Review

My review of U-Fn revealed several misrepresentations of their product. As it turns out, U-Fn is actually a brown seaweed extract with no concentration of standardized fucoidan in their formula. This was one of the more obvious, and rather insulting, attempts to dupe consumers into buying a worthless product that we’ve come across.

Their website says, “U-Fn is the pure and potent dried juice of the brown seaweed Laminaria japonica, which naturally contains 35% of U-fucoidan by volume, the only form of fucoidan that offers maximum healing properties.”

U-Fucoidan is a Fancy Term Intended to Trick Consumers

I spent several hours reading through information by U-Fn that seemed to intentionally present information to trick the reader into connecting actual fucoidan research to this new made up U-Fn and U-Fucoidan, which actually has no scientific studies to back it up. You can do the research yourself. Go to PubMed and enter in U-Fucoidan and you will see no results. I thought maybe they intended the U to stand for Undaria pinnatifida, but unfortunately their fucoidan is concentrated from Laminaria japonica (kelp).

The U-Fn website says that each capsule contains 600 mg of Laminaria japonica. But, it has not been standardized for fucoidan which means there might not be any fucoidan in this brand. Furthermore, U-Fn™ doubles up its unsubstantiated claims by saying that their  unprocessed seaweed is “it is more bioavailable than any other pure U-fucoidan and fucoidan extract on the market.”

To find out if this is true, go to U.S. National Library of Medicine (Pub Med) and read through the 1400 + studies that say that fucoidan extract, not the dry seaweed alone, is responsible for the benefits of fucoidan.

At $95 for one bottle, U-Fn contains 60 capsules of seaweed extract and is more expensive than most fucoidan supplements. I found this surprising, considering the fact that U-Fn doesn’t contain any actual fucoidan!

As with Midofilan®, U-Fn™ and all brown seaweed extracts do have natural benefits, and can be a very nutritious addition to any person’s diet. But U-Fn™’s claim that their product is a powerful fucoidan extract is a lie, through and through. The only other alternative is that they are ignorant of what a true fucoidan extract is, which is equally as concerning considering they’re marketing their product as one!

Is U-Fn™ Safe?

U-Fn™ and Midofilan® both seem to be unaware of the potential danger of their L. japonica seaweed source. This form of seaweed is known to have incredibly high amounts of iodine; 1 gram of L. japonica contains 2.3 mg of iodine. Studies have shown that 2 mg of iodine can result in signs of early hyperthyroidism, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences on dietary intake recommends 1.1 mg of iodine as the maximum daily dosage of iodine.

U-Fn™ recommends 2-4 of their 600 mg seaweed capsules per day, equaling 2.76 – 5.5 mg of iodine per day. While having one pill per day or having two from time to time would not be harmful, having 2-4 pills of U-Fn™ could have serious consequences if their seaweed is as unprocessed and pure as they say it is.

Not all companies play on consumer ignorance. Infact, Fucoidan Force™ is transparent with their Supplement Facts and their manufacturing processes. Fucoidan Force™ contains Organic Super U-100 fucoidan from Undaria pinnatifida (wakame) extract, plus a generous 250 mg of Reishi mushroom extract. Wakame is low in sodium and iodine.