Carrageenan: Should You Be Paying Closer Attention?

Ok, do you actually read the ingredients on all your food labels? I recently started doing this more often (let’s be honest, sometimes I just throw it in the cart and don’t think twice) after coming across a few posts on social media that made me think twice about what I’m putting into my body. One ingredient, in particular, kept catching my eye: carrageenan.

So, What Is Carrageenan?

Carrageenan is a common food additive that’s derived from red seaweed. At first glance, that sounds pretty natural, right? It’s often used to thicken, stabilize, or preserve food products. And trust me—once you start looking, you’ll see it everywhere. From deli meats to almond milk, ice cream to salad dressings, carrageenan is hiding in a surprising number of everyday foods.

Why the Concern?

The buzz around carrageenan seems to be picking up steam online. So, I decided to look into it a bit more seriously. What I found is a mix of cautious research, scientific nuance, and—like many things in nutrition—a lot of context-dependent variables.

Some in vitro studies (meaning experiments done outside of a living organism, like in test tubes) have shown that carrageenan can trigger inflammatory responses. Animal studies, conducted on rats, have also suggested a possible link to inflammation in the gut. This has led to questions about its potential connection to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.

But here’s the catch: despite these findings, there’s a lack of strong human evidence—specifically randomized controlled trials—that clearly confirms a direct cause-and-effect relationship between carrageenan and inflammation in people.

It’s About the Bigger Picture

This brings up a few important questions:

Is carrageenan harmful in the small amounts found in typical servings of food?

Or is the concern more about cumulative exposure, especially if you’re eating a lot of processed foods daily?

Could it be that people who already struggle with gut inflammation also tend to eat more processed foods, making it harder to isolate the true culprit?

As the saying goes, “the dose makes the poison.” It’s possible that carrageenan, in moderation, isn’t a problem for most people—but when combined with a highly processed diet, it might contribute to or exacerbate underlying issues.

Final Thoughts

I’m not here to sound the alarm or tell you to banish carrageenan from your pantry. But I am here to encourage more awareness. Personally, I think the conversation around carrageenan serves as a reminder: when in doubt, choose whole, minimally processed foods whenever you can.

If nothing else, learning about ingredients like carrageenan can help you to be more informed and intentional about what you eat—and that’s always a win.

The Role of Carrageenan in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and Allergic Reactions: Where Do We Stand?