My daughter loves her ice cream.But fortunately frozen desserts don’t work for her.Any thing with vegetable oil in it (chocolate,ice cream etc) may cause problems for her. This we found out the hard way.

When Summer comes you can’t stop the ice cream cravings.I love ice cream.But it comes with its own share of troubles.Besides the calories,sugar and artificialcolours ,commercial ice cream items has thickener added to it .That thickener causes the ice cream to stay solid even in less than perfect conditions.

But luckily for us Amul India went to court and got the right definition for ice cream and frozen dessert properly explained.

My daughter can gulp down Amul ice cream with no trouble at all.But we strictly ration ice cream trips because even our favorite brand of commercial ice cream contains ingredients which we may not want inside us.Today I am going to talk about one such food additives. It’s a thickener .

What’s the name of this thickener?

It’s called Carrageenan.If you didn’t know it’s a common chemical agent .Carrageenan,is made from red seaweed, is added to make the cold ice cream creamy.It’s mostly used in dairy products but may also be added to sauces ,jellies,jams etc. Stabilizer 407 or E407 is its name.

3 Ingredients Easy Home Made Ice Cream

As I promised ,for the three ingredients home made ice cream you need

1.Amul cream:Doesn’t list Carrageenan as an ingredient.

2.Honey or jaggery

3.Flavour of your choice.I used Almond butter,vanilla extract and chocolate shavings .

Whip them all together using an automatic hand blender or a manual one.I whipped the cream for 20 minutes.Then froze it .

Freeze for 30 minutes covered.Whip again
Freeze overnight and eat it .I poured it in small disposeable paper cups (ones you use for the office coffee ) and needless to say it was a hit.

Why is Carrageenan bad?

It decreases the cellular integrity of the gut wall and changes the permeability changes of the gut.That can make your gut have many problems .Carrageenan is a class of food additives which is classified as a GRAS or generally recognized as safe for human consumption.But many studies over the years since 1980 s have found them linked to gastrointestinal problems,inflammations and allergies.The problem is,they are hidden under cover of regular ingredient and are hard to spot.

Carrageenan changes the intestinal microflora.This destroys the mucosal barrier causing leaky junctions between cells. They make the gut wall leak large molecules including proteins,triggering immune response.Carrageenan also directly activate our body’s inflammatory cells .This leads to colitis and inflammatory bowel disease

Which food commonly contain Carrageenan?

Since Carrageenan is a GRAS or generally recognized as safe for human consumption,it’s use and presence in food products is never advertised or given prominence. But the ingredient list on the product packaging will mention E407.Be a smart consumer and check the product information label carefully before buying.

• Nut and soy milks,
• protein shakes and powders
• Pre-made packaged chocolate milk,cold coffee
• Frozen yogurt
• Popsicles,
• Frozen pre-cooked prepared meals
• Most ice cream
• infant formula.
• Cottage cheese
• Creamers
• Vegan cheeses
• Nondairy desserts
• Meat products
• Jams,Jellies,Jelly lozenge
• Ready made puddings,custards ,custard powder
• Ready made cakes and cake mixes
• Sauces
• Some pet foods
• Even Toothpaste

This list is not complete and occasional ice cream or Carrageenan containing product will hardly cause trouble.But if you have a sensitive gut and suffer sudden bouts of bowel trouble ,you would definitely want to check what you are eating.Its common practice to talk about gluten sensitivity,lactose intolerance but few check the hidden ingredients.

What is the effect of Carrageenan?

Though Carrageenan is “natural”,it’s effects are not something you would want in your body.These effects include .

• Inflammation
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Unknown food allergies often occurring randomly
• Bloating
• Glucose intolerance
• Colon cancer

In 2016, the American National Organic Standards Board voted to remove carrageenan from their approved list.

Carrageenan is usually categorized in emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and gelling agents.

Remember that carrageenan-free plant based milks may separate. You just need to shake it well and it should be ,just as good.Carrageenan has no nutritional utility and not having it in your diet is a smart move .Avoiding Carrageenan is as easy as making your own almond milk or skipping products with this additives.I prefer to keep a look out on things which may slip under the radar when it comes to allergies.If it’s not proven safe by people who don’t have a commercial interest, I do the research.After all its a multi million dollar industry and we all know what happens when it’s a question of economics .

Resource list

Food-grade carrageenans and their implications in health and disease

Fang Liu et al. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf. 2021 Jul.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34146449/

Guo J, Shang X, Chen P, Huang X. How does carrageenan cause colitis? A review. Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Feb 15;302:120374. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120374. Epub 2022 Nov 21. PMID: 36604052.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36604052/

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