sea cucumber

Sea Cucumber is an oblong shaped, gelatinous creature. It is an animal from the same family as sea urchin and starfish. It is rich in mucopolysaccharides (mainly chondroitin sulfate), which is a cartilage builder and often lacking in people with arthritis and connective tissue disorders; and, consequently, it has been used to ease joint pains and arthritic conditions. It lives in all the oceans. With hundreds of different species of Sea Cucumber, it come in all colours, from black to red and yellow stripes in all sizes, the largest is 2m long. Chinese people have named Sea Cucumber as 'haishen', which means, roughly, 'ginseng of the sea'. Sea Cucumber has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat everything from high blood pressure in humans to joint pain. Common medicinal uses of Sea Cucumber in China include treating weakness, impotence, debility of the aged, constipation due to intestinal dryness, and frequent urination.

Modern researchers believe that Sea Cucumber improves the balance of prostaglandins, which regulate the inflammatory process and are beneficial for musculo-skeletal inflammatory diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. It is considered a fine health tonic, especially for the kidneys and has been used to nourish the kidneys and treat cases of frequent urination. Some of the historical benefits attributed to Sea Cucumber are its nutritive tonic qualities that ease fatigue, cleanse the blood, relieve constipation, and act as an aphrodisiac to help impotence. In addition, the Sea Cucumber oil contains two anti-inflammatory fractions. One fraction has fatty acids characteristic of those found in fish; they can be used as a substitute for fish oil in reducing inflammatory byproducts of fat metabolism, and to nourish the brain and heart.

References:
BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/reallywild/amazing/sea_cucumber.shtml
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/shopingredients/p/seacucumber.htm
Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon. http://www.itmonline.org/arts/seacucumber.htm
Herbal Extract Plus. http://www.herbalextractsplus.com/sea-cucumber.cfm