Food Additive, Carrageenan, May Be Linked To Gastrointestinal Problems - RT Please

Carrageenan?  I've never heard of it.  Just something else to look out for in the ingredients.  

Doubts surface about common food additive's safety

By MONICA ENG

Chicago Tribune

April 18, 2013 12:00 AM

CHICAGO — Sara Baker says the light went on in her head after a cup of hot cocoa set off a storm in her stomach.

"I went back and looked at the package and there it was: carrageenan," said Baker, a career services coordinator from Bloomington in central Illinois.

Baker been taking medication for ulcerative colitis for years but still suffered debilitating digestive flare-ups without warning. She had read warnings about carrageenan in a natural health newsletter but didn't take them seriously.

This time, though, "it really clicked," she said of the ingredient, which researchers say has not been conclusively linked to gastrointestinal problems in humans. "It took awhile to learn just how many things it's in, but now that know, I can avoid it and I no longer have the problems."

Experiences like Baker's have led some people with gastrointestinal problems to sidestep mainstream medical advice and avoid carrageenan, a seaweed-derived texturizer found in meat, dairy and other processed foods — including some organic products.

For scientists, however, these are just anecdotes. Though studies on lab animals and human cells have suggested that carrageenan can cause gastrointestinal inflammation, many researchers and physicians say it's unclear whether it has the same impact on people who consume it.

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Chicago are seeking to address that question with a controlled clinical trial that Baker is participating in.

"I believe it's worth investigating and doing the science to find out," said Dr. Stephen Hanauer, a medical professor and chief of gastroenterology and nutrition at University of Chicago Medicine.

His co-researcher, UIC physician and professor Joanne Tobacman, has been looking at the health effects of carrageenan for more than a decade and is concerned enough to have petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2008 to prohibit the use of carrageenan in food.

Her petition cited decades of science, including her own, on carrageenan-induced inflammation in animals and cells. In June, the FDA responded with a letter of denial.

"It was disappointing that with such clear evidence about the effects of carrageenan on inflammation, the FDA did not restrict the use of carrageenan, particularly in infant formula," Tobacman said.

The additive, which lends a uniform, creamy texture to food, can be found in soy milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheeses, some meats, diet soft drinks and even toothpaste.

Michael Adams, deputy director of the FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety, said the petition did not make a compelling case to re-examine the safety of carrageenan. "It has been reviewed repeatedly by FDA scientists and other international organizations, and in the judgment of those experts there hasn't been a problem," he said.

Adams called a rat study from 2006 "the gold standard for us because it exactly mimics the exposure consumers are going to get when they eat these carrageenan-containing foods."

That study was funded and performed by a manufacturer of carrageenan.

Adams said he didn't know that but added: "If you look at the science and you believe it's well done it doesn't matter where the money comes from."

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog group, on released a report on carrageenan called "How a Natural Food Additive Is Making Us Sick."

Charlotte Vallaeys, Cornucopia's director of food policy, said the group felt "an ethical obligation" to raise awareness. "If government agencies weren't going to protect consumers, then it seemed we needed to let consumers know about this so they could protect themselves."

The institute also is challenging the FDA's denial of Tobacman's petition. Among other objections, Cornucopia's letter to the agency asks why officials did not consider any studies on carrageenan published in the last four years.

Adams said the FDA's scientific evaluation in response to the petition was finished in May 2009, after which it spent more than three years in what he calls the "administrative chain."

Regarding infant formula, Adams said Europe takes a different approach to food additives than the U.S., sometimes banning a substance when toxicity studies raise concerns but are not conclusive.

"The Europeans do their business that way but we don't," he said. "We would base it more on the science we have rather than waiting for science to be developed."

While the Chicago researchers proceed with their work and advocates seek federal action, some consumers and activists have made an impact on their own by lobbying manufacturers directly to phase out the ingredient.

Last month Stonyfield joined a number of manufacturers who have removed or have pledged to remove carrageenan from their organic products. Organic Valley says it has removed the ingredient from most food items but is still working on reformulations for soy milk, chocolate milk and one version of its whipping cream.

A representative of the organic dairy company Horizon Organic and soy milk maker Silk (each majority owned by Dean Foods) said both view carrageenan as safe and would not comment on any plans to remove it.

The U.S. National Organic Standards Board reapproved the use of carrageenan in most organic foods last year but decided to prohibit its use in organic infant formula. (WHAT????

