carrageenan revisted (long!)

[Guest guest]

I'm resending this about carrageenan since it's come back up.

~Doh

 

Some bits about carrageenan... I retract my earlier assertion that it's

perfectly safe.... (Hope the links work. Taken from a post on Vegan

Message Boards, www.veganboard.com )

~Doh

 

The definition of carrageenan sounds innocent enoughŠ

car·ra·geen·an also car·ra·geen·in (k r -g n n)

n.

Any of a group of closely related colloids derived from Irish moss and

several other red algae, widely used as a thickening, stabilizing,

emulsifying, or suspending agent in industrial, pharmaceutical, and food

products.

carrageenan

n : a colloidal extract from carrageen seaweed and other red algae

 

Carrageenan is used commercially as an emulsifier and thickener in foods and

is also used to induce an inflammatory lesion when injected into

experimental animals (probably activates complement).

 

------

 

These are some articles regarding carrageenan.

Carrageenan may cause stomach lesions, cancer

Carrageenan May Cause Lesions In GI Tract, Or Cancer

CARRAGEENAN AND FURCELLARAN

Red Marine Algae Abstracts

Carrageenan may cause stomach lesions, cancer By Environmental News Network

 

IS CARRAGEENAN REALLY NATURAL?

Carrageenan is extracted from red seaweed by using powerful alkali solvents.

These solvents would remove the tissues and skin from your hands as readily

as would any acid.

Carrageenan is about as wholesome as monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is

extracted from rice, and can equally be considered natural. Aspartame

(NutraPoison) is also natural, as it is extracted from decayed plant matter

that has been underground for millions of years (oil). So too are many other

substances such as carrageenan that can also be classified by FDA and USDA

as wholesome and natural food additives.

Just because something comes from a natural source does not mean that it is

safe. The small black dots in the eyes of potatoes contain substances that

are instantly fatal if eaten. Got cyanide? You will if you eat the black

dots on the " eyes " of potatoes.

Carrageenan is a gel. It coats the insides of your stomach, like gooey honey

or massage oil. Digestive problems often ensue. Quite often, soy eaters or

soymilk drinkers react negatively to carrageenen, and blame their

discomforting stomachaches on the soy.

High weight molecular carrageenans are considered to be safe, and were given

GRAS status (safe for human consumption) by the FDA. Low weight carrageenans

are considered to be dangerous. Even SILK admits this.

Dr. Tobacman shared studies with me that demonstrate that digestive enzymes

and bacterial action convert high weight carrageenans to dangerous low

molecular weight carrageenans and poligeenans in the human gut. These

carrageenans have been linked to various human cancers and digestive

disorders. Again, I remind you that Tobacman's evidence and conclusions are

based upon human tissue samples, not animal studies.

I will cite additional information from four studies:

1) Filament Disassembly and Loss of Mammary Myoepithelia Cells after

Exposure to Carrageenan, Joanne Tobacman, Cancer Research, 57, 2823-2826,

July 15, 1997

2) Carrageenan-Induced Inclusions in Mammary Mycoepithelial Cells, Joanne

Tobacman, MD, and Katherine Walters, BS, Cancer Detection and Prevention,

25(6): 520-526 (2001)

3) Consumption of Carrageenan and Other Water-soluble Polymers Used as Food

Additives and Incidence of Mammary Carcinoma, J. K. Tobacman, R. B. Wallace,

M. B. Zimmerman, Medical Hypothesis (2001), 56(5), 589-598

4) Structural Studies on Carrageenan Derived Oligisaccharides, Guangli Yu,

Huashi Guan, Alexandra Ioanviciu, Sulthan Sikkander, Charuwan Thanawiroon,

Joanne Tobacman, Toshihiko Toida, Robert Linhardt, Carbohydrate Research,

337 (2002), 433-440

In her 1997 publication (1), Tobacman studied the effect of carrageenan on

the growth of cultured human mammary epithelial cells over a two week

period. She found that extremely low doses of carrageenan disrupted the

internal cellular architecture of healthy breast tissue, leading her to

conclude:

" The widely used food additive, carrageenan has marked effects on the growth

and characteristics of human mammary myoepithelial cells in tissue cultures

at concentrations much less than those frequently used in food products to

improve solubility. "

Tobacman continued her work by exposing low concentrations of carrageenan

for short intervals to human breast tissue (2), and observed pathological

alterations in cellular membranes and intracellular tissues. Tobacman wrote:

" These changes included prominence of membrane-associated vesicles that

coalesced to form unusual petal-like arrays...and development of stacked

rigid-appearing inclusions in the lysosomes that arose from the membranes of

the petal-like arrays and from smaller, dense spherical bodies that formed

clumps. "

In reporting a historical perspective, Tobacman revealed that carrageenan

has been found to destroy other human cells in tissue cultures, including

epithelial intestinal cells and prostate cells. She concludes:

" The association between exposure to low concentrations of carrageenan in

tissue culture and destruction of mammary myoepithelial cells may be

relevant to the occurrences of invasive mammary malignancy in vivo and

provides another approach to investigation of mammary carcinoma. "

Tobacman's third paper (3) explored the increased incidence of mammary

carcinoma to the increased consumption of stabilizers and additives such as

guar gum, pectin, xanthan, and carrageenan. While no relationship between

the either above named additives and cancer was observed, carrageenan showed

a strong positive.

Although high molecular weight carrageenans are considered to be safe,

Tobacman demonstrates that low molecular weight carrageenans are

carcinogenic.

She writes:

" Acid hydrolysis (digestion) leads to shortening of the carrageenan polymer

to the degraded form, poligeenan. It is not unreasonable to speculate that

normal gastric acid...may act upon ingested carrageenan and convert some of

which is ingested to the lower molecular weight poligeenan during the actual

process of digestion. Also, some intestinal bacteria possess the enzyme

carrageenase that degrades carrageenan. "

Tobacman's 2002 publication (4) proves her earlier hypothesis. She writes:

" Mild-acid hydrolytic depolymerization of carrageenan affords poligeenan, a

mixture of lower molecular weight polysaccharides and oligosaccharide

products. "

Tobacman is currently preparing and characterizing low molecular weight

poligeenans (carcinogenic) that have been extracted from human digestion

modalities. Her yet-to-be published data suggest that carrageenans are

dangerous for human consumption.

My advice: Read labels. If there is carrageenan in a product, select an

alternative.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, Doh! <dohdriver> wrote:

> I'm resending this about carrageenan since it's come back up.

> ~Doh

>

> Some bits about carrageenan... I retract my earlier assertion that

it's

> perfectly safe.... (Hope the links work. Taken from a post on

Vegan

> Message Boards, www.veganboard.com )

> ~Doh

 

Thanks for posting, Doh! I agree entirely that just because something

is natural (like arsenic!) doesn't mean it is safe or healthy.

However, I'm a little troubled that all of this research appears to

have been published in pretty obscure journals. Why hasn't it appeared

in Science or Nature? Proving that such a commonly used food additive

is carcinogenic should be front-page news ... why isn't it?

 

Be well, Hadass in Winnipeg