Coastal residents have always relied on the bounty of the sea to help sustain them — even if that bounty didn’t always look especially appetizing. About 600 years ago, for example, residents of Carragheen County in Ireland tried a scraggly looking red seaweed, known as rock moss. They found that not only was it a good addition to some of their foods, it made a good medicine and fertilizer, too.
Carrageenan is used in food, medicine, shoe polish and many other everyday products. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationWe’re still using the main ingredient of that seaweed today — an ingredient known as carrageenan after the place where it was first used. It’s found in food, medicines, shampoo, shoe polish, and many other daily products.
Carrageenan is the main component of several species of red seaweed found in Europe, North America, and Asia. Most modern commercial production comes from seaweed farms in the Philippines.
Carrageenan is found in everything from ice cream, yogurt, and chocolate milk to peanut butter and salad dressings. It’s used as a thickener or as a “binder” to keep the other ingredients from separating — a role it also plays in toothpaste. And it’s been used in medicines that treat coughs, ulcers, and other afflictions.
In recent years, some research with laboratory animals and tissue cultures has suggested that carregeenan could cause problems in the stomach or intestines. And European regulators don’t allow its use in infant formula. But reviews by the FDA and its European equivalent have concluded that in a normal diet, it’s not a problem — it’s just part of the bounty of the sea.
