide application in the food industry. If you look at the packaging of many products, then there you can find a link to the nutritional supplements included in the composition, and among them are often found E400, E401, E402, E403, E404, E405. So these food additives are alginic acid and alginates, approved for use in the food, pharmaceutical and medical industries. Alginic acid and alginates - thickeners and stabilizers that help substances maintain their shape and volume, prevent them from drying out and deterioration. Moreover, alginic acid and alginates are excreted from the human body in an unchanged form, not absorbed by it, which means that it does no harm and does not have side effects.
Nature and man
Another gift of nature, which turned out to be an amazing find - alginic acid. It was presented to people by the sea, making it possible to obtain a useful substance used in medicine and in food production, in pharmaceuticals and cosmetology. Alginates turned out to be those substances that were so lacking in humanity. They are harmless, are excreted from the human body in an unchanged form, but have a surprisingly beneficial effect on it, contributing to healing, fighting viruses, bacteria and fungi, removing harmful toxins and heavy metals, healing wounds, burns, stopping bleeding, relieving swelling, normalizing blood pressure and activating the protective functions of the body. It is believed that seafood, including algae, will give mankind many more surprising and useful discoveries.