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Guar Gum: Nutritional Values and Application

Guar gum is found in many foods as a thickening agent and stabilizer. Here you can find out what is behind the name and whether guar gum is healthy.

Guar gum is obtained from the seeds of the Indian guar bean (Cyamopsis tetragonolobus). Strictly speaking, the substance is in the tissue that encloses the germ of the guar bean in the seed. According to Netdoktor.de, guar gum consists of about 70 percent long-chain carbohydrates. The rest is mostly protein and water.

Properties and uses of guar gum

Surely you have already seen guar gum on one or the other list of ingredients in the supermarket, or perhaps also its approval number E 412. Since guar gum has a high water-binding capacity, it is a popular thickening agent in spreads, puddings, sauces and fruit, according to Additives-online.de – and canned vegetables. In addition, guar gum is gluten-free and is therefore often used as a binding agent in gluten-free baking mixes. In ice, it prevents the formation of ice crystals.

Outside of the food industry, guar gum is mainly used for cosmetic and tobacco products.

Is Guar Gum Healthy?

In general, guar gum is considered harmless in the amounts in which we ingest it through our food. Limit values ​​only exist for a few foods. According to netdoktor.de, guar gum may even have a positive effect on cholesterol levels. However, it can also trigger allergies, according to additives-online. Especially people with a soy allergy can have an allergic reaction to guar gum.

Since guar gum swells in the stomach and is mostly excreted undigested, it is a popular stomach filler in diet products or even offered in the form of diet pills. However, this is not entirely uncritical since, according to Additives Online, large quantities of guar gum can lead to abdominal cramps, flatulence and blockages in the digestive tract.

The use of guar gum in cigarettes is also critical. These are unhealthy on their own, but burning the guar gum creates many toxins that make smoking even more harmful. The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) warns that many of the combustion products are classified as carcinogenic, such as formaldehyde. Others promote nicotine addiction or make the smell of tobacco more pleasant.

However, foods with guar gum are harmless. If you still want to do without it, you can use products that use other thickeners. Other thickeners are:
xanthan
locust bean gum
cornstarch

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Food

Locust Bean Gum: Information on Use and Sustainability

Locust bean gum is a versatile food and is ideal for a gluten-free and vegan diet. Here we explain what you can do with it.

What is locust bean gum?

Locust bean gum (also: carob flour or carob powder) is obtained from the fruits of the locust bean tree, whose ground seeds produce the flour. The heat-loving tree originally comes from the Arabian region, but is now found throughout the Mediterranean region, South and North America, and Australia. The largest growing areas are in the Spanish regions of Valencia and the autonomous Spanish community of Catalonia.

The flesh of the fruit, which is a good 30 centimeters long, used to be processed into a nutritious and durable bread, which gave the carob tree its name. Today its cores are the focus of interest. Locust bean gum tastes slightly sweet and is very similar to cocoa. In contrast to this, the carob powder is low in fat and rich in calcium and fiber.

Use of locust bean gum

Locust bean gum is soluble in hot water, but swells in cold water. These properties make it a popular binding and thickening agent in the food and cosmetics industries. Locust bean gum is even used for animal feed.
For the home kitchen, it is ideal as a vegan binding agent for baking and cooking.

Other properties make locust bean gum a popular additive, which you can find in lists of ingredients under the name E 410:
Even a small amount of locust bean gum gives liquids a jelly-like shape and thickens them.
The flour is insensitive to heat, acid and salt and can therefore be used in a variety of ways
It also ensures that turbidity is bound. Lemonades and juice spritzers, for example, can be kept clear without a rim settling.
Locust bean gum is generally well tolerated, it is vegan, free of cholesterol, lactose or gluten and is also approved for organic products, as the nutrition portal Lebensmittel-Merchandise describes.
You will find locust bean gum in the ingredient lists of the following products, among others:
jams and preserves
jellies, puddings and instant mousse
milk drinks
Ice
fruit or vegetable preserves
Pies and Delicatessen
Baked goods (especially gluten-free baked goods)
Food for diabetics
You can find locust bean gum in every organic market or health food store. The rich flour is ideal as a vegan and gluten-free binding agent, for example for creamy cakes or soups.

Is locust bean gum harmful to health?

In general, locust bean gum is classified as harmless, as the consumer protection website Codecheck also states. It has unrestricted approval as a food additive and may also be used in baby food.

However, caution is advised, especially for allergy sufferers. Locust bean gum is suspected of being able to lead to cross-reactions with an existing allergy. This applies in particular to an existing soy allergy.

