You might want to know about the benefits of carrageenan as there are
many kinds of product that uses this substance. The substance itself is in the
same group as sulphated polysaccharides and it is extracted from many varieties
of red seaweed which are edible. Generally this substance is used by the food
industry as agents that can thicken, gelling and stabilizing the foods. It has
very strong binding ability to protein that is found inside the food. That is
why, it is mainly used for meat or dairy product, but they are also often found
inside infant formula and juice product.
Benefits of carrageenan for human
consumption
Before we know more about the benefits of carrageenan, let us check out on the
making process of this substance. First is the harvesting process of many
varieties of red seaweed which are edible to be used as the raw material. Then
the red seaweed is dried to remove the water content from inside the sea
vegetable. Next is the grinding, sifting and washing process so the impurities
that may attached to the red seaweed can be removed. Through those processes
not the red seaweed is ready to be used as raw material to create the
carrageenan substance.
The raw material will then be soaked inside
a type of alkali solution which usually is the potassium hydroxide. Then it
will be heat up so the carrageenan will come out from the red seaweed. Next is
the filtration process as well as centrifugation process, which are done to
remove the cellulose using those mechanical processes. Then the last reminds of
the solution will be evaporated in order to eliminate any water content to
extract the carrageenan completely. Lastly the carrageenan extract is ground
further into powder as final specification that wanted by the industry for
their commercial production.
Actually you can also do the production of
this substance to get the benefits of carrageenan
by yourself at home. The traditional extraction method is generally similar to
the industrial extraction method that we have mentioned above. Furthermore the
traditional extraction method has been done at 600 BC, however the industrial
extraction method only done in 1930. Nevertheless this shows that people in the
old days already knows the usage of carrageenan and its benefits.
Based on the number of sulphation that the disaccharides
on this substance has, carrageenan itself is divided into three types. On the
kappa carrageenan type, the disaccharides have a sulphate. On the iota
carrageenan type, the disaccharides have two sulphates. Then on the lambda carrageenan
type, the disaccharides have three sulphates.
The carrageenan itself is known to have
antioxidant and many other properties which make people search for the benefits of carrageenan. The lambda carrageenan
type is even very common to be used in health supplement because of its unique
properties that would not form gel, then it can be dissolved using cold water. Furthermore
this substance can give some support on your digestive system, which is the
reason why it is also often use to create capsule of health supplement.
Now after you already get that complete
information, let us talk about its benefit for your health. First benefit that
you can get is because of the antioxidant activity done by the oligosaccharides
that is available inside the carrageenan. This antioxidant will be able to help
supporting your body cell and protecting it from damage which created by
axidative stress.
Next benefits
of carrageenan are to support your digestion system as it can make your
bowel movement become more regular. If you want to get this benefit by
extracting the substance traditionally, then it is actually easy to do. All you
need is to boil an edible red seaweed type inside water or milk then drink the fluid.
Another benefit that you can get is to relieve gastric discomfort as
carrageenan can reduce discomfort and irritation in your stomach.
Those are several benefits of carrageenan that you can get for your body. You can
easily get those benefits by consuming carrageenan which available inside
different food or even health supplement. But if you can get any fresh edible
red seaweed type, then you can also make the substance yourself using the
traditional method which may benefits you more since you can get it fresh.
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