Carra what, again?

It's carrageenan.What is?

A thickener commonly added to milks of all types (dairy and plant-based). Research has potentially implicated it as a cause of inflammation in the body, gastrointestinal disease, and also diabetes. A brief overview can be found in the Wikipedia; Below, I included an abbreviated version of the abstract from a recent paper implicating carrageenan as a cause of diabetes.

However, the jury is still out. A recent video from Dr. Greger http://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-carrageenan-safe/ comes down on the side of it's okay. I think it might be one of those things that affects  people with a predisposition towards inflammation, or leaky gut while heartier others are fine. Since part of my reasoning for a vegan diet was because I want a low-inflammation diet, I'm choosing to avoid it.

By some odd luck, it's not in the brand of Almond milk we drink (Whole Foods 365 brand of Almond Milk). It's in every other almond milk I've looked at, and it's many soy milk brands.  I found Eden Foods unsweetened doesn't have it so we switched to that brand. It's in my favorite vegan ice cream so I'm going to learn to make a homemade version (in a little while after we get settled.) It's also in the soymilk at Starbucks, so I know have a big incentive to limit my consumption of Starbucks. If I'm traveling, I won't worry too much about it, but I'll limit it when I can.

(It's in some "fake meats" and I'm trying to avoid those. The girls read labels and help me at the store when I explain why we're avoiding certain ingredients. I remember when Kira was 6 and she refused to eat a granola bar because it had high fructose corn syrup in it. That's my girl!)

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The study on carrageenan and diabetes:  Bhattacharyya S, O-Sullivan I, Katyal S, Unterman T and Tobacman JK (2012) Exposure to the common food additive carrageenan leads to glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and inhibition of insulin signalling in HepG2 cells and C57BL/6J mice. Diabetologia 55(1): 194-203

Abstract

Aims/hypothesis

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the common food additive carrageenan (E407) on glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and insulin signalling in a mouse model and human hepatic cells, since carrageenan is known to cause inflammation through interaction with toll-like receptor (TLR)4, which is associated with inflammation in diabetes.

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Results

Glucose tolerance was significantly impaired in carrageenan-treated 12-week-old mice compared with untreated controls at all time points (n = 12; p  < 0.0001). Baseline insulin and insulin levels at 30 min after taking glucose during the GTT were significantly higher following carrageenan treatment. 

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Conclusion

This is the first report of the impact of carrageenan on glucose tolerance and indicates that carrageenan impairs glucose tolerance, increases insulin resistance and inhibits insulin signalling in vivo in mouse liver and human HepG2 cells. These effects may result from carrageenan-induced inflammation. The results demonstrate extra-colonic manifestations of ingested carrageenan and suggest that carrageenan in the human diet may contribute to the development of diabetes.