Ecklonia Cava: A Review

Highlights of the Many Benefits of Ecklonia Cava Extract, Super Polyphenol
Antioxidant, Scavenger of Peroxynitrite, Inhibitor of NF-kappaB

Peroxynitrite scavenging and inhibition of NF-kappaB may account for much of the beneficial effects by ECE. This is consistent with the NO/ONOO- theory.

SUPER ALGAE

• Ecklonia cava extract (ECE) is astandardized natural complex of unique marine molecules thatoriginate from a specific species of brown algae (Ecklonia cava).

• ECE represents a unique category of polyphenols often called phlorotannins. Their unique polyphenolic structure endows them with biological activities that are not found in land-based plants.

• Dr. Haengwoo Lee and his team of M.D.’s and Ph.D.’s have spentover thirty million dollars onresearch.

SUPER ANTIOXIDANT

• ECE has up to eight interconnected rings, making its free-radical scavenging ability 10-100 timesmore powerful than other polyphenols.

• ECE is substantially more powerful than green tea catechins, which only have four rings.

• ECE is a marine-based polyphenol which is 40% fat-soluble, thehalf-life of ECE is up to 12 hours,compared to 30 minutes for water-soluble, land-based polyphenols.

• ECE has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.

• Peroxynitrite is the most notorious of the free radicals incriminated by Martin Pall, Ph.D.'s ground-breaking research on multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, Gulf War syndrome, and fourteen other conditions. ECE has demonstrated potent reducing power and radical scavenging activities againstDPPH radical, oxidized LDL and peroxynitrite.

• NF-kappaB and other inflammatory mediators also play animportant role in Dr. Pall’s mechanism. ECE reduces tissue specific NF-kappaB.

FIBROMYALGIA

In an 8-week, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study of established fibromyalgia patients, ECE demonstrated beneficial results:

• Reduced the time it took participants to fall asleep by 47 minutes

• Increased total nighttime sleepby 1.6 hours

• Improved soundness of sleep by80%

• Boosted energy levels by 71%

• Participants reported 2 1/4 moregood days per week

• Reduced pain by 31%

• General condition improved by39%

WEIGHT LOSS

• Dr. Lee found that ECE compounds inhibited DGAT more than 50%.

• In genetically caused obese laboratory rats, ECE reduced body fat and increased physical activity.

• In another study, ECE caused leanness and fat-resistance in animals given a high fat diet.

• 141 young adults were given a beverage containing ECE at 200mg daily. In two weeks their average weight dropped nearly 2.5 pounds, muscle mass increased by nearly 2.5 pounds, and body fat dropped by 4 pounds, or 7.48%. ECE stimulates the body to burnfat by increasing muscle mass.

OBESITY

• ECE contains natural compoundscapable of suppressing triglyceride synthesis, while promoting cholesterol removal and cardiovascular protection.

• ECE provides additional cardiovascular protection for obese patients prone to CVD and CHD through lowering LDL cholesterol and scavenging free radicals.

CARDIOVASCULAR BENEFITS

• ECE has been shown to improve coronary artery disease (CAD).

• Researchers found that ECE is even more potent at inhibiting the oxidation of LDL cholesterol than green tea catechins.

• ECE also reduces vascular inflammation by preventing oxidation, which also directly effects inflammatory mediators such as inflammatory prostaglandins, etc.

Cholesterol: 6-Week Clinical Trial

• Researchers gave 39 adults (average age 55.6) low dose (100 mg)ECE compounds for six weeks

• Their average cholesterol dropped from 228 to 224. LDL dropped from 141 to 135. HDL rose from 46.5 to 50.7 (highly significant).

• Triglycerides fell from 215 to 195, and the atherogenic index dropped 12.5%.

(Some of the parameters from the above study show very mild changes,which in themselves, may not bestatistically significant. However, all parameters went in a health-positivedirection.

Hypertension: 4-Week Animal Study

• Upon oral administration of phlorotannin (99.4%, 50 mg/kg) or enalapril (commercial hypotensive drug, 10 mg/kg) SBP dropped to as low as 160 and 140 mm Hg.Upon cessation of treatment, SBPincreased again in both cases.

• Although ECE showed a similar pattern to the drugs, it also showed a slower rebounding of blood pressure during the no treatment period.

ACE Inhibition

• ECE tannins have been found to be potent natural ACE inhibitors, demonstrating more than 15 times the power to inhibit ACE as the most powerful land-based polyphenols.

Antiplasmin Inhibition

• ECE compounds are natural potent inhibitors of anti-plasmin,capable of efficient promotion of plasmin that performs fibrinolysis.

• ECE compounds have shown remarkable activity which is 40-200 times greater than synthetic compounds Flufenamate and Chloramine T.

BRAIN FUNCTION: MEMORY, RELAXATION, ALERTNESS

• Dr. Lee’s group found that ECE can increase the velocity of blood flow in the carotid artery from an average of 36.68 cm/sec to 40.09cm/sec.

• An EEG study on brain waves ofhealthy middle age volunteersfound that ECE compounds increase alpha-waves.

• ECE compounds were found to prevent sleepiness in bus drivers and in high school students during daytime activities.

