After studying up about carrageenan and learning that it possibly causes cancer, I began trying to avoid it as much as possible. This was a very difficult task when shopping for dairy products because most of them contain it. Thank goodness for companies like Daisy who produce carrageenan-free cottage cheese and sour cream!
I also thought I'd found a better ice cream brand in Breyer's All Natural ice cream, but after getting a carton of it home, I noticed an unfamiliar ingredient - tara gum! What is this and why did they add a weird ingredient to their "all-natural" ice cream? This warranted some research.
In researching tara gum, I found that it is, in fact, a "natural" product because it comes from a plant native to South America called Cesalpinia spinosa lin. Also known as the tara tree, it can grow as a bush or a tree and is now found in Morocco and East Africa too. The tara gum is obtained by milling the endosperm of the seeds through mechanical methods. This actually does sound a little more safe than carrageenan!
Tara gum has been approved as a thickener for use in many, many products. Some of them are dairy products such as cheese, cream, and ice cream, but it also may be added to other products such as pickles, baked goods, cereals, mustard, dried fruits and vegetables, soups, and many other things (a list of which can be found at this link: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/gsfaonline/additives/details.html?id=17.)
As an extra note, tara gum may not always be listed in the ingredients on product labels. It works more efficiently as a thickener, especially when combined with another thickening agent and if each of these agents comprises less than 2% of the product, they will not be listed. Tara gum may be used much more widely than than we realize.
As much as I dislike food additives, I do feel more comfortable with tara gum than with carrageenan. I read of 2 cancer studies done on tara gum and they both had negative results, meaning that tara gum does not seem to cause cancer in rats and mice. These studies are found at http://potency.berkeley.edu/chempages/TARA%20GUM.html and http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/?objectid=07063AE1-EF7A-1A17-22076056522B0DC2.
I do believe that tara gum is a safer thickener than carrageenan, therefore I feel that Breyer's All Natural ice cream is a slightly better choice than most other ice creams that are made with carrageenan. However, I also feel that ice cream is not a healthy choice of food in the first place and my intake of it should be very limited anyway.
Showing posts with label dairy products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dairy products. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Friday, November 09, 2007
Carrageenan
An ingredient I continue to see in many dairy and other products was unfamiliar to me and I wanted to do some research to find out what it was. This ingredient was carrageenan. Where does it come from, why is it used, and is it safe, were some of the questions I had about it.
The answers I found were a little bit scary! Carrageenan is a gelatin-type substance derived from a red seaweed often called Irish Moss. Major use of it began in the 1930s and the Philippines is the largest producer of it. Carrageenan is used in products to give them more substance and texture - to make them thick and creamy. Sounds safe enough. But studies and many people's personal experiences indicate otherwise.
Carrageenan has been found to cause health problems for many people, including vomiting, ulcerative colitis, bowel inflammatory problems, colon cancer,and possibly even breast cancer. One researcher has done tests involving carrageenan on human tissues (not just animals) and found that carrageenan definitely had negative effects on breast and bowel tissues. See a blog discussing these results at: http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html. Another great website to check out that discusses carrageenan and research done on it is found at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-81760722.html.
Carrageenan is added to many products people consume on a daily basis. These products include ice cream, whipping cream, sour cream, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk products, granola bars, fruit rolls, condensed milk, powdered chocolate milk, processed meats, and many others. For many of these foods, there are brands that don't include carrageenan. Check labels and choose more natural products. It's a scary thought that so many food manufacturers will put harmful additives in our food to make things more convenient or less expensive for themselves. But it is important to remember that we always have a choice and if we all choose the healthier alternatives, manufacturers will eventually catch on.
Even though I have never personally experienced any negative effects of carrageenan that I know of, evidence seems to show that carageenan is a harmful food additive. What I learned about carrageenan is enough to convince me to avoid it as much as possible!
The answers I found were a little bit scary! Carrageenan is a gelatin-type substance derived from a red seaweed often called Irish Moss. Major use of it began in the 1930s and the Philippines is the largest producer of it. Carrageenan is used in products to give them more substance and texture - to make them thick and creamy. Sounds safe enough. But studies and many people's personal experiences indicate otherwise.
Carrageenan has been found to cause health problems for many people, including vomiting, ulcerative colitis, bowel inflammatory problems, colon cancer,and possibly even breast cancer. One researcher has done tests involving carrageenan on human tissues (not just animals) and found that carrageenan definitely had negative effects on breast and bowel tissues. See a blog discussing these results at: http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html. Another great website to check out that discusses carrageenan and research done on it is found at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-81760722.html.
Carrageenan is added to many products people consume on a daily basis. These products include ice cream, whipping cream, sour cream, frozen yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk products, granola bars, fruit rolls, condensed milk, powdered chocolate milk, processed meats, and many others. For many of these foods, there are brands that don't include carrageenan. Check labels and choose more natural products. It's a scary thought that so many food manufacturers will put harmful additives in our food to make things more convenient or less expensive for themselves. But it is important to remember that we always have a choice and if we all choose the healthier alternatives, manufacturers will eventually catch on.
Even though I have never personally experienced any negative effects of carrageenan that I know of, evidence seems to show that carageenan is a harmful food additive. What I learned about carrageenan is enough to convince me to avoid it as much as possible!
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