Sea Moss. All over TikTok, YouTube – your favorite influencers are all eating it. What’s the benefits? And how is it different than the diet fad of adding spirulina to all your smoothies?

Content Warning/Disclaimer: Discussion of eating disorders and disordered eating. I am not a dietician. This is just research I conducted to write this article.

What is Sea Moss?

Sea Moss – AKA Irish moss or Red Seaweed is a type of seaweed that grows in tidepools. While often used in baked goods or cosmetics in the form of carrageenan. In the food industry, it is used in diary and meat products due to their stroing binding to food proteins. It is also a vegan alternative to gelatin (gelatin is made of cartilage, so is not vegan).

As it is so versatile is can be found in many forms from desserts, sauces and even “personal lubricants.”

Why is it so popular now?

Well, as with many weird diet fads – the internet. TikTok has been a great marketing application for products: heatless curlers, the Chom-Chom, pimple patches, carpet spot cleaners, mops and even The Pink Stuff. Though, the spot cleaner was a great purchase because it is also an upholstery cleaners and the Chom-Chom is a great purchase for pet owners.

TikTok is another place to show that you don’t really need to pay big advertising firms for marketing people people will try “weird” products for views. Sea Moss is another thing.

Though TikTok is a place to watch people freak out about consistency or taste, Kim Kardashian posted about a sea moss smoothie on Instagram – with caption “plant based life.” Which, is great… we love a planted based queen.

Now, people who dislike Kim K (and there are reasons to dislike her, I get it) like to state tgar “well, that looks like meat and eggs” as though items like Just Egg and the fact she has a paid sponsorship with Beyond don’t exist.

Let’s discuss the smoothie. She is not the first influencer/celeb to talk about sea moss in their smoothies. Hailey Beiber has talked about a Strawberry smoothie from Erewon (an “upscale” supermarket in LA) that features sea moss.

This smoothie can be made at home for less expensive (you’re paying for the ~experience~ and ~culture~). The main things that cost a lot are the collagen proteins (upwards of 36 USD) and the Sea Moss (around the same price, 36USD buy for 16 oz).

If you want to try it yourself, you can find it on Amazon for the same price, often 18 oz for 30 USD. Or a small tube for 7 USD.

Are there health benefits?

There are health benefits for all sorts of plant based products. The main “benefits” are “gut health” which is a crunchy mom catch all. Though, the science does say that sea moss is high in potassium, zinc and vitamin C – which are all really important to immune health.

It touted as a “superfood” thanks to the vegan, gluten-free source of Vitamin B12, Calcium and Magnesium as well. However, some studies have shown (much to the crunchy mom’s diatribe) that sea moss may cause inflammation of the intestines, cause stomach ulcer and polyps – though this is really only under “certain circumstances” as the carrageenan (the chemical in the sea moss) can degrade to poligeenan.

But as with most things, informed consent and risk are important. These “certain circumstances” are not clear and happens under “harsh acid hydrolysis” so it is possible that it can occur in the stomach.

Sea Moss v. Spirulina

While I am a fan of adding lots of plant based things to my diet to improve it or get what I may be missing from my diet as I do not eat very often.

Note: The way I eat is not healthy. I am in eating disorder recovery, so I try to eat smaller more frequent meals where I hit specific macros, but most days, I will eat 1-2 meals. This is why I take certain vitamins in order to supplement where I am “missing” nutrients.

One way I supplement is by taking spirulina supplements and when I have smoothies, I add a bit of “greens powder” (which has a lot of spirulina in it as well). My specific brand that I purchase is not just spirulina, but also wheat grass, kale, moringa and spirulina. But that is because I want something that is going to be more whole, so it has more nutrients than just taking spirulina.

Spirulina is considered a “complete” source of proteins, so it has all 9 essential amino acids in it as does Sea Moss – this does beat that profile of wheat and legumes.

Spirulina, however, is quite bitter compared to sea moss – so sea moss is an obvious winner going on taste alone. However, spirulina is going to have more protein. If you need to monitor your iodine levels – spirulina is the way to go as sea moss has more iodine. Spirulina also has less folate.

But Which one is Better?

I dunno. They both have strengths and weaknesses. I am not someone to discuss your nutrients with because everyone’s diets and nutrition is different. What works best for me may not work for you.

My own diet is specific to eating disorder recovery paired with a “pseudo vegetarian” diet. I am majority plant based, but do occasionally consume fish and shellfish. So my needs are not the same as someone who eats a balanced omni-based diet.

My best advice if you want to try it for “funsies” would be to try a small bit of it. But I would not recommend implementing either heavily into your diet without the consult of a dietian of general practitioner.