The Top 3 Best Sea Kelp Supplements (Powder, Pills, Cheap)

As you may know from my article on the supplements you should be taking for optimal health, sea kelp is one among them (for its high iodine content) and my favorite iodine source by far (and I’ve tried several of them over the years).

It’s in many ways better because it is one of the most, if not the most natural way for our body to get a lot of iodine in without needing excessive amounts of food containing it, and natural nutrients generally beat out synthetic ones by a long shot, imo (not always, but often).

So, for more iodine, kelp, and in this case a kelp supplement, is great as a part of or an addition to a very healthy diet.

(Use the table of content below to jump directly to the best kelp supplement, or view it in the store here: Now Organic Kelp Pure Powder).

The Benefits Of A Kelp Supplement
The Best Sea Kelp Supplements (Top 3), Both Cheap And Efficient
- The Best Powdered Kelp Supplements (Cheapest And Best Overall)
  - Now Organic Kelp Pure Powder
  - Starwest Botanicals Kelp Powder – Organic
- Best Sea Kelp Supplement Tablets
  - Nature's Life Icelandic Kelp
Recommended Kelp Supplement (And Iodine) Dosage And Time Of Day To Take It
Wrap-up
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The Benefits Of A Kelp Supplement

I won’t delve too deep into the benefits of kelp supplements and iodine since you’re on this page already and are probably already sold on them or know about much of the benefits, but still and if you don’t, aside from the iodine kelp packs a good punch of antioxidants and some other vitamins and minerals as well, so it’s not just the iodine even if that’s what I mainly take it for myself.

I’d say it’s a superfood, along with the other sea-related ones (canned clams and canned oysters albeit more vegan friendly) that I’ve recently reviewed, in its own right even though you shouldn’t necessarily eat too much of it because of that and can be a good healthy snack when eaten in the form of dried seaweed.

The uses for and benefits of a kelp supplement include:

Regulating your thyroid hormones and preventing hypothyroidism
Breast health
Cognitive function and alertness
Normal early growth and nervous system and brain development during pregnancy and infancy (nutrition overall is very important for pregnancy, including enough iodine)
Healthy skin, hair and nails
Stronger resistance against infections
Preventing goiters
Good for energy and reducing fatigue (especially if deficient)
Weight loss and weight regulation
Better cold tolerance (deficiency can lead to cold sensitivity)
Good for digestion and constipation
Can help with brain fog and depression if low in it or an inadequate intake

(Source, source and source for many of these).

Even more benefits here: Kelp Seaweed Benefits And Side Effects (Body, Skin, Hair).

And because iodine is a nutrient many of us may get too little of (at least as far as for optimal health is concerned), and a very important one (we iodized our salt for a reason and it did help a good bit) where the RDI is likely set far too low (based on minimum intake to prevent outright deficiency symptoms such as goiters and not on what the body does best on), it can be a really good idea to supplement with some kelp.

“With iodine, thyroid issues and much more, kelp can help.”

Kelp also contains some other important trace minerals, but if it’s those you’re after it may be more worth checking out the best trace and multi mineral supplements and the best fulvic acid or shilajit supplements, for much higher and more meaningful amounts of these.

Related Reading: Shilajit VS Fulvic Acid.

You’ll get a little (the RDI) of iodine from a good multi which is nothing to scoff at, but still not enough to warrant not taking some extra kelp!

Which brings us to:

The Best Sea Kelp Supplements (Top 3), Both Cheap And Efficient

And since there are different types, let’s start with:

**The Best Powdered Kelp Supplements (Cheapest And Best Overall)**

There are 2 of these, but let’s start with the one I use myself and would highly recommend (it’s dirt cheap as well!).

And that is:

Now Organic Kelp Pure Powder

Although not as cheap as the one below, I like this one more because the amount of iodine you get per scoop and serving is stated on the package (and this can vary a great deal between different kelp seaweeds).

That way I know how much iodine I’m getting daily and can figure out in micrograms what I feel best on through some experimenting and intuitive testing.

It’s thus also easier to recommend a dosage to people when you know the iodine content, which I’ll be doing right after the top 3, since neither too little nor too much is a good thing with iodine (and kelp).

