Should You Avoid This Food Additive? (original) (raw)

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Is Carrageenan Bad for Your Health? What Are Safer Alternatives?

October 5, 2023

What is carrageenan? - Dr. Axe

Carrageenan is literally everywhere. It is virtually impossible to find a grocery store that doesn’t sell products that include it as an additive.

Even the natural food stores are full of it. You can find it in organic yogurt, tofu, coconut milk, baby formula — even in your nitrite-free turkey old cuts.

Although it’s so common in packaged foods and you are probably consuming it, in one form or another, throughout the week, carrageenan has a long and controversial reputation as an emulsifier that damages the digestive system.

The National Organics Standards Board voted in November 2016 to remove it from the list of substances allowed in USDA organic food. However, the FDA still approves this ingredient as a food additive.

At first glance, it may seem like carrageenan is safe. It’s derived from red seaweed and found in many “health” foods.

But here’s the bottom line — it may cause inflammation and digestive problems, and even though more human studies are needed to completely understand its potential dangers, for now it should be avoided.

What Is Carrageenan?

Derived from red algae or seaweeds since the 1930s, carrageenan is processed through an alkaline procedure to produce what many consider to be a “natural” food ingredient. Interestingly, if you prepare the same seaweed in an acidic solution, you get what is referred to as “degraded carrageenan” or poligeenan.

Widely know for its inflammatory properties, poligeenan is commonly used in drug trials to literally induce inflammation and other diseases in lab animals. This has raised some serious eyebrows because the difference between a disease-producing carrageenan and its “natural” food counterpart is literally just a few pH points.

When answering the “what is carrageenan” question, it’s important to realize that it’s widely used for two main purposes:

Controversy

Carrageenan’s entire history is quite fascinating because of shifting priorities in public health circles, which has placed its regulatory status in a constant state of flux for decades. Even today, health authorities are uncertain how to handle the situation, with calls from some researchers and health advocates to ban the additive from foods and other products.

The use of carrageenan as a laxative is particularly interesting because it has been linked to various gastrointestinal (GI) conditions since the late 1960s. The FDA even considered restricting dietary carrageenan in 1972, but that didn’t prevail.

In 1982, the International Agency for Research on Cancer identified sufficient evidence for the carcinogenic properties of poligeenan in animals, but this doesn’t necessarily translate to the use of undegraded carrageenan that’s used in foods.

In that same report, one researcher stated that the cancer-promoting effects of undegraded carrageenan in experimental models has been proven and should be considered by the FDA as a reason to restrict dietary carrageenan.

The controversy lies in the fact that there are no human studies proving that undegraded carrageenan dangers are a serious threat. Until we know for sure, do we continue to consume foods containing the seaweed additive, or do we opt for carrageenan-free foods and beverages instead?

Potential Dangers and Side Effects

Is carrageenan bad for health? Researchers and health advocates who insist that carrageenan is dangerous usually quote one of the many studies that claim to link the seaweed food additive to health issues like:

Independent experts like Joanne Tobacman, M.D., associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, insist that carrageenan exposure clearly causes inflammation.

In her 2013 research published by The Cornucopia Institute indicating that carrageenan is a “natural” food additive that is making Americans sick, Tobacman suggests that the amount of carrageenan in food products is sufficient to cause inflammation and that poligeenan and food-grade carrageenan are both harmful.

Various sources claim that many individuals experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms (ranging from mild bloating to irritable bowel syndrome to severe inflammatory bowel disease) have noticed that eliminating carrageenan from the diet leads to profound improvements in their gastrointestinal health.

Tobacman continues, “Animal studies have repeatedly shown that food-grade carrageenan causes gastrointestinal inflammation and higher rates of intestinal lesions, ulcerations, and even malignant tumors.”

Is Carrageenan Safe as a Food Additive?

Still, there are conflicting studies. According to a 2014 article published in the journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology:

What does this mean about carrageenan safety and side effects? Well, more studies need to be conducted.

Foods and Sources

Because carrageenan is found in red algae or seaweeds, it’s often used as a food additive in vegan diet and vegetarian products. You’ll often find it in vegan desserts and dairy-free foods as a thickener.

It works similarly to gelatin, which is derived from collagen in animal parts, acting as a sticky, gel-like substance in foods and beauty/health products. However, while gelatin has an impressive amino acid composition, carrageenan has no nutritional value.

Some of the most common carrageenan foods and sources include:

The Cornucopia Institute created an extensive shopping guide to help you avoid organic foods with carrageenan.

Also, be careful of “hidden” sources. Not all foods with carrageenan will have the additive listed on the ingredient label because it’s being used as a “processing aid.”

There are other places where it is used but often not listed, including in beers (as a clarifying agent), pet foods and even conventional nutritional supplements. When it comes to avoiding carrageenan in dog food and cat food, be sure to read the ingredient list carefully and research the manufacturer.

Is carrageenan safe? Although more human studies are needed to fully understand if it is bad for health, avoiding food and health products containing carrageenan is recommended.

Choosing certified organic products and reading the ingredient label for carrageenan will ensure that the additive isn’t present in your foods.

Healthier Alternatives

There are other food additives that are used as food thickeners and stabilizers and don’t come with a potential threat of adverse effects. These effects can be replicated by the following food additives:

There are also carrageenan-free almond milks and daily-free beverages, ice cream without carrageenan and organic foods that are made without the additive. You may find that carrageenan-free beverages tend to separate, but you can simply shake them up before drinking.

Final Thoughts