Sustainability of locust bean gum

The carob tree is ideally suited for sustainable ecological cultivation. Its cultivation is even of ecological value, as explained by the online journal Biothemen. It thrives even on poor, dry and nutrient-poor soils. Similar to olive trees, carob trees are ideal for reforesting deserted landscapes.

The roots of the trees protect dry areas from erosion and loosen the soil. In the hot growing regions, its canopy provides protection from the sun and wind and provides an important habitat for birds, insects and other wildlife.

Harvesting ripe carob pods is quite time-consuming and expensive, as it is done by hand and cannot be automated. The cultivation of carob trees does not require any pesticides, which gives its flour organic food quality. The wood of the carob tree can also be used well. As it is durable and resistant, it is suitable for processing into floors, walls, fences or furniture.

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Lifestyle

Means to Remove Chewing Gum

Tips and means for removing chewing gum residue and chewing gum at a glance. We’ve collected all the useful household tips and grandma’s natural home remedies for chewing gum removal and help you finally get rid of the disgusting things from your clothes, hair, or stepping stone.

Miracle cure cold and heat

Anyone who has a freezer or at least a freezer compartment can remove the chewing gum relatively easily. Simply place the garment or shoe in the freezer until the rubber is frozen. It can then be easily removed from the fabric or shoe without leaving stains.

In principle, any stain can be removed even with the heat. You can cover the affected area with a sheet of paper and place the hot iron on it. The gum then magically sticks to the paper.

Remove gum from the carpet

Chewing gum stains on carpets or rugs is not a catastrophe but can be removed with cold without any problems. We recommend the following procedure: place ice cubes on the stain and wait for the rubber to harden. Then you can carefully remove the rubber from the carpet, e.g. with a knife. Alternatively, you can freeze the gum with ice spray and then remove it. Chewing gum residue can be removed with spirit or white spirit.

Clothing and fabrics

Chewing gum sticks particularly badly in wool, fabrics, and clothes. Removing all residues from clothes made easy with housewife tips. It sticks particularly stubbornly to almost any fabric, clothing, and shoes.

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Food

Gum Arabic: Characteristics, Application and Sustainability

Gum arabic is an additive from Africa that is often found in confectionery and wine. The sap of the acacia tree is considered harmless to health.

What is gum arabic?

Gum arabic is a food additive authorized under number E414. It is the resinous plant sap from the acacia trees that are widespread in Africa. Gum arabic is used in the food industry as a thickener, stabilizer and bulking agent.

The additive is obtained in a similar way to maple syrup. The bark of the acacia tree is scored in a V-shape and the escaping sap is collected in a bucket. The sap is then dried and pulverized so that it is sold as a white powder.

Before gum arabic became popular in the food industry, it was used primarily to make paint and ink. The Egyptians used it to mummify the dead.

In which foods is gum arabic found?

Since gum arabic only has a low thickening effect compared to other thickening agents, it is mostly used as a stabilizer. Gum arabic stabilizes food by preventing crystal formation. This is particularly appreciated in confectionery, such as gummy bears, where no sugar crystals should form. Frozen products with gum arabic also form fewer ice crystals, which have an adverse effect on the product texture.

Gum arabic is also often found in alcoholic beverages. In the beer, it stabilizes the foam so that it lasts for a particularly long time. Wine stabilized with gum arabic has better mouthfeel. In addition, it prevents cream of tartar from precipitating.

Is gum arabic sustainable?

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) considers gum arabic to be harmless to health. There is no legal limit and gum arabic is also permitted in organic foods. The additive can only lead to allergy symptoms in some sensitive people.

Since gum arabic is obtained exclusively from the resin of African acacia trees, it has been transported a long way before it ends up in our supermarket. In addition, the working conditions on African plantations are often not good. Nevertheless, it is a renewable raw material that can be produced in an environmentally friendly manner and is completely harmless to health. So you don’t have to give gum arabic a wide berth in the supermarket. But keep in mind that it is always the better choice ecologically to use regional food.

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Food

Chicle: This is How Plastic-Free Chewing Gum is Made From Tree Sap

Chicle is a sustainable raw material that some companies use to make petroleum-free chewing gum. Here you can find out what exactly is behind the substance and how recommendable it really is.

What is chicle?

Chicle is a rubbery substance derived from the milky sap of tropical trees. For the most part, manufacturers use the sap of the pulp apple tree. But the balata tree and other members of the so-called Manilkara tree family also provide the required liquid.

To get the milk from a tree, you carve a canal in the bark and siphon off the liquid. The trees are usually not damaged by this harvesting method. Even the ancient Aztecs are said to have obtained chicle and used it as chewing gum.

This is how chicle is used

Chicle is now the basis of some alternative chewing gums. In contrast to conventional products, these are therefore biodegradable. Because conventional chewing gum is based on gum made from petroleum. The production of oil brings with it major ecological problems: Among other things, it promotes social grievances and political conflicts and destroys forest areas.

