https://www.echemi.com/products/pid_Rock37234-carrageenan.html


What is carrageenan?


Carrageenan is a raw material extracted from various red seaweeds and has been used as a thickener in foods for hundreds of years. It was first used in chocolate milk and a pudding like milk dessert, Junket, in 1940. In the mid-1960s, doctors generally recommended carrageenan to alleviate the pain of peptic ulcers. The concentration required to relieve ulcers produces a gel that is very viscous and uncomfortable to eat. Subsequently, degraded carrageenan, also known as polycarrageenan, was created. Degraded carrageenan is produced by hydrolyzing natural (food grade) carrageenan, which cuts bonds and reduces molecules, eliminating their thickening properties. Soon, degraded carrageenan was found to be harmful and its use for ulcer treatment was discontinued. Because the role of carrageenan in food is to thicken, degraded carrageenan has almost no thickening properties, so it has never been used in food. Although degraded carrageenan and food grade carrageenan are different, the harmful effects of degraded forms of carrageenan are incorrectly associated with food grade carrageenan.



Why worry about carrageenan?


The driving force behind concerns about the safety of carrageenan is attributed to an article written by Dr. Joanne Tobacman. Most of the studies cited in her article are about the degradation of carrageenan. She believes that even food grade carrageenan is not safe because the acids in our stomachs and certain bacteria may break it down into degraded carrageenan. This statement is not supported by human or animal research. Tobacman's reference study simulates the effect of gastric acid on carrageenan and the resulting presence of degraded carrageenan. However, a study by Marcus and Watt in 1969 explained that "polydecene with an average molecular weight of about 20000 Daltons does not have any food functions of carrageenan, and the average molecular weight of carrageenan is never less than 100000 Daltons, which is usually much higher." Therefore, comparing "digested" carrageenan with polycarrageenan is a false equivalent.


Recently, "The scientific evaluation of carrageenan includes short-term and long-term generations of studies involving different doses of degraded and non degradable forms, as well as various animal studies... All studies support the safety of (food grade) carrageenan used in food." The regulatory authorities believe that there is no reason to question the safety of (food grade) carrageenan only if its average molecular weight is 100000 Daltons or higher. " The regulations on the molecular size of carrageenan have been modified to ensure that food grade carrageenan in foods will never fall below this limit, and testing methods have been introduced to enforce these limits.


Tobacman also cited studies that showed that natural carrageenan can promote colon tumors in rats; However, carrageenan in these studies accounted for 2.5 to 15% of the total diet of rats. In contrast, foods containing carrageenan contain only one tenth (0.1%) or one percent (0.01%) of carrageenan, making up only a small portion of our overall diet.


How do we know that carrageenan is a safe food additive?


Dr. Tobacman's research was reviewed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), an independent international group of expert toxicologists responsible for reviewing data and making recommendations related to food ingredients. "Their review of the study and carrageenan, including an assessment of the degradation of carrageenan, and public speculation about the" harmful effects of carrageenan on the gastrointestinal tract. ". Based on the evaluation results, the JECFA Committee determined that carrageenan research conducted on experimental animals contains a large amount of degraded carrageenan, and that food grade carrageenan is a safe food additive, with no restrictions on its use in food. These studies used a different form of carrageenan and were tested only at high usage levels. JECFA has determined that carrageenan is a safe food additive with no restrictions on its use in foods, and has "designated it as the most advantageous category of 'unspecified' acceptable daily intake (ADI). The EU has set an ADI of 0-75 mg/kg body weight, and allows its use as needed.".