we were just discussing carrageenan in AP bio yesterday! glad to know its safe!

Good to know

i've never heard of this before. good info!

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Wow, never even heard of this before. Good catch, Fit!

Thanks, Fit. Good info.

Um, to which studies are you referring that say this is safe? Even the non-degraded type has been linked to cancer:

Results of a study published in October 2001 suggest that carrageenan may not be as safe as once thought. Findings from animal studies and a review of the scientific literature showed that degraded forms of carrageenan can cause ulcerations and cancers of the gastrointestinal tract.

But Dr. Tobacman thinks that undegraded carrageenan - the kind most widely used as a food additive - might also be associated with malignancies and other stomach problems. She suggests that such factors as bacterial action, stomach acid and food preparation may transform undegraded carrageenan into the more dangerous degraded type. Dr. Tobacman's findings were published in the October 2001 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a branch of the National Institutes of Health.

Full article can be found here: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA44833

Please list your sources so we can follow up on the accuracy of claims!

I thought everyone knew that carrageenan was derived from seaweed. So many of our current food thickeners and texture modifiers are derived from seaweed or algae. Incredible stuff.

It's also the main ingredient in a sexual lubricant of the same name. Never used it...

As a food scientist, I've worked with carrageenan and lots of other thickeners. They're pretty impressive, and many can be used to replace fats in some foods, providing thickness and lubricity missing in low-fat products, so that you can still enjoy it like it's a full fat food.