Alginic acid: properties and application features

A lot of amazing substances are presented and still gives a person nature. One of them is alginic acid, which is actively used in cosmetics, in medicines, as well as in the food industry. It was given to the people by the sea.

And again the sea

The seas of our planet have not yet been studied very well. Even seemingly sufficiently studied seafood are sometimes presented with interesting surprises. Here, for example, algae - brown, red, green. Their structure, way of life, impact on marine ecosystems - all this has already been thoroughly studied. But at the end of the XIX century, completely by accident, as a by-product of the production of iodine from seaweed, alginic acid salts were discovered - alginates and alginic acid itself.

Chemical Processes

Everything that happens to us and around us is chemistry. The processes that people study make it possible to constantly receive new substances needed in medicine, in the food industry, for the synthesis of polymers. All the chemical elements that are known to man today are given by nature. Preparation of alginic acid - biological processes occurring in algae.

These living organisms use alginates as a moisture-scavenger, which allows them to survive in conditions of sea tides. People, getting alginic acid and its derivatives, have learned to use it in medicine, in pharmaceutics, in the food industry, in cosmetology. This is an amazing substance - alginic acid. Its formula, from the point of view of chemistry, is rather complicated, because it is a heteropolymer, which is formed by the D-mannuric residue and the L-guluronic acid residue in different quantitative ratios, depending on the species of algae. The formula looks like this: (C6H8O6) n.

Polysaccharide from algae

Any chemical substances and their compounds that mankind has learned to extract and synthesize, one way or another, find their application. With the alginic acid discovered in the beginning of the 19th century, exactly the same happened, and the spectrum of its use is quite wide. This is due to the properties of the substance extracted from algae. Alginic acid is a polysaccharide, a high-molecular substance of particular importance in the biosphere. There are a lot of such chemical compounds. And a special group is algal polysaccharides, which include alginic acid.

Salts-alginates

Polysaccharides are actively used in many spheres of human life. Here, for example, one of them is alginic acid. The properties of this substance extracted from brown, red and green algae are very diverse. Of particular importance are salts of alginic acid - alginates of potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium. They are well tolerated by the human body, since they are harmless, not digested and not digested, but are excreted through the intestine. Another feature is the solubility of alginic acid. This natural polymeric carbohydrate (polysaccharide) is insoluble in water, or in most organic solvents, which is actively used in medicine and pharmacology. But alginic acid can adsorb the amount of water 300 times more than itself. And this property has also found its application.

Medicine and alginates

Alginic acid is a polysaccharide. It is widely used in pharmaceuticals and medicine. Due to the properties of both the acid itself and its salts - alginates. Many scientific researches conducted by medical scientists, chemists, pharmacists have allowed to get confident results of successful use of alginic acid in the treatment of such diseases as cardiovascular diseases, posttraumatic infections with burns and wounds, immunodeficiency states, intestinal diseases with intestinal motility disorder.

So, salts of alginic acid have confirmed antimicrobial, antiviral and antifungal action. It is widely used in modern medicine in the treatment of various diseases. Alginates help to reduce the manifestations of various types of allergy by binding inactive immune complexes and immunoglobulins of type E. At the same time, the salts of algal acid activate the production of local protective immunoglobulins of type A, which are responsible for the resistance of skin and mucous membranes to the action of pathogenic microorganisms.

Another surprising quality of alginic acid is the ability to bind and remove from the human body radionuclides of strontium and cesium, widely used in the fight against malignant formations. In addition, alginates promote active healing of wounds and ulcers, as well as have hemostatic properties. A unique substance obtained from seaweed, which proved to be safe for humans, is alginic acid. Preparations on its basis are in demand even in pediatrics and in the treatment of pregnant and breast-feeding women.

Pharmaceutical and algal acid

Alginic acid has found wide application in the pharmaceutical industry. So, for example, capsules of medicines made with the help of alginates allow you to deliver the active substances directly to the intestine, where the capsule is destroyed, the medicinal substance begins its work, and the shell is removed from the body.

Another vivid example is wound dressings using alginates. They have anti-infective and hemostatic properties. Such bandages do not allow spreading the infection, relieve swelling of surrounding tissues, and hence their excess injuries. These medical devices have good drainage properties, which allows the wound to heal faster. The same properties of alginic acid are used in dentistry.

Beauty and acid

In recent decades, alginic acid has found another area of application - cosmetology. Masks based on this natural substance are becoming increasingly popular, as they have unique properties of skin rejuvenation and healing. Not so long ago a woman could get such a mask only in the salon. Today, powders for making masks with alginates at home can be purchased at beauty shops. The powder is diluted with a certain amount of water, and the gel is applied to the face. The effect, according to a huge number of women, is simply amazing!

Thanks to the properties of alginic acid and its salts, the skin becomes cleaner, small wrinkles and redness disappear, not only the appearance improves, but edema and swelling are removed, and due to the antibacterial properties of the alginates, inflammatory processes take place. Alginate masks allow at home to receive a session of healing the skin of the face and décolletage zone without harm to health. Such cosmetic products often have a complex composition, that is, they contain not only alginic acid or alginates, but also other substances useful to the skin, for example, collagen or chitosan, and in similar masks often include herbal components - chamomile, ginger, green tea . All this makes home cosmetics very effective. Cosmetic industry produces not only masks, but also creams with alginates, helping to restore skin, improve their condition.

Food supplement E400

Alginic acid found its wide application in the food industry. If you look at the packaging of many products, then there is a link to the food additives included in the composition, and among them there are often E400, E401, E402, E403, E404, E405. So these nutritional supplements are alginic acid and alginates, allowed for use in the food, pharmaceutical and medical industries. Alginic acid and alginates - thickeners and stabilizers, which help substances to keep their shape and volume, prevent their drying and deterioration. Moreover, alginic acid itself and alginates are excreted from the human body in an unchanged form, not being digested by them, and therefore without causing any harm and without having side effects.

Nature and people

Another gift of nature, which turned out to be an amazing find is alginic acid. It was given to people by the sea, allowing to obtain a useful substance used in medicine and food production, in pharmaceutics and in cosmetology. Alginates proved to be those substances that humanity lacked so much. They are harmless, taken out of the human body in an unchanged form, but they have a surprisingly beneficial effect on it, promoting healing, fighting viruses, bacteria and fungi, removing harmful toxins and heavy metals, healing wounds, burns, stopping bleeding, removing swelling, normalizing blood Pressure and activating protective functions of the body. It seems that the gifts of the sea, and algae including, will give mankind many more amazing and useful discoveries.