• ECE has recently been found to protect neuronal cells from ischemia-induced inflammatoryreactions which often occur in the aged and highly stressed brain.

• ECE compounds neutralize theneurotoxic free-radical peroxynitrite.

• ECE-treated mice showed substantial enhancement of acetylcholinein three brain regions related to memory formation, as compared with non-treated mice. Especially, 140% enhancement was observed in the frontal cortex that is crucial in long-term memory and associative thinking.

• In a mouse study, passive-avoidance memory testing was testedshowing a 130-140% improvement.

• In rat study, ECE was found to inhibit beta-amyloid depositionin the brain. Beta-amyloid is thesame substance that accumulates in Alzheimer’s disease.

• The rats also learned maze challenges faster, which demonstrated improvement in short-term memory.

ARTHRITIS, INFLAMMATION & NEURALGIA: ECE COMPARABLE TO CELEBREX®

• Dr. Lee and colleagues found ECE to naturally suppress inflammatory responses and neutralize inflammatory damage caused byreactive oxygen species.

• ECE’s natural anti-inflammatoryand tissue-protective properties appears to enable dramaticimprovement in both arthritis and neuralgia.

• ECE’s ability to treat arthritis was found to be comparable toCelebrex®, the prescription drug that reduces inflammatory cox enzymes.

• ECE compared almost identically to celecoxib (Celebrex) in the ability to reduce PGE2 by slowing down the lipoxygenase (LOX)system.

• Researchers recently studied ECE on 40 patients with neuropathy. ECE reduced nerve pain by 40% in four weeks. Overall, 80% of thepatients responded favorably.

ALLERGIES / ASTHMA

• ECE appears to significantlyrelieve allergic reactions without drowsiness, dizziness and other side effects of anti-histamine drugs.

• Dr. Lee and his team found that ECE significantly reduced allergic inflammation in mice.

• ECE reduced the migration of eosinophils to the lungs by 75%.Inflammatory white blood cells(CD4+4 T Cells, resultant cytokines Il-4, 5, 13) were reduced by 50%. Mucus plugs in the airwayswere reduced by 75%. Airway epithelial hyperplasia reduced by 75%. Collagen-causing fibrosis in lung interstitium (fibrosis, airway remodeling) and smooth muscle cell thickness was reduced by 20% and 32%.

• These findings suggest that ECEcompounds may prevent or reverse the progression of chronic lung disease such as asthma andChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

• One of the ECE compounds (8,8BE) significantly inhibits 5-LOXcompared with other well-known natural medicinal compoundssuch as resveratrol and EGCG.

• The efficacy of ECE for asthmawas demonstrated in an allergen-induced murine asthma mouse model by Dr. Emil Chi, Chairman, Department of Histopathology, University of Washington.

• The researchers tested an ECE product (KLS) in a mouse model of allergen-induced chronic lung inflammation and fibrosis. KLS was found to be effective in reducing allergic inflammation. KLS reduced the airway mucus plugging, and sub-epithelial fibrosis in the challenged mice.

ERECTILE FUNCTION ECE V. VIAGRA®

• Scientists studied 31 men with erectile dysfunction (ED) for over six months. They compared eight weeks of ECE use to Viagra®.

• The researchers looked at orgasmic function, intercourse satisfaction, overall satisfaction, anderectile function.

• ECE performed better than Viagra® in all parameters, exceptfor erectile function, in which it performed the same as Viagra®. No side effects were reported with ECE. See results below:

• The test population also had over 25% improvement in IIEF (International Index of Erectile Function) score, which was as high as 81%.

• Total IIEF score significantly increased from 29.1 ± 13.1 to 47.0 ± 14.5 with 62% of improvement.

• Scores on key questions regarding frequency of penetration and frequency of maintaining an erection after penetration were improved up to 74% and 77%.

• These results strongly indicate that the long-term administrationof ECE significantly contributes tothe neutralization of oxidative risk factors, thereby improving peripheral blood circulation around muscles and nerves involved in sexual function as well as the penile artery.

Nitric Oxide (NO)

• After a six-week study of ECE,flow mediated dilation and NO-mediated dilation increased by 60% and 50%.

• These results confirm that ECE can rejuvenate damaged endothelial cells to produce NO. (This effect was further confirmed in the study on erectile dysfunction. Interestingly, Viagra® works by increasing NO in the penile artery.)

DIABETES

• ECE compounds have been found to be potent aldose reductase inhibitors, which may be of benefitfor patients with metabolic syndrome, syndrome X, or diabetes.

• A mouse study showed that ECE reversed fat deposition in liver and pancreas cells.

• This same study showed thatECE served to markedly inhibitNF-kappaB inflammation in the pancreas.

• A recent Harvard (Joslin School of Diabetes) mouse study directly implicates excessive fat depositionin the mouse pancreas as turning on the NF-kappaB inflammationpathway, resulting in full-blown type II diabetes and insulin insensitivity in the mice.

SAFETY

• ECE is manufactured from edible algae through food-compatible processes.

• Tens of thousands of people throughout the world have experienced ECE in various forms of product without side effects.

• To date, Dr. Lee’s team has not found any toxicity at any level.

• Several toxicity tests have beenperformed, and no adverse effects have been found at the effective human dose level of 1-10 mg/kg.

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