#21 Did your mom ever wash your mouth out with SOAP?
Did your mom ever wash your mouth out with SOAP? You probably don’t know it, but in today’s packaged foods you may be getting soap every day. I had such a good response from my last BLOG RANT that I decided to write an article about all the EMULSIFIERS (soap) that are added to our food. So, I am going to discuss only one of about 50 possible soap products that are added to our food and even to our toothpaste. I seem to find this one in many things that are packaged. It is called CARRAGEENAN. Manufacturers often use it as a thickening agent or a blending agent in many foods and toothpaste. It was approved by the FDA as a food additive years ago in the 1960’s so we have been eating this stuff for years.
I have personally found carrageenan in several brands of toothpaste and that is what got me started on looking at all of the food additives we are eating. Some scientists believe that carrageenan can cause inflammation, digestive problems such as bloating, irritable bowel disease and perhaps colon cancer. In my patients I have had several reports of burning mouth and burning tongue as well as open ulcers. As soon as we changed toothpaste these all cleared up. It could have been other chemicals in the toothpaste but I’m not sure. Why do we need soap in toothpaste or food anyway???
Food grade carrageenan is extracted from red seaweed using an alkaline process. If carrageenan is processed with acid it creates a substance named Poligeenan, which has many significant health warnings. Poligeenan is NOT an approved food additive and you should never ingest it. In animals it is reported to cause ulcers, tumors and cancer. Some scientists and physicians are concerned that when carrageenan enters the stomach and goes through that acid process that it may be converted to poligeenan and this could be a problem.
Findings from a review in 2017 indicated that even regular non-degraded carrageenan can cause inflammation and bowel disorders such as ulcers IBD (Irritable Bowel Disease). However, other authors and scientists say that there is not enough evidence and that more research is needed. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to consume CARRAGEENAN!
Foods that contain CARRAGEENAN
1. Processed lunch meats including turkey and chicken
2. Many pre-prepared foods such as frozen dinners, canned soups and even frozen pizza.
3. Dairy products such as chocolate milk, ice cream, sour cream, children’s squeezable yogurt and even cottage cheese
4. Dairy Alternatives including Almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk and Soy milk
5. Diet drinks
6. Some nutritional drinks
7. Some Protein bars
8. Some children’s chewable vitamins
SUMMARY- In my opinion, I don’t like or want any additives if possible. Most of them I can’t pronounce and if I can’t pronounce then I’m not going to consume it. In the U.S., ANY products that contain carrageenan must be listed in the ingredients. PLEASE READ ALL LABELS VERY CAREFULLY AND IN MY OPINION, AVOID ANYTHING WITH CARRAGEENAN INCLUDING TOOTHPASTE.
“THE MOUTH IS THE WINDOW TO YOUR HEALTH”. BRUSH AND FLOSS TWICE DAILY, AVOID SUGAR FOR 2020 AND SEE YOUR DENTIST AND PHYSICIAN ON A REGULAR BASIS. I think it is safer to go to the dentist than it is to go the grocery store or any of the big stores.
Spiker Davis D.D.S. spiker@thepaleodentist.com John Seger M.D. Matt Guerre D.D.S.
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