Although food additives have always been the focus of attention of parents, many people may still be relatively unfamiliar with carrageenan. So what exactly is carrageenan? What harm may it cause if you eat it?
Carrageenan is a hydrophilic colloid extracted from red seaweed. In fact, like gelatin, it is used as thickener, stabilizer, adhesive and emulsifier by the food industry to "improve" the texture.
As a ubiquitous food additive in processed foods, carrageenan is ubiquitous, including baked goods, dairy products, sauces and meat products. Children's favorite cheese, ice cream, chocolate and pudding, etc., also have carrageenan.
Originally from Ireland, this food additive has been used in the European Union for a long time, but up to now, no regulatory agency has explicitly declared carrageenan safe.
Controversial experiments show that carrageenan can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort.
So many foods are using this additive. Is it really as safe as everyone seems? Actually, it is not.
According to public reports, in the past few decades, researchers have successfully proved the possible risks of food-grade carrageenan in many aspects. There are about 3,855 scientific papers in the world showing that carrageenan can cause inflammation and cancer risk. Animal experiments also show that food-grade carrageenan can cause gastrointestinal inflammation and high-frequency intestinal injuries, ulcers, and even malignant tumors. Many consumers who experience gastrointestinal discomfort symptoms such as flatulence, stomachache, and severe inflammation find that the symptoms have improved significantly after removing carrageenan from their diet.
In fact, carrageenan can be divided into two types, degradable and non-degradable, but no matter which one, some related researchers have expressed some concerns about its application and admitted that both of them may have adverse effects.
The European Food Science Committee reviewed the safety data of carrageenan and concluded that food-grade carrageenan was unsafe unless the content of degraded carrageenan in food-grade carrageenan was kept at the lowest level, that is, below 5%. This decision prompted the industry to conduct laboratory tests on food-grade carrageenan, but the results showed that almost no food-grade carrageenan samples could meet this requirement.
Read the composition list carefully and "jump out" from the fire pit in time.
In the face of such a controversial food additive, what is the secret of Bao Baba Bao Ma's rapid identification of carrageenan components?
It's very simple. When choosing food for children at home, we must carefully read and study the ingredient label on the food. If the word "carrageenan" is involved, our parents will pay attention to it in time and stop buying food containing carrageenan, even if it is a big brand, we must resolutely abandon it.
The application scope of carrageenan is getting wider and wider, which gives people the feeling that it is impossible to prevent. However, in order to prevent the baby from getting sick from the mouth, Bao Baba and Bao Ma still need to play an active role to strengthen prevention. Nowadays, the whole society has a long way to go to prevent and supervise food safety. As parents, we should build a "firewall" for children's health.