Where does sea moss come from?
And where is it going?
Although Americans spend $35 billion per year on dietary supplements, it does little if anything for their health. So if you say sea moss is nothing but the latest unsubstantiated health fad used by savvy entrepreneurs to take advantage of an easy-to-fool precariat, you are not exactly wrong. But it’s only half the story.
Where does sea moss come from?
The story of sea moss starts in the 1980s with Alfredo Bowman, who called himself Dr Sebi (he had no medical degree). He said he cured his patients of AIDS, cancer and blindness through an “alkaline electric diet” that removes mucus, the source of all illness. He specifically targeted the Black community, as “African genes have a high electrical resonance” which his potions complimented. As he said it himself: “I am unscientific. There is only one disease”. His cure-all medicine for that one disease? Sea moss.
Originally from Honduras, Alfredo ended up in Los Angeles where he found a willing audience among celebrities like Michael Jackson, John Travolta and Steven Seagal. Upon his death in a Honduran jail in 2016, conspiracy theories started swirling: the pharmaceutical industry, in concert with the government and the Illuminati, did not want you to know about sea moss. It was minor L.A. rapper Nipsey Hussle who then took on the task of spreading the self-proclaimed healer’s message. When Nipsey was murdered in turn in 2019, all the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place for the conspiracy community.
Via the advocacy work of Nipsey Hussle, Dr Sebi’s message reached more prominent people, like famed hip hop artist Kendrick Lamar who rapped: “Synchronization with my energy chakras, the ghost of Dr. Sebi, paid it forward, cleaned out my toxins, bacteria heavy. Other L.A. luminaries followed. The watershed moment came when mega-celebrity Kim Kardashian started using sea moss smoothies on her psoriasis journey.
The celebrity endorsements sparked a gold rush. A cottage industry of online sea moss sellers spawned during Covid, when Americans were sat at home and health was suddenly the number one concern. Pretty soon, some of them were raking in millions. The biggest American sea moss company today could be The Transformation Factory, which sold $16 million worth of sea moss products in 2023, and is on track for at least $20 million in 2024.
Seeing the success of sea moss, the wellness industry has since taken that message worldwide through its classic mix of marketing and misinformation.
But where does sea moss actually come from?
From the Caribbean. A 2024 report from The Nature Conservancy tells us the common name ‘seamoss’ is used to refer to at least 10 different species of seaweeds in the Caribbean. Seamoss has been used traditionally in the region for puddings and in a blended drink made from either Hypnea musciformis, Kappaphycus alvarezii, Eucheumatopsis isiformis or Gracilaria spp. In some places, like Jamaica, the term ‘Irish moss’ is also used, which sometimes leads people to believe they are selling North Atlantic Chondrus crispus, which is also called Irish moss. They are not, it’s too hot in the Caribbean for C. crispus.
Belize and St. Lucia are the region’s cultivation pioneers: Belize starting around the year 2000 when wild stocks started running low while in St Lucia the first pilot project hatched as early as 1981.
Belize cultivates very little for now, just 1 dry ton of E. isiformis a year. It’s St. Lucia that is driving sea moss cultivation in the Caribbean. Farmers there switched from Gracilaria to Kappaphycus alvarezii in 2013, which boosted production. In 2022, the island reported US$2.6 million of seaweed sales with development supported by grants and workshops.
Dominica is the biggest producer of sea moss beverages in the Caribbean, with Benjo’s Seamoss as its biggest brand, exporting to around twenty island states. Dominica has been importing Gracilaria to fulfill local demand as wild harvests no longer suffice, but it is now gearing up to be the next big producer in the Caribbean, with seaweed farmers recently making the switch to K. alvarezii.
Artisanal wild harvesting of seaweeds continues across the region; recently, increased demand has even brought harvesters to Bowman’s native Honduras. Seaweed cultivation is also happening at a limited scale in Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Panama and Costa Rica.
The sea moss opportunity
The story of sea moss started in the Caribbean, where people enjoyed it as a delicious local drink. A man from Honduras then brought it to the United States and transformed it into a tool for the emancipation of Black people who, for good reasons, were skeptical of a government, medical establishment and food and pharmaceuticals industries that often did not have their best interest at heart.
Through the soft power of Los Angeles’ celebrities, the story scattered across the world. Finally, in search of seaweed supply, Black entrepreneurs are bringing the story home to the Caribbean, where it is a growing opportunity for coastal communities with whom they have a shared history of forced migration and slavery.
For macroalgae’s mainstream, saying that tropical seaweeds are in need of new markets is kicking in an open door. Sea moss then offers an avenue to diversify away from the stagnant carrageenan business.
Right now, the sea moss category is a Wild West filled with seaweed cowboys, and of course, selling Dr Sebi’s snake oil is not something we endorse. But the sea moss trend has not crested yet. As these products grow in popularity, scrutiny over their contents and claims is likely to grow. The same consumers who do not want carrageenan in their dog’s pet food because they think it causes cancer might wake up to the fact that their healthful sea moss gummies are made from the exact same thing.
Increased consumer awareness could see the sector change. How?
1 - Brands move away from contentious explicit health claims
Instead, they could start communicating more implicit connotations of wellbeing. A brand like MOSS is pointing in that direction: it “brings balance” and “awakens the senses”.
2 - Black-owned businesses in the United States could broaden the narrative around the emancipating power of sea moss
They could make the Black seaweed farmers and harvesters of the Caribbean part of the story. Far-sighted supporters of the cause might even spot the opportunity to help Caribbean brands break into the US market.
3 - Scientific validation might be sought out
It’s not the wellness sector’s strong suit, as people have already proven they’ll buy your stuff anyway. But it’s not unthinkable to see brands invest in research as the market gets more crowded and increasingly professional.
4 - Products will improve
Over time, sea moss companies will understand what they are actually selling is a functional fiber at a premium price. More companies will hire formulation specialists from the hydrocolloids world to improve the taste, texture and mouthfeel of their products.
5 - Outsourcing and specialisation
The subsequent realisation that functional fibers from seaweeds are already on the market might lead brands to integrate ingredients like SeaFlour, phytaFIBER, Seablend or ReadyRed, foregoing the challenge of sourcing and processing seaweeds themselves.
Finally…
One last takeaway: it must feel not a bit ironic to the people struggling to market locally-grown American kelps to be told that they need to rebrand “seaweed” into “sea veggies” or “sea greens” because seaweed sounds unappetizing, reduce the price because the market cannot stomach it and also work on those iodine levels, while “sea moss”, which not only sounds even worse but also often tastes like the literal bottom of the ocean, has no proven benefits, contains Ganesh knows what and sells for sometimes ludicrously high prices, is minting millionaires and considered the pinnacle of health and style by a certain subset of the American consumer.
Alaskan sea moss anyone?