carrageenan

ORIGINAL: Cita
There are lots of folks on the internet who take advantage of people's natural fears, particularly regarding health and scientific information that a lot of people aren't familiar with.

Why? I dont get it.  Are they just bored evil people?
 

No, I think they're just enterprising. What better way to get you to buy a product than to convince you of the disaster that awaits without it. So much advertising does that. Some examples:

1. If you don't buy our life insurance it is likely that when you die prematurely your family will be turned out on the streets....so buy our life insurance.

2. If you don't buy our alarm monitoring security system when you're away from home a man is going to break into your house and rape your wife....so buy our security monitoring system.

3. If you don't buy our personal monitoring system now that you're old, when you fall down and break your hip you will lie in your own feces in agony for days before anyone notices....so buy our personal monitoring system.

4. You may think  you don't have heart burn but we're pretty sure even as we speak stomach acide is eating away at your esophagus and you'll eventually get cancer and die....so ask your doctor to prescribe our acid reducer.

See what I mean?
Paula

I was reading the Wikipedia article on carrageenan too, and here are their references:

[link>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan#_ref-0]^[/link] [linkhttp://www.fao.org/docrep/field/003/AB730E/AB730E03.htm]FAO Agar and Carrageenan Manual[/link]
[link>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan#_ref-1]^[/link] [linkhttp://www.populationcouncil.org/microbicides/index.html]Carraguard[/link]
[link>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan#_ref-2]^[/link] [linkhttp://pathogens.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.ppat.0020069]Carrageenan is a potent inhibitor of papillomavirus infection[/link], Buck, et al. PLoS Pathog. 2006 Jul;2(7):e69
[link>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan#_ref-3]^[/link] [linkhttp://www.ehponline.org/members/2001/109p983-994tobacman/tobacman-full.html]Review of harmful gastrointestinal effects of carrageenan in animal experiments[/link] J. K. Tobacman. Environ Health Perspect. (2001) 109(10):983

Number 3 is, interestingly enough, an article about how carrageenan seems to inhibit HPV infections.
 
Another widely used seaweed-derived polysaccharide thickening agent is agar: [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agar[/link] 
 
Personally, I tend to take a skeptical stance toward molecular gastronomy types of food ingredients... xantham gum, guar guam, agar, carrageenan, even MSG... these are all naturally derived substances, but these compounds' properties can change when you take them out of their natural contexts. This is something that was part of the Michael Pollan article 'Unhappy Meals' posted in NDR a couple weeks ago - [linkartner=rssuserland&emc=rss]http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=a18a7f35515014c7&ex=1327640400&artner=rssuserland&emc=rss[/link]>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=a18a7f35515014c7&ex=1327640400&artner=rssuserland&emc=rss]http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5090&en=a18a7f35515014c7&ex=1327640400&artner=rssuserland&emc=rss[/link]
Look at what happened when scientists applied the idea that carrots are good antioxidents, therefore betacarotene must = cancer preventative. They gave a group of smokers betacarotene pills and betacarotene was found to increase cancer rates in those people. This happened because of an incomplete understanding of how isolated antioxidants would function in the body and how the multiple chemical compounds within a food work together.
[linkhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125631.500]http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125631.500[/link]
In the end, would I avoid using a food that uses carrageenan? All other things being equal, probably not. However, it's smart, IMO, to question what these compounds are and what they're doing to our/our dogs' bodies.

Carrageenan is in clinical trials as an anti STD (HIV) microbicide at the moment. The market name is carraguard.

Paula

ORIGINAL: paulaedwina

No, I think they're just enterprising. What better way to get you to buy a product than to convince you of the disaster that awaits without it. So much advertising does that. Some examples:

1. If you don't buy our life insurance it is likely that when you die prematurely your family will be turned out on the streets....so buy our life insurance.

2. If you don't buy our alarm monitoring security system when you're away from home a man is going to break into your house and rape your wife....so buy our security monitoring system.

3. If you don't buy our personal monitoring system now that you're old, when you fall down and break your hip you will lie in your own feces in agony for days before anyone notices....so buy our personal monitoring system.

4. You may think  you don't have heart burn but we're pretty sure even as we speak stomach acide is eating away at your esophagus and you'll eventually get cancer and die....so ask your doctor to prescribe our acid reducer.

See what I mean?
Paula

not really because none of the sites i looked at were selling anything