Ice Cream’s Secret Ingredient

We all love ice cream don’t we?  The only ingredients that I need to know about are strawberries, fudge, or caramel.  But keep reading those ingredients, there is more to your ice cream than ice and cream. 

An additive called “food-grade carrageenan” is derived from red seaweed and is considered safe by the FDA.  It’s used to thicken, bind and stabilize your ice cream.  In other words, it keeps the ingredients from separating and it actually makes it taste better.

You also may see this stuff in other dairy products such as yogurt and chocolate milk, non-dairy milks like soy, coconut, and almond and in packaged and low-fat foods, it makes them taste better.  You also will see it in whipped cream, coffee creamer, canned soups, frozen meals, nutritional bars and some deli meats.

So what’s the problem?  This carrageenan stuff, when degraded, has been linked to inflammation, stomach aches, and in some cases, cancer, although no studies have been performed on humans yet.  The stuff also has no nutritional value.

Don’t panic just yet, research is still happening.  No matter how you look at it, anything that upsets your stomach, makes you feel gassy, bloated or gives you heartburn, you may want to stay away from anyway.  Bottom line here, the fewer and fresher ingredients in a product, the better.