In addition, petroleum-based rubber is not biodegradable. So the chewing gum sticks to roads and forest paths for a long time. Chewing gum made from chicle is said to solve this problem.

But chicle also has an ecological disadvantage: the pulp apple tree and other Manilkara species mostly come from the tropical regions of Central America. The milky juice therefore has to travel long distances to Germany and has a correspondingly poor eco-balance.

Chicle chewing gum: These products exist

Despite their questionable eco-balance, it can be assumed that chicle chewing gum is generally a more sustainable alternative to products containing petroleum. The most well-known chicle products that you can find in German drugstores as well as organic and supermarkets are:

True Gum: The Danish company produces fully biodegradable chewing gum in Denmark. The chewing gums are sugar-free and vegan-certified.
Forest Gum: This Cologne start-up also produces biodegradable, sugar-free and vegan chicle chewing gum. According to its own statements, the company relies on direct trade and pays attention to fair working conditions.
Chicza: This company’s chewing gums are one of the few chicle products to be certified organic. Overall, Chicza products have been awarded five different organic seals. This also includes the Swedish Krav seal, which stands for fair working conditions in addition to ecological criteria. Like Forest Gum, Chicza practices direct trading. The Chicza chewing gums contain sugar syrup.

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Technology

Chewing Gum: Fresh Breath – Thanks to Petroleum

If you’re chewing gum, you should now be careful not to let it get stuck in your throat: what you have in your mouth is mainly petroleum with artificial additives. We show how problematic chewing gum is and what alternatives there are to Wrigley’s & Co.

Millions of Germans chew gum every day. Very few people probably know what they are spending money on.

Everyone has their reasons: chewing is said to increase brain power, stimulate digestion, care for or whiten teeth and even help to quit smoking. This may sometimes be true and sometimes not, but what is certain is that most chewing gum contains dubious ingredients.

Chewing Gum: Gum made from petroleum

At the beginning of industrial production, chewing gum was made from chicle, the milky sap (latex) of the pulp apple tree, which grows mainly in Central America. Today, this natural raw material only makes up a few percent, if at all, of the so-called gum mass.

“The manufacturers are not obliged to specify the composition of the chewing base,” says Andrea Danitschek from the Bavarian consumer center.

Modern chewing gum consists almost exclusively of synthetic raw materials. The “rubber” part is usually made up of petroleum-based polymers. In plain language: We chew plastics. And they are not only questionable in terms of taste – they are above all ecologically and health-hazardous.

The production of plastics based on petroleum and natural gas has a bad connotation. Not only are these raw materials becoming scarcer, oil production is also politically linked to wars and abuses and harbors enormous environmental risks – from dirty extraction to accidents on tankers and drilling platforms. In other words, petroleum is not something to put in your mouth for pleasure.

Chewing gum is not biodegradable

Precisely because conventional chewing gum consists mainly of petroleum-based plastic, disposal is also a problem. Because just like other plastic products, chewing gum is not easily biodegradable.

The widespread habit of simply spitting chewing gum onto the floor is all the worse. The removal of chewing gum stains from streets and sidewalks is often only possible with very energy- and water-intensive special machines. A waste of resources that would not be necessary without chewing gum.

Chewing gum: healthy is different

In addition to the plastic gum base, the chewing gums usually contain sugar or sugar substitutes, plus artificial colors and flavors, stabilizers, fillers, thickeners, humectants, antioxidants, flavor enhancers… Yummy?

The ingredient lists of some chewing gum contain substances that are not entirely harmless. For example, the stabilizer urea/carbamide (E 927b), which is also used as an important nitrogen fertilizer, is permitted (but rare). The emulsifier (soy) lecithin is often made from genetically modified soy. The antioxidant BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) is suspected of possibly triggering allergic reactions and affecting the hormone system and fertility.

The health effects of various synthetic sweeteners – such as aspartame, acesulfame K or sucralose – are repeatedly discussed controversially. Some of the coloring and flavorings used are also controversial – or at least unnecessary.

Most chewing gums are not as healthy as advertising likes to claim. Allergy sufferers in particular should take a very close look at which ingredients and additives are included. Chewing gum for children should also be looked at particularly critically before you buy it: synthetic sweeteners, flavorings and BHA should actually be taboo here.

There are few good alternatives

There are plenty of instructions online on how to make your own chewing gum. There are even ready-made do-it-yourself kits. Some of these use chicle instead of petroleum-based plastic. But: there are almost always ingredients whose origin and/or effect is unclear and questionable, such as sugar substitutes, colorings or flavors.

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