Are algae a new superfood? Europeans already consumed them thousands of years ago.

The algae have already garnered fame “superfood” for its benefits for healthfor his sustainability and for their possibilities of satisfying many future needs, but researchers have shown that these marine plants, and others from fresh water, were already consumed thousands of years ago.

Scientists from several universities (including Glasgow, New York and Autonomous University of Barcelona) publish today in Nature Communications the conclusions of a work that has allowed them to find archaeological evidence “definitive” that these plants were consumed thousands of years ago and have recently become marginal in the (European) diet.

Archaeological evidence has revealed that Europeans already consumed these plants in the Mesolithic – about 8,000 years ago -, during the Neolithic transition to agriculture and in the early Middle Ages, and have thus taken a further step in the use of these products, since until now it was considered that they were used as fuel, as packaging for other foods or as fertilizers.

Some historical accounts, researchers have noted, speak of laws related to seaweed harvesting in Iceland, Brittany and Ireland dating back to the 10th century, and other authors mention sea cabbages as a remedy for sailors’ scurvy.

In the 18th century, seaweed was already considered a food against hunger, and although seaweed and freshwater aquatic plants continue to be economically important in some parts of Asia, both from a nutritional and medicinal point of view, their consumption is scarce. in Europe.

The international team of archaeologists examined biomarkers extracted from the dental calculus of 74 individuals from 28 archaeological sites across Europe, from northern Scotland to southern Spain, which revealed direct evidence of widespread consumption of seaweed and submerged aquatic plants and sweet water.

There are about 10,000 different species of seaweed in the world, but only 145 are currently consumed, mainly in Asia, and the researchers hope their study will highlight the possibility of including more seaweed and other local freshwater plants in the current diet, thus contributing to Europeans having a healthier and more sustainable diet.

Karen Hardy, professor of Prehistoric Archeology at the University of Glasgow and principal investigator of the Powerful Plants project, has highlighted that seaweed and freshwater aquatic plants are practically absent from traditional Western diets and that they gradually went from being foods to being a resource for hunger and then fodder for animals.

In his opinion, this “rediscovery” It can also help address the negative health and environmental effects of over-reliance on a small number of mass-produced agricultural products delivered over long distances around the world.

Researcher Stephen Buckley, from the Department of Archeology at the University of York, has corroborated that the evidence from this study predates historical evidence from the Far East by more than three thousand years, and demonstrates that seaweed was consumed in Europe during the Mesolithic. , when it was known that marine resources were exploited, and that this consumption continued during the Neolithic, when the introduction of agriculture caused the abandonment of marine food resources.