Is carrageenan safe for dogs
Should You Remove Carrageenan from Your Diet?
Carrageenan is a common food additive but it may cause digestive side effects and has a potential link to colon cancer. While more research is needed, you may want to remove it from your diet.
Carrageenan is an additive used to thicken, emulsify, and preserve foods and drinks. Its a natural ingredient that comes from red seaweed (also called Irish moss). Youll often find this ingredient in nut milks, meat products, and yogurt.
Since the late 1960s, theres been controversy surrounding the health effects of carrageenan. Some evidence suggests that carrageenan triggers inflammation, gastrointestinal ulcerations, and that it damages your digestive system. People have been petitioning for products with carrageenan to be labeled with a warning or removed entirely. Read on to learn more about this common food additive and why you may want to avoid it.
Products with carrageenan may be labeled as natural, but limited studies show that carrageenan may promote or cause:
Increased inflammation can lead to a greater likelihood of other diseases, such as:
One
But many of the studies conducted on the dangers of carrageenan were on animals and cells. Reports of bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, and other digestive issues are mostly self-reported. People also report relief when they drop carrageenan from their diet.
There need to be more human studies to confirm any link between carrageenan and digestive problems. In the meantime, you may want to limit how much carrageenan you consume.
The Food and Drug Administration still approves this ingredient. But in 2016, the National Organic Standards Board voted to remove carrageenan from their approved list. This means foods made with carrageenan can no longer be labeled USDA organic.
Carrageenan tends to be in vegan and vegetarian products. Since its a plant, manufacturers use it to replace gelatin, which is made from animal parts.
Carrageenan has no nutritional value, so you dont have to worry about missing anything when you remove foods containing it. Finding replacements for vegetarian or vegan foods without carrageenan is possible. Just remember that carrageenan-free milks may separate. This is natural. All you have to do is shake well before pouring.
To see which brands are carrageenan-free, take a look at Cornucopias shopping guide. Carrageenan is also found in pet foods, especially canned ones. Choose a brand that does not contain this additive.
If youre worried about the side effects of carrageenan, take it out of your diet and see if theres any improvement in how youre feeling. Its legally required to be listed under a products ingredients, so it should be easy to start to figure out what foods to eliminate.
Talk to a doctor if you continue to experience inflammation or digestive issues after removing carrageenan. This may signal that carrageenan isnt responsible for your symptoms.
Read more: The ultimate guide to every kind of milk
Carrageenan In Dog Food
What Is Carrageenan?
Carrageenan is a carbohydrate structure that is derived from red edible Seaweed. The process to create Carrageenan from Seaweed involves combining it with an Alkali.
What confuses many is that Carrageenan has multiple spellings, but they are almost always the same ingredient. Examples of alternative spelling that is commonly seen include Carageenan, Carrageenan, and Carrigeenin.
One of the most crucial facts about Carrageenan is that it offers little to no nutrition, including a negligible portion of protein, fat, and carbohydrates.
Also, Carrageenan does not offer any notable quantity of any required vitamins or minerals for dogs or cats.While it is most commonly found in pet food recipes, Carrageenan can sometimes be found in human food as well.
Examples of products for human consumption that may contain Carrageenan include Ice Cream, Milkshakes, and other desserts.
Carrageenan In Dog Food
Carrageenan is most commonly used as an ingredient in canned, wet, or moist dog food as well as cat food.Some research that we found would say that at one point in time, as much as seventy percent of commercially produced canned dog food included Carrageenan in varying quantities.
However currently, this percentage is estimated to be far lower, but it is still a significant proportion.
Carrageenans essential purpose in dog food recipes is to act as a thickening agent to bind the ingredients together and give the food a consistent texture and appearance.
Thickening agents are important components in canned pet food as if they are absent, this can cause the protein-rich ingredients present to become unappealing or to have an unpleasant texture.
Thickening agents can also be described as binding agents, emulsifiers, gelling agents, or stabilizers.
While these terms mean slightly different things, it is safe to bundle them together when they are mentioned in relation to pet food, as they are very similar.
