Skincare producers clamouring for natural compounds found in Tasmanian brown seaweed

Skincare producers are clamouring for rare natural compounds found in an infamous Tasmanian brown seaweed.

An invasive marine pest found in Tasmanian waters has become a highly sought after ingredient for skincare products due to its potent anti-ageing properties.

Undaria pinnatifida, or wakame, is a species of brown seaweed that was introduced to the state in the 1980s via the ballast water of Japanese bulk carriers visiting Tasmania to collect wood chips.

There are natural compounds in brown seaweeds known as fucoidans, which an innovative Tasmanian biotechnology company, Marinova, is harvesting from wakame to manufacture special fucoidan extracts.

And the skincare industry is clamouring for them.

Sam Karpiniec product development managerof biotech company Marinova. Picture: Linda Higginson

Marinova marketing and communications manager Amanda Mackinnon said the global “cosmeceutical” market was experiencing “unprecedented” growth, and that the company was helping to service increasing demand for sustainable beauty products with its two specialty fucoidan extracts designed for topical use.

“Clinically proven, they are sought after for their unique range of skin soothing, protecting, and balancing properties,” Ms Mackinnon said.

Marinova seaweed

“Properties such as reducing redness and age spot pigmentation, skin brightening, inhibiting the enzymes known to accelerate the visible signs of ageing, enhancing dermal condition, and superior antioxidant activity make high-purity fucoidan extracts attractive to formulators of skincare products.”

The only fucoidan manufacturer in Australia, Marinova, headquartered at Cambridge, also harvests fucoidans from wakame growing in Patagonia and from Fucus vesiculosus, a seaweed found in Nova Scotia.

Ewe Care, a Tasmanian company using sheep’s milk to craft skincare products, is a customer of Marinova, and puts fucoidan extracts in all its creams.

“It has immense benefits in anti-ageing (and) fine lines,” Ewe Care co-owner Nicole Gilliver said.

“We were trying to bring provenance into our messaging with skincare. So it’s Tasmanian sheep’s milk, it’s Tasmanian seaweed, it’s Tasmanian water, it’s Tasmanian functional essential oils.

“These kinds of natural ingredients have huge resonance with beauty consumers.”

Marinova is also supplying its fucoidans to the Brisbane-based HAKKO Skincare, which says fucoidans give its products a softer feel.

“We (choose) seaweed extract because it’s gentle and effective,” HAKKO Skincare founder Tomoko Matsuba said.

“I believe that’s because seaweed extract has anti-inflammatory (properties) and an effect of soothing damaged skin barrier, although it’s not only the result of seaweed extracts.”

Ms Mackinnon said the extracts – which are sold to formulators and not to the general public – were also used in nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals.

“Whilst one ingredient alone is unlikely to revolutionise the skincare industry, Marinova’s fucoidans are certainly ticking all the boxes,” she said.

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Originally published as Skincare producers clamouring for natural compounds found in Tasmanian brown seaweed