Carrageenan and your gut microflora

(NaturalNews) Carrageenan is a "natural" food additive derived from red seaweed and processed with a chemical to neutralize its acidity. Introduced to the food industry in the 1930s, carrageenan is a popular ingredient added to foods as a thickening agent to improve the texture and solubility of products. This product has been shown to alter the gut microflora and weaken the body's immune system.

The chemical structure of carrageenan can contain up to 40 percent of a sulfur compound. For this reason the degraded form of carrageenan is not allowed for use in the food industry due its known inflammatory effects in animal testing. Once the natural form of carrageenan is degraded, by contact with an acid for example, the sulfur component of carrageenan becomes unstable and reactive.

You may be asking yourself, if an acid will alter the natural form of carrageenan so that it becomes reactive, wouldn't stomach acid trigger this same effect? That is a great question that one would hope the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would have already accounted for. Carrageenan has been listed as a substance generally recognized as safe (GRAS) since 1973.

Carrageenan weakens the immune system

Although the biological pathways by which carrageenan disrupts normal and health sustaining functions, such as regulating insulin, consistent findings support that it results in a harmful immune response.

Carrageenan resembles a naturally occurring sulfate compound in our bodies that is involved with enzyme function in our intestines. With carrageenan receiving all of the attention, normal cell function and regulation is altered when normal activity by our very own enzymes becomes inhibited.

Possibly due to its high reactivity, carrageenan can interfere with a healthy immune response by altering the body's natural army front of antibodies. Antibodies send signals warning our immune system that a foreign invader has entered and to attack. An unhealthy immune response can lead to inflammation of the gastrointestinal system causing a variety of complications.

Carrageenan alters intestinal microflora

Due to the variations in people's intestinal microflora, or bacteria contained in the gut, researchers suggests that the additive may promote inflammation by altering the type of bacteria present following the consumption of carrageenan. Symptoms associated with altered bacteria concentrations within the gut include inflammatory colon polyps and abnormal tissue growth which can be signs of a more serious health problem.

Studies even propose that the body exhibits the same response to carrageenan as it does to a bacterial infection from Salmonella and its development of disease.

Foods containing carrageenan

Carrageenan does not add nutritional content or flavor to products. Most foods that contain the suspicious additive are nonfat, low fat or fat free foods lacking the manufacturer's desired texture for the food product.

The following is a list of food sources that commonly contain carrageenan. Which foods did you find list the additive in your kitchen?

• Milk products including almond, rice, soy and even coconut milk
• Cottage cheese
• Ice-cream
• Yogurt
• Frozen dinners
• Organic Juice
• Frozen pizza
• Deli meats such as sliced turkey
• Canned soups
• Sour cream
• Processed sauces and dip mixes
• Infant formula
• Nutritional shakes

Sources:

Bhattacharyya S, Liu H, et al. Carrageenan-Induced Innate Immune Response is Modified by Enzymes that Hydrolyze Distinct Galactosidic Bonds. J Nutr Biochem. 2011 Oct;21(10):906-913. PMCID: 2888704

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2888704/

The Cornucopia Institute: Carrageenan: How a "Natural" food Additive is Making Us Sick http://www.cornucopia.org

Yang B, et al. Exposure to common food additive carrageenan leads to reduces sulfatase activity and increase in sulfated glycosaminoglycans in human epithelial cells. Biochimie. 2012 Jun;94(6):1309-1316. DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2012.02.031

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3495619/

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Seaweed Suspect http://www.research.va.gov/currents/feb13/feb13-06.cfm

Necas J, and Bartosikova L. Carrageenan: a review. Veterinarni Medicina. 2013;58(4):187-205. http://vri.cz/docs/vetmed/58-4-187.pdf

Tobacman JK. Review of harmful gastrointestinal effects of carrageenan in animal experiments. Environ Health Perspect. 2001 Oct;109(10):983-994. PMCID: 1242073

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242073/

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Database of Select Committee on GRAS Substances (SCOGS) Reviews: Carrageenan http://www.accessdata.fda.gov

The Cornucopia Institute: Shopping Guide to Avoiding Organic Foods with Carrageenan http://www.cornucopia.org

About the author:
Dr David Jockers is a Maximized Living doctor and owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Georgia where he specializes in functional nutrition, functional medicine and corrective chiropractic care to get to the underlying cause of major health problems.

His website features great articles on natural health and incredible recipes. He is the author of the best-selling book SuperCharge Your Brain - the complete guide to radically improve your mood, memory and mindset. He has over 50,000 active followers on his social media and email newsletter and is a big influencer in the Primal Health movement.

Dr. Jockers is also available for long distance consultations and health coaching to help you beat disease and reach your health goals. For more information got to www.drjockers.com