Seaweed lacks a formal definition, but seaweed generally lives in the ocean and is visible to the naked eye. The term refers to both flowering plants submerged in the ocean, like eelgrass, as well as larger marine algae.

Based on TCM, seaweed can be used to:

1. clears heat
2. moistens dryness
3. transforms phlegm
4. softens the hardness
5. enriches yin, and diuretic.

Preparation methods of seaweed are fresh or dried, boiled, as a soup ingredient, as a decoction, as salad, as a pill or powder.

Seaweed contains 41 minerals and trace elements, an unsurpassed source of iodine, vitamins A, B1, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K.

Some indications that can be reduced by seaweed are:

 * Heat and phlegm in the lung, bronchiectasis, or cough with viscous yellow phlegm.

 * Following excessive alcohol consumption with heat symptoms

 * Edema