|
|
Article: Safety of carrageenan in foods. (Correspondence).
- Article from:
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Article date:
- April 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A recent review of the toxicology of carrageenan by Tobacman (1) raised questions about the safety of carageenan-containing foods. Intact carageenan is a high molecular weight hydrocolloid (molecular weight 1.5-20 x [10.sup.6]). One concern has focused on the potential for degraded (low molecular weight) carageenan to be formed by acid hydrolysis in the stomach and the possibility that this material could promote cancer of the colon (1). Rats fed degraded carrageenan have been shown to develop colorectal tumors (2). Studies involving initiation with the genotoxic carcinogen azoxymethane, followed by quantitation of the number of aberrant intestinal crypts formed in ...