Carrageenan-- hidden MSG and cancer causing?

[essnce629]

I just got the book Super Natural Home by Beth Greer and I love it. She has a chapter about food additives and she lists all the sources of hidden MSG. Carrageenan is listed as being an ingredient that "may contain MSG or that may creat MSG during processing." I've seen carrageenan listed on other sources as being a hidden source of MSG as well and that it's often used in reduced fat milk. So I checked my dairy products and non-dairy "milk" drinks and sure enough it's in my Trader Joe's Soy Essential soy milk, Pacific Natural Foods oat milk, and in my Clover organic lowfat cottage cheese (the only brand that is also Humane Certified)!!! Ugh! DS1 was dairy-free for 3 years, and then nut-free, and really likes his oat milk. He's back to eating regular dairy products now, but doesn't like the taste of regular milk. A lot of the non-dairy drinks seem to contain carrageenan.

I did a quick google search and came across this:

Review of Harmful Gastrointestinal Effects of Carrageenan in Animal Experiments

Because of the acknowledged carcinogenic properties of degraded carrageenan in animal models and the cancer-promoting effects of undegraded carrageenan in experimental models, the widespread use of carrageenan in the Western diet should be reconsidered.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242073/


It looks like they use it to induce colon inflammation/cancer in rats!

The anti-inflammatory effect of the drug, etoricoxib was also validated by a carrageenan-induced inflammation in rat model....
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20204254


But then I found this and it seems like the food-grade version doesn't degrade and should be ok? I'm not sure.

A critical review of the toxicological effects of carrageenan and processed eucheuma seaweed on the gastrointestinal tract.
Carrageenan is not degraded to any extent in the gastrointestinal tract and is not absorbed from it in species examined, such as rodents, dogs, and non-human primates.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12389870


Looks like they're currently doing a study on the "Effects of Carrageenan-Elimination Diet on Ulcerative Colitis Disease Activity."
The study hypothesis is that withdrawal of carrageenan will lead to a longer, relapse free interval in patients with ulcerative colitis.
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01065571


And it looks like they're looking into using it as an adjuvant for vaccines!
Carrageenan as an adjuvant to enhance peptide-based vaccine potency.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20541583


Has anyone done any research into carrageenan? Thoughts? Does anyone avoid products that have it listed as one of the ingredients?

[mambera]

I took a quick look at your first review. They helpfully summarize all the studies in their review in a table. Most of them use degraded carrageenan. The small number that used undegraded carrageenan did not generally have significant neoplastic effects. Also they say the TD50 for a 60-kg individual would be 138.6 g of degraded carrageenan, and that a typical intake would be more like 10 g/d for an individual over 2 y/o.

I have to say that I don't really feel too worried about carrageenan in my diet based on this article. BUT it is an artificial thickener that is used almost exclusively in processed foods, which I try to avoid for a multitude of reasons besides carrageenan.

If you're worried about your DS' exposure why don't you calculate his daily intake from the label on your oat milk? That should help you decide whether you need to cut down.

[essnce629]

Originally Posted by mambera

If you're worried about your DS' exposure why don't you calculate his daily intake from the label on your oat milk? That should help you decide whether you need to cut down.

How would I do that? It just lists carrageenan in the ingredient list, it doesn't say how many grams it has or anything. He doesn't drink massive amounts of oat milk-- probably about 4oz a day. And he eats cottage cheese several times a week.