What The Hell Is Carrageenan?

We tried out a new pizza place with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kids a couple weeks ago (Pizza Fusion - lots of organic, natural foods on their menu, eco-friendly business practices, and it was really, really, yummy).  While we're sitting there, enjoying the whole grain goodness, my sister-in-law asked me if I'd heard of carrageenan.

Huh?  What's that?  Or, as Babydoll would say, "Wussat wussat wussat?"

SIL told me it's an ingredient in a lot of organic products, that it should be avoided, and that I should look into it further.

Research!!!

I typed "carrageenan" into the Google Monster.  Bam.  Hit after hit with bad-news headlines.  Shit.

Wikipedia told me that carrageenan is a food additive derived from red seaweed, used as a thickener and stabilizer, especially in organic dairy products.  Well, that doesn't sound so bad.  Seaweed is good for you, right?  Kelp and all that?

Nope.  

Cornucopia.org told me that the World Health Organization (WHO...not The Who, to whom I am currently listening, by the way.  Want to listen along?  It's the "Who's Next" album) has classified carrageenan as a "possible human carcinogen."  Carcinogen = cancer.  Shit.

Carrageenan has also been linked to gastrointestinal inflammation ("my tummy hurts"), colon cancer, and a myriad of other gastrointestinal troubles (like chronic diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome, aka IBS).

IBS?  Hey.  I know some people with IBS...namely, my mother and Babydoll's Daddy.  Shit.

I threw open the fridge and pulled out every dairy item in the joint, scanning each ingredient list.  The milks (whole, nonfat, and almond) were good.  The cheese was good.  The butter was good.  The yogurt from Trader Joe's, that I had JUST bought and fed to my child, it wasn't good.  In the trash it went.

Side note: I really struggled with throwing that food away.  Like, stood in front of the trash bin, weighing it out and talking to myself.  I finally reasoned that I don't want my family to eat it and I don't want anyone else's family to eat it, so it had to get dumped.

Reading further, I learned that the molecular structure of carrageenan is very similar to that of plastic.  Well, that's just great.  But this is a lesson: never stop learning and never stop questioning.  Especially when it comes to what we are putting into our bodies - read every ingredient list and if you don't know what something is, look it up.  I can't assume that just because something is organic, it's okay.  Lesson learned.

I also learned that it's not brand-specific.  For example, Stonyfield's yogurts don't contain carrageenan, EXCEPT for their Squeezers and the caramel flavor of Oikos.  And it's not just in dairy.  Carrageenan is found all over the place, so check your foods' ingredient lists.

I really, really wish Babydoll's Daddy would get on board with going to live with the Amish.  I think we'd be great Amish folks.

Cornucopia has a fairly inclusive list of organic dairy products with and without, here.

While you're on Cornucopia's site, check out the info on Proposition 37.  There's a lot of organic and natural companies I'll never buy from again.  Like Horizon, Muir Glen, Cascadian Farms, and Alexia.  Screw you guys.