Carrageenan manufacturers, the FDA, the United Nations food additives committee and some scientists say it is safe, as evidenced by centuries of use.

Still, many gastroenterologists are not convinced carrageenan is dangerous.

"There are some studies in rats and mice showing that carrageenan exposure can lead to GI inflammation that mimics things like Crohn's" disease, said Dr. Sunanda Kane, a Mayo Clinic physician and medical adviser to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. "But it's never been shown on human tissue in humans walking around."

Over the last 50 years, incidence of inflammatory bowel disease has risen as people eat more processed food, Kane said. "But is it carrageenan or that we don't exercise or have lots of other additives and preservatives or fructose in our food supply?"

In Hanauer and Tobacman's study, people whose ulcerative colitis is in remission are being put on a carrageenan-free diet, then given either a controlled dose of carrageenan or a placebo.

So far, the research has been hampered by low volunteer rates — currently, fewer than 20 subjects. Hanauer notes that the prospect of re-inflaming one's inactive ulcerative colitis is not particularly attractive.

But Baker, who was one of more than 120 people who responded when Cornucopia asked to hear from those with carrageenan-related digestive problems, said she was willing to go through it to help establish human science on the topic.

"I believe there are people who are as sick as I was, or even worse, who need this information," she said.

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American Food - Could Additives, Hormones, Toxic Chemicals That Are Added to Our Food Be Causing IBD?

I agree with most of this writers thoughts on what you put in your body will effect how it runs. Of course! One way to know that this is right on, is just look at your parents or grandparents. They don't have digestive issues ( cant say that for everyone.. but the majority of people with IBD are the young when it begins.) Also , I never remember having kids in my class when I was in elementary school with jacked up stomach issues. Yes, we all had the usual puker that would hurl right at his desk .... that's vile I know, but that's not IBD. I'm curious as to how many , approximately how many children in grade school are diagnosed with a digestive problem per class. So sad.

I don't agree with the writer's  opinion that all people with a digestive disease will eventually end up getting cancer.  That's not true.  What is true, is that the person with Crohn's or UC have higher chances of getting cancer.  Also people with Crohn's and UC can live a long healthy life once they find a treatment that is effective for them, screen regularly, have surgeries if necesary, live a healthy life with exercise and the proper diet and most of all staying in tune with your body.

                                          
The Question:  Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, IBS and IBD: Are They Really Diseases?
Absolutely.... I do believe that the disease is pushed into full effect because of the diet .  People ignore the body when it reacts to something negatively.  Making no changes to your diet when everytime you eat pizza, you get sick, and like a fool, you continue to eat the freaking cheesy delicious pizza, well eventually the body will get sicker and sicker & that's when you make an appointment and get your diagnosis.  It also doesn't help much that doctors don't believe diet is the cause.  That's just ignorant.  I have had very little encouragement from doctors to change my diet.  If I didn't restrict foods and adhere to a strict diet, I'd be so so so ill.
Another point that these diseases are real and not allergies, is that when you eliminate the allergen,  people remain sick. Take MAP for example... It's the bacteria that's highly resistant that comes from cows milk and is said to be a possible cause of Crohn's.  A high % of people w/ Crohn's , had the MAP bacteria in their body.  

Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, IBS and IBD: Are They Really Diseases or Just Allergies to Chemically Tainted Food