So, either way, this is the best iodine supplements from all that I’ve seen and tried, it’s organic and comes with a small dosing scoop, very cheap and you know what you’re getting.

Also, there are no other ingredients or additives in this one, zilch, just pure dried kelp powder.

Price: $6,5 for 8 oz or 2522 scoops with 450 mcg iodine each (prices are at the time of writing the article and may differ slightly).

Get it here!

This will last you for years but so will the next one :).

Starwest Botanicals Kelp Powder – Organic

And next we have a kelp supplement where you actually get twice as much as the previous one (which was already dirt cheap) for about the same price.

If they only would have tested it and then stated how much iodine was in it and it was sufficient, then it’d be a no-brainer, since it’s half the price.

But it may very well be less than half the iodine content per gram, we just can’t know, and that makes it worse as a supplement in my book, but better if you’re not using it as much as a supplement or for the iodine and more as a spice and for cooking.

So, for that, get this one, but otherwise, the first one is still better as a kelp supplement imo.

You can get this one here.

Price: $7,5 for 16 oz or 454 grams.

Best Sea Kelp Supplement Tablets

Tablets can be slightly more convenient to take than scoops of powder, although the dose is so small with the above powders that it really doesn’t matter much when it comes to kelp.

But if you want it in tablet form, the best one I’ve found and tried (and have at home as well even if I mostly just stick to the powdered kelp nowadays), is:

Nature’s Life Icelandic Kelp

Although much more costly per dose than the above powdered versions, it’s still very cheap for a supplement overall and for a kelp tablet/capsules supplement.

It has a few additives which most supplements in tablet form do, but it’s still a great supplement and my go-to choice if I want kelp in pills instead.

And it has the iodine content per tablet stated on the package as well, again a best practice for kelp used as a supplement, which is good.

Cost for this one: $17,5 for 1000 tablets containing 225 mcg iodine each.

You can get it here.

So if you compare costs with the first one, this one would last for 500 days if you took 450 mcg of kelp iodine per day, for $17,5, while the first one would last 2500 days with the same dosage for $6,5, or for a third of the cost.

That makes it almost 15 times cheaper compared to the tablets that are already, again, pretty cheap, so, you decide which one to go with..

Anyways, let’s move on now to dosing:

Recommended Kelp Supplement (And Iodine) Dosage And Time Of Day To Take It

As I mentioned before, the RDI, or the recommended daily intake, for iodine is pretty low, and I recommend anywhere between 300 and 1350 mcg of iodine from sea kelp per day (you can experiment a bit with this to see what works best for you but anywhere within that range should be good).

This comes down to between 2/3 and 3 of the small scoop provided with the top one of the kelp supplements, and if you take, say, 1 scoop per day (dosage of 450 mcg iodine), your cost for that one will be 8 cents per month or 1/4 cents per day :), talk about a cheap and bang for your buck supplement!

And as for when during the day to take it, I’d recommend early in the day and with food (the same I do for most supplements tbh), so take it with your first meal and be done with it :).

You may also want to be getting enough of selenium when taking iodine, since they work together and can protect against potential negative effects if if they’re rare, and the best way to get enough of that is either through a good multivitamin or through 1-2 brazil nuts a day (not more than 4).

Just so you know!

“Take your kelp with breakfast and make sure you get some extra selenium as well!”

And now let’s wrap this thing up:

Wrap-up

I’ll make it short and concise, and as such:

Kelp is a superfood and nature’s richest source of iodine
Because the RDI for iodine is a bit low and we tend to get too little of it either way, a kelp supplement can be a great and natural way to supply this (the BEST way, imo)
Kelp and iodine comes with a lot of health benefits and iodine is an important essential mineral for our body.
The best kelp supplement is one that’s both cheap and pure and has it’s iodine content and dosage stated on the package, and this kelp powder supplement wins the race.
The one recommended can be as cheap as 8 cents a month, depending on your dose.
Take between 300 and 1350 mcg per day of total iodine from your kelp, with the first meal of the day, and make sure you get enough of selenium as well!

And there you have it and can make an informed decision about which kelp supplement to buy, hope it’s been helpful :).

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