by Noah Barfield…age 12
Noah has a blog site located at: http://crazygoggles.com/ After his parents attended one of our classes where we spoke about the dangers of aspartame and msg, Noah hear about it and decided to do some research of his own. He posted the information on his blog to share with other children. Check it out.
After reading his blogs, I asked him if he would do some research on carrageenan. Here’s what he submitted.
Negatives/Health Concerns of Carrageenan
Carrageenans can form a variety of gels at room temperature. They are
widely used in food as thickening and stabilizing agents. They thing under
shear stress, and recover their viscosity once the stress is removed.
Carrageenans are extracted from red seaweed. Studies show that degraded
carrageenan (also known as poligeenan) may cause ulcerations in the
gastro-intestinal tract. While it may also cause gastro-intestinal cancer
which refers to malignant conditions in the gastro-intestinal tract as
well as the esophagus, stomach, liver, biliary system, pancreas, bowels
and anus. And for those of you who do not know what malignancy, it is the
tendency of a medical condition (especially tumors) to become
progressively worse and to potentially result in death. The specific
malignancy of the gastro-intestinal cancer is gastro-intestinal stromal
tumors, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer (also called gastric cancer),
liver cancer (also called hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC and hepatoma),
gallbladder cancer, pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer (also called
colon cancer, bowel cancer and rectal cancer) and anal cancer. For that to
happen, poligeenan must be subjected to high temperatures and acidity. Yes
this may all happen to you, but there are benefits. Let me list those for
The benefits are Deserts, ice cream, milk shakes, sweetened condensed
milk, sauces: gel to increase viscosity, Beer: clarifier to remove
Pâtés and processed meat: Substitute fat to increase water retention and
increase volume, Toothpaste: stabilizer to prevent constituents
separating, Fruit Gushers: ingredient in the encapsulated gel. Fire
fighting foam: thickener to cause foam to become sticky, Shampoo and
cosmetic creams: thickener Air freshener gels
Marbling: the ancient art of paper and fabric marbling uses a carrageenan
mixture to float paints or inks upon; the paper or fabric is then laid on
it, absorbing the colors.
Shoe polish: gel to increase viscosity Biotechnology: gel to immobilize
cells/enzymes Pharmaceuticals: used as an inactive excipient in
pills/tablets Carrageenan: used to thicken skim milk, in an attempt to
emulate the consistency of whole milk.
(Note: This usage did not become popular) It is used in some brands of soy
milk Diet sodas and Pet food. It was also used for “The Alien” saliva
(movie effects from the movie), Personal lubricants. Lambda carrageenan is
used in animal models of inflammation used to test analgesics, because
dilute carrageenan solution (1–2%) injected subcutaneously causes swelling
and pain. And shaving ham sold at restaurants and commercial delis.
Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan>
Yes those are the positives and the negatives of carrageenans. Or more
accurately, the health concerns and the uses for carrageenan. But those
are both the major positive and negatives of carrageenan. But we haven’t
even got to allergies yet! Carrageenan (in milk, chocolate and related
things) has caused your basic stomach discomfort with smelly gas. That is
for the people who are allergic to carrageenan. That is the simple
observation after searching for the allergic reactions to carrageenan.
When subjected to high temperatures and acidity, carrageenan is deadly.
When it is deadly, it is called poligeenan. When deadly, it leads to
gastro-intestinal cancer. Along with gastro-intestinal cancer, it can
cause many numerous cancers as well. Those are listed above. But when left
in it’s natural state, carrageenan is almost harmless. It is the tampering
made to carrageenan that makes it deadly. Carrageenan is in many products,
including coffee creamer. Because it is in coffee creamer, it becomes
deadly because it is subjected to high temperatures and acidity. So the
When in it’s natural state, carrageenan is fine.
When altered, carrageenan becomes poligeenan and becomes fatal and can
result in death.