Is Carrageenan Safe or Dangerous?
Undenatured carrageenan is a natural stabilizer, binding
agent, and emulsifier used in products such as toothpaste in place of SLS and other truly
undesirable ingredients commonly used in mass market products. It is also used
in some vegan-friendly softgel capsule material as an alternative to
animal-derived gelatin.
There is an Internet myth that carrageenan is unsafe; due
primarily to confusion with a so-called “denatured carrageenan” polymer that is
actually poligeenan, a heavily processed low molecular weight seaweed
derivative currently used only as an x-ray imaging component. Poligeenan, previously used
in pharmaceuticals, is quite different from the undenatured high molecular
weight material that we use. Due to the safety concerns over poligeenan,
regulations routinely require the carrageenan added to foods to have high
molecular weight to ensure its integrity. But there are no unresolved safety
concerns with undenatured carrageenan.
Carrageenan has been thoroughly vetted
by national and international public health authorities over a number of
decades, even recently in response to the ongoing blogger-driven controversies,
so there is no remaining basis of concern. Even its use in infant formulas was
recently reconfirmed to be safe, and it’s helpful in distributing the nutrients
more evenly to avoid the settling out that could otherwise cause uneven
nutrient intake when a bottle is only partially consumed.
After repeated
investigations, the evidence for carrageenan safety is stronger than ever.
Carrageenan is extremely safe and present in a number of healthy seaweeds; only
the denatured form of carrageenan - a drug - is toxic.
References:
· Public
health and carrageenan regulation: a review and analysis. Borowitzka et al.
(eds.), Nineteenth International Seaweed Symposium. DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4020-9619-8_8. Developments in Applied Phycology.