Is Carrageenan giving you diarrhea, bloating, gas and just aggravating your IBS or SIBO symptoms? Carrageenan is known to cause intestinal inflammation and other digestive issues. Carrageenan is an additive used to thicken, emulsify, and preserve foods and drinks. It’s a natural ingredient that comes from red seaweed (also called Irish moss). You’ll often find this ingredient in nut milks, meat products, and yogurt.

Side Effects of Carrageenan and Other Gum Resins/Additives

Products with carrageenan may be labeled as “natural,” but limited studies show that carrageenan may promote or cause:

inflammation
bloating
irritable bowel syndrome
glucose intolerance
colon cancer
food allergies

Transcript

Hi I’m Dr Hagmeyer and if you are just tuning in, I want to welcome you to my YouTube Channel, If you have IBS or SIBO perhaps you have started following a Low FODMAP diet, or a Gluten Free diet or some other diet such as SCD diet or GAPS diet an even with the best preparation and intention of following the diet you have had increased fullness, gas and bloating, cramping, more diarrhea and more IBS stress.

If that’s you, I want to introduce you to a couple common culprits that I see often enough sabotaging the health of the gut. Today, I want to share with you information on a very important food additives that has been gaining the attention of many doctors who treat IBS and other GI complaints.

Food Additives Like Carrageenan Are Not Belly Friendly

And so today, I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time introducing you to resins and gums, what they are, where you find them and why they not belly friendly. Gums are mostly comprised of indigestible polysaccharides (these are long chains of sugars- starch, glycogen and cellulose are all some examples of polysaccharides. Some are produced from plants and some from bacterial fermentation, Gum additives are everywhere in our food supply and even cosmetics.

Why These Gums and Additives Are Being Used in Food

More and more Health food manufacturers are using gums because they have unique properties that add desirable texture and/or shelf life to processed foods.Typical use is for thickening, stabilizing or emulsifying. For many people following a gluten free diet, these gums can be very problematic. So If you or a loved one is struggling with SIBO or IBS here are

5 Gums and Additives That You Should Be Aware Of And Try To Avoid.

Gum Guar– from the ground endosperm of guar beans.
Locust Bean Gum (Carob)– a vegetable gum extracted from the seeds of the carob tree, mostly found in the Mediterranean region.
Mastic Gum– made of the hardened sap of a tree.
Xanthan Gum– This is gum that can be synthetically made OR by bacterial fermentation. And finally
Carrageenan– a sulphated polysaccharide that is extracted from red edible seaweeds.

According to Research The Worse Gum

In a recent study on gum reactivity, 288 subjects were evaluated for food allergy using IgE and IgG immune markers. What they found was that Carrageenan was the worst, followed by mastic gum, locust bean (carob) Xanthum gum, Beta-glucan and finally guar gum. So Guar gum was the least problematic.

As you can see even Scientific American has acknowledged how these gums an additives can be downright nasty to our GI tract causing things like Colitis, IBS, RA, and even colon cancer.

All gum additives appear to exert a possibly powerful influence on the makeup of our gut bacteria.
Because 50% of grocery packed products likely contain gum’s and resins I want to encourage you and your loved ones to start reading those labels .

Few Reminders Or Closing Points That I Want You To Remember.

#1 If you have been following a low FODMAP diet and avoiding those foods that are in the red or Yellow region and your still struggling- it’s not your fault, you might be experiencing a food sensitivity reaction or some other problem that is causing your progress to be slowed down. Contact us if you feel you would benefit from a Functional Medicine approach.
#2- You need to read labels- Just because someone says they were able to eat this food- doesn’t necessarily mean that you can eat it- remember one man’s foods is another mans poison.
#3- While I NEVER recommend these gums (Carrageenan especially) for people who have any kind of GI problems, for those people who are otherwise healthy, they may be ok- we will have to wait and see what the research shows.
#4 I do recommend that if you have IBS or SIBO that you get food sensitivity testing done to see if your immune system is reacting to them. There is more and more research that is looking at these foods and how they may be linked to various autoimmune disease.

Here is some testing of a patient that I worked with a few years ago who I helped. She was diagnosed with SIBO but even after treatment she never got well. We ran a few different kinds of tests on her and one in particular related to today’s video was a food sensitivity test. You can see below she was sensitive to 3 different kinds of gums.

#5 Gum reactivity can be a serious problem for those people who have Celiac disease, Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, or Inflammatory Bowel disease like Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis. Again as I mentioned earlier many gluten free foods are using these large gum molecules to provide elasticity to the food item.

So there you go, I hope you liked today’s video! If you liked it don’t forget to subscribe and leave a comment below.

Share this information with your friends, Tweet it, face book it- lets get the word out that these pose problems for those of us who suffer or have suffered with IBS.

I know that for some of you the information we discussed is going to cause more frustration- knowing that you once again you need to avoid or cut out a certain foods. Keep in mind that when you are dealing with GUT issues there are many things that are at the ROOT cause, the diagnosis is just the tip of the iceberg. The more of those things you identify the easier the easier it will be for you to get on the right track!

Our Personal SIBO Recovery Program is a great place to start

The Personal Program IBS/SIBO/SIFO Recovery Program is a Natural Treatment for IBS and other GI related problems.
Our office implements Advanced Functional lab Testing, Natural Medicine/supplements as well as nutritional counseling tailored specifically to you.

To See If a Free 15 minute consult is right for you start here
Still have questions? contact us
Ready To get started? Purchase Testing and consult here
Not Sure Where to Start? Have a more complex GI problem you need help with? Have seen several other doctors and still suffering? Consider purchasing an in depth Case Review.

We’re here to listen and help you through this frustrating and confusing time.

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Our Personal SIBO Recovery Program is a great place to start

To See If a Free 15 minute consult is right for you start here
Still have questions? contact us
Ready To get started? Purchase Testing and consult here
Not Sure Where to Start? Have a more complex GI problem you need help with? Have seen several other doctors and still suffering? Consider purchasing an in depth Case Review.

We’re here to listen and help you through this frustrating and confusing time.