Laver as food and source of health substances
What it found
Laver contains substances like porphyran, vitamin B12 and taurine that have shown health effects in lab and animal studies, but long-term effects in people are not yet known.
What they found
Studies in people and animals
Porphyran health effects
Porphyran, a fibre unique to laver, showed anti-cancer effects in human cancer cells and anti-hyperlipidemic effects in rats. It also showed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects in lab tests.
Vitamin B12 from laver
Laver contains large amounts of vitamin B12. Rat studies showed increased liver vitamin B12 after eating laver, and lab digestion experiments showed it can be released for absorption.
Taurine effects
Taurine, an amino acid in laver, lowered plasma cholesterol in rats. It also promoted neuron development in lab tests using hippocampal neurons.
Other findings
Nutrition varies by product
Raw, dried, roasted and seasoned laver differ in their nutritional and functional content. The authors say product-specific analysis is needed to predict health benefits accurately.
Processing changes nutrients
Drying, roasting and seasoning can change levels of beneficial and harmful substances. For example, deep-frying dried laver reduced mineral content by 2 to 6 times compared with roasting.
Chemical and microbial risks
Laver can contain heavy metals like arsenic, and microbial contamination is common. Processing steps like drying and roasting can affect these risks, but control methods need improvement.
What the authors conclude
“potential health functionalities linked to the unique substances in laver have been demonstrated by in vitro and in vivo research whereas long-term outcomes of laver consumption on human health should be further examined”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that nutritional and functional values vary by product type and that long-term outcomes of laver consumption on human health should be further examined.
- They suggest that intervention methods for chemical and microbial risks should be improved for wider use by manufacturers.
- They state that omics technologies have revealed clues for understanding the biological nature linked to laver product quality.
How it was done
Global demand for laver has grown, and the authors wanted to review what is known about its health benefits and how processing affects its quality.
They reviewed research published between 2009 and 2019 on laver nutrition, health effects and processing, including studies in cells, rats and people.
What it can’t tell you
- Most health effects were shown in cells or animals, so they cannot show what happens in people.
- The review did not find long-term studies in people, so it cannot show whether eating laver affects human health over time.
- The review cannot say whether laver is safe or risky for people, only what was measured in the studies it covered.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Ministry of Food and Drug Safety; Korea University grant (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.
- Authors work at
- Korea University, Korea
The paper
- Title
- Health Functionality and Quality Control of Laver ( Porphyra , Pyropia ): Current Issues and Future Perspectives as an Edible Seaweed
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Cho TJ, Rhee MS (2019). Health Functionality and Quality Control of Laver ( Porphyra , Pyropia ): Current Issues and Future Perspectives as an Edible Seaweed. Marine drugs. doi:10.3390/md18010014Free full textPubMed 31877971DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error