Carrageenan; Stay Away

I often recommend dairy free milks, like coconut milk, almond, and hemp for a delicious milky beverage to add to your smoothies, or to top your granola, because many people are dairy intolerant or benefit from less dairy in their diet.

Homemade nut and seed milks are best, of course, but I used to purchase boxed milks too, and they were always organic.

There’s an ingredient in boxed milks that I’m no longer confident in recommending. It’s carrageenan, a food additive that’s extracted from red seaweed and is used as a thickening agent.  This additive has been controversial for decades, but the FDA and other nations continue to stand behind it. Sadly, our standards for organic certification in the US do not protect us from this additive.

Carrageenan is also found in soy milk, cheeses, yogurts and ice creams, even baby foods, and studies show that it can cause gastrointestinal inflammation and higher rates of lesions, ulcerations, and even malignant tumors.  Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome have been tied to this as well.

For a list of products that contain and do not contain carrageenan, please visit the Cornucopia website, and download their free report on this subject and their shopping guide.

For an easy recipe for homemade hemp milk, click here.

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