Health impact of carrageenan and its application in food industry: a review

Abstract Carrageenan is used widely in food products especially for gelling, thickening, emulsifying agents, and to stabilize the food properties which is extracted from red and purple seaweeds that contain the mixture of polysaccharides. Based on the sulfate content, carrageenan is divided as kappa-carrageenan, iota-carrageenan, and lambda carrageenan. Even though it is used widely in the food industry, there is controversy about the health effects of using carrageenan in the food products such as may cause inflammation, glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, gastrointestinal ulcerations, and could damage the digestive system. According to this condition it is suggested to limit the usage of carrageenan in the food industry. The objective of this paper is to discuss the impact to health and application of carrageenan in the food industry.