Processing Sea Cucumber Benefits for Snacks and Medicines

In Indonesia, snacks from sea cucumber are widely enjoyed in the form of chips. Who would have thought, processed food from marine animals turned out to contain many benefits that are good for health. Check out the following benefits of sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are long-bodied, non-vertebrate marine animals, commonly found on the seabed, most commonly in the Asia Pacific. Sea cucumbers are also called gamat and are processed foods called bêche-de-mer which are widely consumed in China and Japan.

Benefits of Sea Cucumbers in Treating Diseases

After researching, sea cucumbers contain a variety of nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), and vitamin B3 (niacin). In addition, there are still various minerals, such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. This content allows sea cucumbers to become a source of food that is beneficial to health. Besides being bred for sale as a basic ingredient for human consumption, sea cucumbers have long been the ingredients of traditional medicines in Asia. These health benefits were supported by several medical studies which stated that sea cucumbers were effective in treating groups of arthritis and cancer. So far, sea cucumbers are used for handling hypertension, rheumatism, peptic ulcers, and maintaining a healthy digestive tract. Modernly, the sea cucumber's body is processed and packaged into tablets in Asia and America, as nutrients to help deal with psychological disorders. In Malaysia, sea cucumber extract is used to treat asthma, injuries, and hypertension. Even these animals are also known to improve sexual performance. However, these benefits so far have not been supported by consistent data and in general still need to be investigated more deeply. Other benefits of sea cucumbers are also important for health, including:

• Support various biological reactions

On the sea cucumber's body wall there are various proteins, namely glycine, alanine, glutamic acid, and arginine. Animal studies show that high levels and quality of sea cucumber protein are thought to help reduce triglycerides and cholesterol in the blood. These types of proteins also play an important role in regulating the immune system. Furthermore, about 70 percent of the protein in these sea cucumber walls consists of collagen which is an important part of connective tissue. The collagen can be produced into gelatin which acts as a bioactive material. Sea cucumbers also contain fatty acids which are important for repairing body tissues. In addition, there are also other substances, such as triterpenoid glycosides, various enzymes, amylose, fatty acids, and cytotoxins. These substances are also thought to have the potential to increase immunity, protect nerve tissue, and reduce pain. Some studies suggest that sea cucumber extract has antiviral properties that can fight the HIV virus and herpes simplex.

• As an antitumor

Sea cucumbers contain various components that are suspected to fight tumors and cancer, for example desholothurin A, holothurinoside A, B, C, and D. These active antitumor ingredients work in the process of growing cancer cells at various stages of development and also in the process of metastasis.

• Maintaining heart and blood vessel health

Sea cucumbers have active substances that are anticoagulant, or can prevent blood clots. This substance is called fucosylated chondroitin sulfate (FCS). Sea cucumbers also have a good impact on maintaining healthy blood vessels of the heart and can reduce the risk of heart damage due to its anti-inflammatory effects.

• As an antimicrobial

Sea cucumber extract has proven to be useful as an antibacterial and antifungal agent in several studies.

• Help osteoarthritis therapy

Certain chemicals in sea cucumbers, called chondroitin, glucosamine, and mucopolysaccharides that are useful for maintaining prostaglandin balance so that it can help deal with arthritis disorders.

• Heal wounds

Sea cucumbers in the form of medicine can help to accelerate healing, both wounds on the surface of the skin and damage in the body, for example injuries to the intestine. Besides in the form of tablets, sea cucumbers can be applied directly to help form new tissue that is damaged by injury.

The thing to remember is that the benefits found are mostly still limited to small-scale research and are based on data obtained from animal studies. Researchers assess that the potential for sea cucumbers for health still needs to be developed, tested, and further documented. No less important, the dose of sea cucumber consumption for humans also needs to be determined, so that maximum sea cucumber benefits can be obtained.