(07-23-2012 7:06 PM)FUNNER Wrote:  This may help :
http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/05/shoppi...rrageenan/

Cool... will look through.

Quote:Wiser - you not an asparin a day guy?

I was trying that a while back since grandpa died of a heart attack and Dad + Grandma had high cholesterol. I stopped because I believed that aspirin thinned blood by the same vitamin-K inhibiting mechanism that warfarin did. I think I was wrong on that count, though. Perhaps I should re-start.


p.s. The carrageenan problems seem to check out with my knowledgeable friends. One, a recently minted doctor who rates particularly high on the amazing scale writes; "Carageenan creeps me out. I found almond milk that uses a bacterial extract for thickening instead. Sounds gross but isn't "

I'd say there is nothing to worry about.

Animal studies do not always transfer over into humans. This is seen a million times over in the supplement industry, and I really doubt there it has any real world effect on DHEAs. It's same thing with soy, shampoo and plastics containing phyto-estrogens. I'd be more worried about the ammount of soy in my food than carrageenan, and even then its blown out of proportion.

If you were truly worried about It's effects on DHEA levels, you would have to get baseline blood levels checked on a diet without carrageenan, and then followup bloodwork, while on a diet rich in carrageenan.

I can promise you would find no significant change.

(07-24-2012 11:16 AM)Grape Ape Wrote:  I'd say there is nothing to worry about.

Animal studies do not always transfer over into humans. This is seen a million times over in the supplement industry, and I really doubt there it has any real world effect on DHEAs. It's same thing with soy, shampoo and plastics containing phyto-estrogens. I'd be more worried about the ammount of soy in my food than carrageenan, and even then its blown out of proportion.

If you were truly worried about It's effects on DHEA levels, you would have to get baseline blood levels checked on a diet without carrageenan, and then followup bloodwork, while on a diet rich in carrageenan.

I can promise you would find no significant change.

The included cites contained some human data. The barium enema data containing carrageenan was just one example (in vivo). The first link was in vitro evidence that carrageenan significantly, negatively impacts human cells. There's more info at the links given. Degraded Carrageenan negatively impacts human health. There's good evidence for that. The question of dietary exposure is the matter of degree; how much degraded carrageenan are we exposed to? Are some types better than others? Are some people more vulnerable (like with gluten and celiac's?) Maybe there's not enough degraded carrageenan to cause a discernible impact on our health. That seems reasonable, but not certain. But I'm not sure what the evidence is that there couldn't possibly be a negative impact.

I'd love to do the experiments that you mention, or see someone else do them, but I'm not willing to pay for them myself and don't have the time for the visits. And I doubt I could get insurance to cover it, much less get a doctor to do the tests. Which leads us without the critical evidence needed to resolve the issue. (actually, we'd probably need a population study, not just one data point.)