מתוך medeicontext.co.il
By Keith Mulvihill
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) – A number of studies have found that the widely used food additive carrageenan causes cancer in laboratory animals and, according to a new report, its use in human food should be reconsidered.
Although the studies have been conducted only in animals, "enough evidence exists about the cancer-causing effects of carrageenan to limit the use of the food additive," said Dr. Joanne K. Tobacman of the University of Iowa Health Care in Iowa City.
Carrageenan, an extract from red seaweed, is used in a variety of foods, such as milk products and processed meat as a thickener, stabilizer and texturizer. It can be found in products such as ice cream, whipped cream, pudding and yogurt, Dr. Tobacman told Reuters Health.
Dr. Tobacman reviewed the results of 45 previously published animal studies and found carrageenan to be associated with the formation of gastrointestinal ulcers and tumors. "Both undegraded as well as degraded forms of carrageenan are associated with malignancies," she said.
Her report is published in the October issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
Carrageenan, Dr. Tobacman explained, is taken up by intestinal cells rather easily, but the cells are unable to metabolize it. As carrageenan accumulates in cells it may cause them to breakdown, and over time this process could lead to ulceration, she noted.
"Ulceration," she added, "seems to be associated with the development of malignancies."
In 1972, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed limiting the type of carrageenan that could be used in food. But the regulatory effort was rescinded in 1979, Dr. Tobacman told Reuters Health.
"There has been no substantive review by the FDA of carrageenan since the studies undertaken more than two decades ago," she writes in her report. "However, there has been increased evidence regarding the cancer-promotion activity of undegraded carrageenan and further confirmation of the potential of degraded carrageenan."
Dr. Tobacman stressed that "people need to be informed about the potential risks that are associated with eating carrageenan based on animal studies."
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