Question: Hi, is there any things in the sea that contain healthy vitamins or anything good to help us make better medicine???

Hayley Evers-King answered on 18 Mar 2013:

Absolutely! Fish contain lots of healthy vitamins, so you should definitely eat them, but make sure to pick a sustainable option as some fish are endangered. It’s not just fish either. Compounds found in sponges have been used to fight the AIDS virus. Some compounds in other organisms are being tested as cancer drugs. Algae (which are a bit like plants) are used in vitamins and other supplements. It’s also been suggested that we can use parts of corals to replace bone in humans, make pain relievers from different types of aquatic venom and learn from the biology of sharks to fight infections and cancer – these are all ideas that scientists are investigating.