Carageenen: a Natural Product Found in Surprising Places and Why it is Concerning.

Carrageenan, it’s found in your almond milk, your favorite ice cream and even your organic deli meat. Well, what is it? Carrageenan is a natural thickener derived from seaweed. Great! A natural ingredient! Yet, this natural ingredient may be an unwitting contributor toward our western society’s epidemic of inflammatory diseases.

Regardless of your position on animal testing, the following information may be a bit disturbing. The other industry use of Carrageenan is to induce colitis (inflammation of the colon) and paw edema in rats for clinical trials on those conditions. In fact this use is so common that it is used as a model of inflammation in medical text books and titled, “Carrageenan induced paw edema in the rat”. (Whiteley)

Some scientists have proposed that Carrageenan achieves these effects by promoting a reaction between your intestinal wall and your immune cells, creating inflammation.  (Jiang H.Y, Wang F., Chen H.M et al.) This interaction can help promote a condition called Intestinal Hyperpermiablilty (Commonly known as “leaky gut”). While I may go further into detail on “leaky gut” at a later date, this condition has been linked to almost every Autoimmune disorder you can think of.

While very few studies in humans have been conducted, this ingredient which so obviously causes effects in rats has been approved by the FDA and since it is technically a natural product, is allowed in natural and organic products depending on labeling. In order for this to be studied more in depth, there has to be a demand by consumers. So please avoid Carrageenan wherever possible. For a comprehensive list of foods containing carrageenan and alternatives see: http://www.cornucopia.org/shopping-guide-to-avoiding-organic-foods-with-carrageenan/

Consumers think they are safe if a product is labeled, “All natural”, but be sure to read the ingredients list of any product even if organic. Most organic foods are created by companies owned by larger corporation, many of which only care about technicalities and not true healthy products. Here is a great graphic from TakePart.com on which corporations own which organic companies:

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/09/09/general-mills-buys-annies-homegrown

If there is an ingredient on a label that you don’t recognize, take a few seconds to look it up on your phone. You may be saving yourself and your family some health issues in the long run.

References:

“Shopping Guide to Avoiding Organic Foods with Carrageenan – Cornucopia Institute.” Cornucopia Institute. N.p., 9 Sept. 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

Blackmore, Willie “General Mills Buys Annie’s Homegrown”, Take Part. 9 Sept. 2014. Web. 28 Sept. 2015

Jiang H.Y, Wang F., Chen H.M. Yan X.J., “κ-carrageenan induces the disruption of intestinal epithelial Caco-2 monolayers by promoting the interaction between intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells.”.  Mol Med Rep. 2013 Dec;8(6):1635-42. doi: 10.3892/mmr.2013.1726. Epub 2013 Oct 14.

Whiteley, P. E. and Dalrymple, S. A. 2001. Models of Inflammation: Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema in the Rat. Current Protocols in Pharmacology. 00:5.4:5.4.1–5.4.3.