Some alternative thickening agents or binding agents that are commonly found in pet food recipes include starches, like Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch, or gum-like ingredients, such as Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum.
Risks of Carrageenan
While opinions are mixed, some studies have shown that Carrageenan can cause several health problems in dogs, including Gastrointestinal Inflammation as well as increased rates of intestinal lesions, ulcerations, and in extreme cases, malignant tumors.
The malignant tumors are particularly concerning for dogs owners as these can be cancerous.
However, the cause of these health issues is a by-product that is produced from the Carrageenan production process known as poligeenan.
Poligeenan is the low-molecular form of Carrageenan, which can be harmful, and Poligeenan is the cause of the symptoms mentioned above.
The reason that some dogs experience these symptoms is due to an immune response that some dogs will inhibit after digesting Carrageenan.
This immune reaction is the cause of the inflammation, and then sustained inflammation is then the cause of the more severe side effects.
However, Poligeenan is supposed to be separated and removed from the Carrageenan during production, but some believe this doesnt always take place or isnt 100% effective.
There are strong opinions by some pet food bloggers and enthusiasts that Carrageenan has no place in dog food and would go as far as to say that it should be banned.
One very strong example to support this sentiment is that Carrageenan has been banned for use in baby formula or baby food in the European Union, which is often a world leader in identifying harmful substances.
While this ban was precautionary and not fully substantiated, it does give a strong suggestion that Carrageenan could be harmful.
Moreover, in 2016, the use of Carrageenan was banned in the United States for foods that are categorized as Organic.
Many in the industry were disappointed at this decision and claimed that it would result in fewer organic options available for consumers.
Dog Food Brands That Use Carrageenan
Carrageenan is one of the most common ingredients in wet dog food recipes and is used by a number of well-known and established dog food brands.
In fact, while researching the use of ingredients in dog food recipes, we found that of the 100 most popular wet dog food recipes on Chewy.com, 48 of them contained Carrageenan as an ingredient, which is almost a majority.
However, this pales in comparison to Guar Gum which was found in 73 of the 100 recipes but is comfortably above others like Xanthan Gum or Cassia Gum.
Some examples of pet food brands that use Carrageenan that you may recognize include Pedigree, Rachael Ray Nutrish, FreshPet, Wellness, Blue Buffalo, Newmans Own, Nutro, Purina Pro Plan, Purina One, Royal Canin, and Hills Science Diet.
The inclusion of Purina, Royal Canin, and Hills in this list is significant as these three brands are considered the leaders of the industry and perform the most research on formulation and ingredients.
Their continued use of Carrageenan, despite its controversy, shows that they believe it is an appropriate dog food ingredient.
You can see an example of the use of Carrageenan in a dog food recipe below, where it is featured in the ingredient list of Purina Pro Plans Classic Adult Complete Essentials Chicken & Rice Entree recipe.
In this recipe, Carrageenan is present in a very small quantity, even below salts, but is alongside Guar Gum, and these two ingredients act in unison to bind the food together.
However, as we eluded to earlier, Carrageenans use has seen some decrease in recent years as some brands have chosen to move away from it and use alternatives that are deemed safer or more natural.
Some brands have taken this to the extreme and have gone as far as to display or advertise that their products are Carrageenan-free.
If you wish to avoid Carrageenan or other thickening agents entirely, then it may be wise not to feed your dog canned or wet dog food.
While dry dog food is far from perfect, it does not require thickening agents such as Carrageenan and instead relies on vegetable ingredients like Legumes and Starches.
Should You Be Saying Carragee-nah to Carrageenan?
When you think of eating seaweed, you probably think of spicy tuna rolls alongside a steaming bowl of edamame.
But surprisingly, a common food additive, carrageenan, comes from seaweed and is found in soy milk, coffee creamer, turkey bacon, and ice cream. What the kelp?
If youre wondering what that means, if its safe, and what carrageenan even is, weve got you covered. Heres everything you need to know about carrageenan.
