Sea cucumber, also known as the king of the sea, is an echinoderm living in the ocean and preys on algae and plankton on the seabed for a living. Sea cucumbers are covered with thorns and are widely distributed in the oceans all over the world. In China's vast maritime territory, there are more than 20 kinds of sea cucumbers with use value and medicinal value. The quality of sea cucumber is mainly determined by its living environment. It is not only a seafood product, but also a world-famous delicacy, which is as famous as ginseng, bird's nest and shark fin. In the past, people in China used to wash, burn and expose freshly caught sea cucumbers as a powerful Chinese medicine.

The nutritional value of sea cucumber is very high, which is mentioned in many TCM classics. In the Qing Dynasty, Wang Shixiong wrote "Resting Diet Spectrum" in the 11th year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, saying that sea cucumber has great functions of nourishing yin, strengthening yang, benefiting qi, regulating menstruation, reinforcing tires and helping production. He also said: "Anyone who has given birth or aged after illness should be stewed with ham or pork and mutton." In other words, sea cucumber can tonify qi and blood, regulate menstruation, soothe the nerves and prevent miscarriage, which is beneficial to women's production, while it can tonify kidney and strengthen yang, moisten lung and reduce fire for men. In addition, people who have given birth and recovered from a serious illness can bake sea cucumber and ham to nourish their vitality.

The nutritional value of sea cucumber is very high even if it is analyzed from the perspective of modern medicine, not from the perspective of qi and blood of traditional Chinese medicine. Sea cucumber can enhance immunity and improve metabolic syndrome. On the basis of establishing animal models, scientists used nuclear magnetic resonance, gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and other scientific technologies to separate and extract functional components such as polysaccharides, soaps, lipids and phospholipids from sea cucumbers. After many times of purification and chemical analysis, scientists were surprised to find that the unique structural characteristics of sea cucumber, such as sea cucumber polysaccharide, sea cucumber soap sound, sea cucumber sheath glycolipid, ginseng phospholipid, etc., are extremely unique functional components. It is these functional ingredients that endow sea cucumber with extremely rich nutritional value. This includes its strengthening effect on human immune system and improving various metabolic syndromes, and hyperlipidemia, obesity and hyperglycemia are the main symptoms of this kind of metabolic syndrome.

In a word, sea cucumber, as a kind of food with high nutritional value, is more suitable for the elderly, pregnant women and patients recovering from a serious illness. But there is a limit to everything, and we should control our food intake reasonably. You can't eat everything like eating, and you can't eat seaweed indiscriminately. And children should be careful when eating sea cucumbers, because the body is very likely to be intolerant of this tonic, leading to poor symptoms. As a kind of seafood treasure that can be used as medicine and food, the nutritional value of sea cucumber is definitely great, but it is necessary to make clear how to eat it, who can eat it and how much to eat.