Carageenan/Irish Moss concerns

I was reviewing some medical research on PubMed online and was reminded that carageenan is thought to induce IBS in primates and is often used in clinical studies to induce inflammation. It is applied to sores or ingested to simulate IBS, inflamed sores, etc. I have been having a lot of intestinal drama lately because of cryptosporidium (supposedly from Central American fruit bought in my Seattle grocery store) and c. difficile (doctors still aren't sure where that came from since I haven't been on antibiotics). I've been through several treatments to get rid of these bugs, but the inflammation that is left over is very painful. I also have lupus, so these bugs probably just stirred up my defunct immune system and now it's targeting my joints as well.

I bought myself a Christmas gift - raw desserts. I noticed that Irish Moss is used in a lot of recipes and is probably in the desserts I have on very rare occasion from my favorite raw restaurant. This alone probably isn't enough to cause an issue, but my diet has been very high in other sea vegetables. Does anyone else know if other sea vegetables have the inflammatory implications of Irish Moss? Dulse is my favorite, but I have nori and wakame from time to time as well. A small hand full of studies correlating Irish Moss/Carageenan is enough to get me to avoid using that particular sea weed in my food, but has anyone had personal experience with this reaction? I doubt the carageenan used to give texture to my toothpaste is enough to worry about, but I just don't know. Being sick is a bummer.

Comments

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    Hello camiheartsraw,

    My understanding of carrageenan is that it is linked to inflammation in the digestive tract because it is highly processed. Irish moss in its unprocessed form is a demulcent, which like aloe vera, marshmallow, malva, slippery elm, etc., can help to promote intestinal health.

    The other sea veggies, as far as I know, have never been linked to digestive disturbances.

    Hope to see you at some Seattle area meetups! Lots of love. :)

  • camiheartsrawcamiheartsraw Raw Newbie

    Thank you! I am avoiding for now to be safe because of colitis (fun stuff!) but have had some success substituting in recipes. My cheesecake came out great and will be trying marionberry this weekend :)

    I'm not aware of very many meetups.... I know about the one that met at Thrive on Mondays. Are there others? I'm interested in attending and am starting my own chronic illness support group at Chaco Canyon.

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    Hello camiheartsraw,

    Here are a few other meetup groups of which I am a member. You can probably find others on meetup.com:

    http://www.meetup.com/The-Vegan-Veggie-adventure-group/

    http://rawfood.meetup.com/213/

    http://www.meetup.com/The-Eastside-Raw-Food-Meetup-Group/

    http://www.meetup.com/Living-Health-Raw/

    Good luck! LOL.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    hey cami! you're on goneraw too! see you at chaco. we can talk more about irish moss then, but for now i have to say i haven't experienced any inflammation from sea veggies. and i'm pretty sensitive. i have joint pain too.

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