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If seaweed eliminates methane it likely will affect some gut bacteria more than others. We would not blindly swallow antibiotics affecting what is happening in
by heisenbit 10y ago
If seaweed eliminates methane it likely will affect some gut bacteria more than others. We would not blindly swallow antibiotics affecting what is happening in our gut. There will be side effects one way or another - usually the more effect the more side effect.
Seaweed is worth studying and has promise but I'm skeptical when it comes super food claims.
- the8472 10y agoIf i read it correctly the paper says the effect comes through bromoform contained in the algae, which inhibits the enzymes participating in the methane production. It's only fed in sub-toxic amounts to the cows I don't think it bio-accumulates, so the meat should be safe for consumption. in other words, it has nothing to do with antibiotics.
- petra 10y agoWouldn't it be better/cheaper just to make and feed the cows some bromoform ?
- the8472 10y agoIt's an ozone-depletant, so you want a natural source. And algae naturally soak it up from sea water, so you don't have to extract it from minerals or anything like that. Plus I assume that it being part of the plant matters slows its release.
- wollstonecraft 10y agoThe algae produce it.
- ars 10y ago> It's an ozone-depletant, so you want a natural source. I read that line several times, and I can't figure out what one has to do with the other. The depletion effect doesn't change based on the source. > And algae naturally soak it up from sea water, so you don't have to extract it from minerals or anything like that. It's made from bromine, it's not a hard element to get a hold of. > Plus I assume that it being part of the plant matters slows its release. Slows the release in the cow, or after leaving the cow? Because we care only after leaving the cow, and at that point it has to have been released (in the cow) in order to function.
- the8472 10y agoThe point was that many species of algae already produce and release it. Using some of them as feed does not introduce additional emission sources, unlike artificial production would. Slow release in the cow might help to smooth out the dose so it inhibits methane generation throughout the whole digestion time. But that part is entirely speculation on my part. Something has to make this particular alga better than the others tested.
- ars 10y agoBromine is not safe to eat, and it's eliminated very slowly, so it would accumulate in the cow. I would not be comfortable eating products from a cow fed this without some careful safety studies first. Otherwise you are potentially poisoning people in exchange for some methane reduction - that's not a good tradeoff.
- mrob 10y agoSeaweed has a long history of human consumption without adverse effects, so I don't see why it should do any harm to cows, especially at 2 to 5% of diet.
- heisenbit 10y agoSeaweed has a long history of human consumption that may be true. But so has milk and only part of the adult human population can handle it. We are only at the beginning of understanding how the gut micro-biome relates to human and animal health. Possibilities for complications exist e.g. - Methane production keeps parasites in check - Methane producing bacteria may be part of a synthesis chain for a specific nutrient. - Recalibration of blood health indicator values There are always risks in scaling up things to population levels. The history is full of them. Soylent recently ran into some problems. Gut biology is not an area where things are very predictable.