This is a guest article by Mannie Barling and Ashley F. Brooks.
It is undeniable that there has been a marked, if not alarming increase, in the number of Americans diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowl syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease in the last two decades.
It is also undeniable that the increase in statistics coincides with the increase of factory farms and the introduction of genetically modified produce as well as the increased use of Monsanto’s Roundup pesticides, bovine growth hormones and daily doses of antibiotics.
Not surprisingly, the increase in obesity among Americans, particularly among our youth, has erupted into an epidemic proportion following the same time line as the introduction of factory farming and the increase in synthetic chemical sweeteners and preservatives.
Multinational corporations, already profiting from the increased illness and disease in America by selling prescription and over the counter drugs, have no interest in addressing the underlying causes because to do so would reduce their bottom line profits.
To make matters worse, many American corporations, especially Monsanto, are in an unholy partnership with the U. S. Government to participate in the profits from the sale of drugs and the production of genetically modified foods that harm Americans.
The increase in Crohn’s, IBS and IBD are directly related to a person’s individual food sensitivity to the chemicals found in processed, packaged and farmed foods, including meat and poultry.  These chemicals include but are not limited to Roundup pesticides, rGBH, antibiotics, nitrates, MSG, Maltodextrin, carcinogenic caramel food coloring and incredible amounts of genetically modified soy and corn byproducts.
MSG, genetically modified soy and corn are in every package.  They are used as cheap fillers and to enhance the flavor of flavorless genetically modified foods.
A simple look at the ingredient’s label of a frozen food item will disclose as many as 150 different chemicals on the package.  And where the label includes artificial or natural flavoring, those flavorings contain up to 300 different esters (artificial chemicals) that are not required to be listed on the package.  Why?  Because they are protected by the trade secrets of multinational corporations.
Our grandmothers didn’t have to put more than 150 ingredients into the food they served our families to make them yummy.  Most Americans don’t have more than 20 spices in their spice cabinet.  I doubt that you can find one American that can name more than 50 ingredients in their food, let alone 150.
Yet, American food manufacturers faced with tasteless genetically modified ingredients are compelled to add these chemical ingredients to fool your taste buds not only into buying their food but to become addicted to it.
As we note in our books, Doritos has more than 39 ingredients in their recipe.  Yet, you only need three ingredients to make chips at home.  So, what are the other 36 ingredients?  Chemicals, chemicals and more chemicals.
Pepsi and Coke finally acknowledge that the synthetic caramel coloring in their soft drinks is carcinogenic and have planned removal of these ingredients by the summer of 2012.  Now if the industry will only acknowledge the dangers of high fructose corn syrup and remove it from their soft drinks, the world could be a safer place to eat and drink.
For people with digestive diseases and syndromes, these chemicals upset their stomachs, inflame their colons, irritate their bowels and eventually lead to colon cancer.  If you total up all of the chemicals off the ingredients labels on the packages of food you eat daily, you may find that you are eating and drinking the equivalent of five to six ounces of chemicals a day.
If you drink sugary soft drinks, that number may increase to as many as 20 ounces of some form of chemicals daily.  Just imagine pouring yourself a tall glass of chilled chemicals every day and ask yourself what are they doing to your body?
Then ask yourself, how many days, weeks, months and years can you drink eight to 20 ounces of chemicals a day before it rots your insides out, causes Crohn’s, IBS, IBD, heart disease, diabetes or leads to cancer?
It is simple math that, when applied to infant children, is even more alarming.  The ingredients of baby food now contain the same dangerous chemicals that adult food contain.  Only, starting a child on chemicals almost immediately after birth has far reaching consequences on the future of our society.  The recent increase in childhood maladies is dramatic proof of this.
Additional proof can be found in research conducted by UC Davis scientists found in an article in the Los Angeles Times, Groundwater Nitrate Contamination Grows in California Farm Areas, that cites nitrate pollution leaching into aquifers from fertilizers and manure applied to cropland as the cause of high levels of nitrate linked to cancer and reproductive disorders that can be lethal to infants.
The research also pointed out the long term danger when it said, “Because it can take years or decades for nitrate to migrate through aquifers, the authors warned that the effects of the rising volume of manure may not be evident for some time.”
Our water is polluted.  Our food is polluted.  And over time, our bodies will be polluted with these chemicals resulting in illness and disease.  For Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowl syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease sufferers, it is a prescription for pain, suffering and ultimately colon cancer.
If you doubt it, go to various websites, including the CDC, FDA and other more independent sites, and chart the increases in these illnesses and diseases from 1994 until 2011.  The numbers are increasing exponentially and are projected to increase even more dramatically in the next 25 years.
The only way to reverse this trend is to eat organic foods and demand that the U.S. government require full and complete disclosure of chemicals in the labels found on foods sold in markets.  True disclosure will enable Americans to make their own decisions and not let our government, twisted and turned by political contributions and legalized bribes, make those decisions for us.
To do otherwise will be to condemn our children and grandchildren to a shorter life punctuated by obesity, illness and disease.
Mannie Barling and Ashley F. Brooks are the authors of the award winning books – Arthritis, Inflammation, Gout, Crohn’s, IBD and IBS (Books and Authors 2010 Best Books in the Health, Diet & Reference Categories); Mannie’s Diet and Enzyme Formula (Blogger News Net 2010 Best Health And Nutrition Book Award winner); It’s Not Your Fault; and The Food Revolution Papers  –  available at HowToEliminatePain.com, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other booksellers around the world.