Fucoidan supplementation may increase muscle size and strength, says recent animal study

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A recent animal study¹ found that supplementation with the polysaccharide fucoidan (Maritech from Marinova; Tasmania, Australia), derived from brown seaweed, may increase muscle size and strength. In the study, mice were given either 400 mg/kg/day of fucoidan or placebo for four weeks. Mice in both the fucoidan and control group were further divided in exercise or non-exercise groups. Exercise was 30 minutes of treadmill training three times per week.

After four weeks, results shows that there was a significant increase in cross-sectional area of muscle fibers in both groups of fuicoidan-treated mice. There was also a significant increase in muscle force production in the fucoidan-treated mice.

“Fucoidan increased muscle size and strength after just four weeks of supplementation in both exercised and non-exercised mice. The findings are extremely exciting as they suggest an important influence of fucoidan on skeletal muscle physiology,” said Marinova’s chief scientist and the paper’s co-author, Helen Fitton, PhD, in a press release. “We look forward to the results of further research currently underway which is examining the effect of fucoidan in muscle maintenance and sports performance. A role for fucoidan in the sports nutrition category certainly looks promising.”

Reference

1. McBean SE et al. “Oral fucoidan improves muscle size and strength in mice.” Physiological Reports, vol. 9, no. 3 (2021)