Carrageenan is a common food additive thats derived from Irish Moss, a type of red seaweed that grows off the Atlantic coast in Europe. Blarney!
Its an excellent thickener and emulsifier meaning it can thicken foods and keep ingredients from separating. Its most commonly found in processed dairy and dairy alternative products. Mmm, just where we like our seaweed derivatives!
But really, though, carrageenans gelatin-like properties have paved the way for things like plant-based milks and creamers, vegan ice cream, vegan yogurt, and other dairy alt products.
Alas, like all good things in life, it has a dark side possibly.
According to the FDA, carrageenan is totally safe. In fact, its GRAS Generally Recognized As Safe. (Yup, thats a thing!)
However, theres been a years-long controversy over carrageenan that rages on.
According to a 2018 review, several animal studies have noted a link between carrageenan and digestive issues like inflammatory bowel disease and dysbiosis of the gut (which means your gut bacteria arent living their best lives).
Some research also suggests that carrageenan can damage the lining of the gut, cause intestinal tumors, and weaken the immune system.
However, most of these effects were found from a specific type of carrageenan used in research studies called poligeenan. Its a possible human carcinogen, which means theres some evidence it may cause cancer. And its not an FDA-approved food additive, so you wont find it in food.
On the other hand, research from 2014 suggests that carrageenan seems to have some health benefits too like strengthening immune activity and acting as an antioxidant.
But most of these studies were done in test tubes or on animals, using larger quantities of carrageenan than are used in the food we eat. So, does any of this even apply to us?
What the human research says
Although its pretty limited, there is some research investigating the effects of carrageenan on human beings.
Researchers have noted a link between carrageenan and inflammatory bowel disease. A small 2017 study suggests that carrageenan may cause relapse in people who have ulcerative colitis thats in remission. No, thanks!
Other research suggests a link between carrageenan and poor blood sugar control, which can lead to inflammation, weight gain, and type 2 diabetes.
Until theres more definitive research on the types of carrageenan used in food and how they affect us, there are compelling reasons to keep eating carrageenan (its made dairy alts a THING) and compelling reasons not to (it might cause an IBD flare-up).
Carrageenan is mostly found in dairy products and dairy alternatives but is also commonly added to processed meat products (especially if theyre made from leaner meats like turkey or chicken).
Heres a short list of some of the most common carrageenan-containing foods:
- processed dairy products: half-and-half, coffee creamers, heavy cream, yogurt, ice cream, ready-to-drink protein shakes
- dairy alternatives: vegan coffee creamers, plant-based milks, dairy-free ice cream, vegan yogurts
- meats: deli meats, hot dogs, other low fat processed meats like turkey bacon and chicken sausage
Although it appears to be mostly safe, you might want to avoid carrageenan if you have digestive problems especially if you have an inflammatory bowel disease like ulcerative colitis or Crohns disease.
Unfortunately, saying carragee-nah means youre gonna be checking a lot of ingredient labels (like, all of them). Even if you avoid dairy and dairy alternatives, carrageenan is a common enough food additive that youll need to check the labels on all processed foods you include in your diet.
And because its vegan and derived from natural seaweed, its much more likely to be used in natural/healthy/plant-based food products so your otherwise healthy snacks might be hiding a little seaweed surprise.
Luckily, some of the more savvy food manufacturers have recognized the demand for carrageenan-free foods and label their products carrageenan-free so you can avoid an ingredients scavenger hunt.
You can also keep an eye out for the USDA Organic label, which the National Organic Standards Board voted to remove from any products containing carrageenan in 2016.
- Carrageenan is a seaweed-based food additive thats generally pretty safe, but there is some controversy surrounding its safety.
- Its found in dairy products, dairy alternatives, and some processed meats. Because its naturally derived, its also much more likely to be hiding in healthy processed foods.
- Its been linked to inflammation and digestive damage, but the jury is still out on whether its definitively harmful to human health.
- Avoiding carrageenan is no easy task. It will require meticulous label-checking. But more food manufacturers are getting on board with offering carrageenan-free options.
