Chemistry:Natural gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large increase in a solution's viscosity, even at small concentrations. They are mostly botanical gums, found in the woody elements of plants or in seed coatings.
Human uses
Gums are used in the food industry as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers, and in other industrial adhesives, binding agents, crystal inhibitors, clarifying agents, encapsulating agents, flocculating agents, swelling agents, foam stabilizers, etc. When consumed by humans, many of these gums are fermented by the microbes that inhabit the lower gastrointestinal tract (microbiome) and may influence the ecology and functions of these microscopic communities.[1][2]
Commercial significance
Humans have used natural gums for various purposes, including chewing and the manufacturing of a wide range of products. Before the invention of synthetic equivalents, trade in gum formed part of the economy in places such as the Arabian peninsula (hence the name "gum arabic") and West Africa.[3]
Peach gum
Peach gum, the solidified resin from peach and Chinese wild peach trees, is a natural ingredient that has seen a recent increase in popularity due to claims about collagen content and skin improvement,[4] though many of these claims lack scientific evidence. It has a long history of consumption in China, where it is commonly used in sweet soups, desserts, and beverages.
Historically, its curative qualities have been detailed in classical Chinese medical literature for treating urinal infections, quenching thirst, and relieving stress.[5]
Examples
Natural gums can be classified as extracted from natural sources or manufactured. They can also be classified as uncharged or ionic polymers (polyelectrolytes). Examples include (with E number food additive code):
| Source | Classification | Natural gum | E number |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seaweeds | Polyelectrolytes | Agar | E406 |
| Seaweeds | Polyelectrolytes | Alginic acid | E400 |
| Seaweeds | Polyelectrolytes | Sodium alginate | E401 |
| Seaweeds | Polyelectrolytes | Carrageenan | E407 |
| Sap of Acacia trees | Polyelectrolytes | Gum arabic | E414 |
| Sap of Anogeissus trees | Polyelectrolytes | Gum ghatti | |
| Sap of Astragalus shrubs | Polyelectrolytes | Gum tragacanth | E413 |
| Sap of Sterculia trees | Polyelectrolytes | Karaya gum | E416 |
| Guar beans | Uncharged | Guar gum | E412 |
| Seeds of the carob tree | Uncharged | Locust bean gum | E410 |
| Oat or barley bran | Uncharged | Beta-glucan | |
| Sap of Dipterocarpaceae trees | Uncharged | Dammar gum | |
| Konjac plant | Uncharged | Glucomannan | E425 |
| Plantago plant | Uncharged | Psyllium seed husks | |
| Seeds of the tara tree | Uncharged | Tara gum | E417 |
| Produced by bacterial fermentation | Polyelectrolytes | Gellan gum | E418 |
| Produced by bacterial fermentation | Polyelectrolytes | Xanthan gum | E415 |
References
- ↑ Hehemann, Jan-Hendrik; Kelly, Amelia G.; Pudlo, Nicholas A.; Martens, Eric C.; Boraston, Alisdair B. (27 November 2012). "Bacteria of the human gut microbiome catabolize red seaweed glycans with carbohydrate-active enzyme updates from extrinsic microbes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109 (48): 19786–19791. doi:10.1073/pnas.1211002109. PMID 23150581. Bibcode: 2012PNAS..10919786H.
- ↑ Ostrowski, Matthew P.; La Rosa, Sabina Leanti; Kunath, Benoit J.; Robertson, Andrew; Pereira, Gabriel; Hagen, Live H.; Varghese, Neha J.; Qiu, Ling et al. (April 2022). "Mechanistic insights into consumption of the food additive xanthan gum by the human gut microbiota". Nature Microbiology 7 (4): 556–569. doi:10.1038/s41564-022-01093-0. PMID 35365790.
- ↑ Wiseman, Nicholas Patrick, ed (1838). "The French in Africa". The Dublin Review (London: Tablet Publishing Company) 4 (7): 188, 189. "Rivalries of a commercial nature have necessarily existed between the British and French merchants on [the West African] coast, especially with reference to the trade in gum, which is very lucrative, yielding very commonly returns not much under cent per cent. [...] Ġum is, in fact, an article with which the chief manufacturers of England and france cannot well dispense. It is used in almost every process of dyeing, in the printing of cottons, in the fabrication of silks, ribbons, lawns, gauzes, cambrics, and hats. It is frequently an ingredient in medical and confectionary preparations; it enters into the composition of colours for painters; it is necessary to the varnisher and gilder, and a great variety of other artizans. It was formerly obtained only from Arabia, whence it was imported into France by the way of Marseilles, and through France to England and all Europe. The Dutch, however, in their intercourse with the African Moors, discovered that they had forests in the desert of Sahara which produced gum in abundance. [...] Upon examination, the Dutch found that the African gum was of a purer and more mucilaginous quality than even that of Arabia. Hence it soon became a most desirable article of commerce [...].".
- ↑ "Ingredient: Peach Gum" (in en-SG). https://guide.michelin.com/sg/en/article/wellness/the-asian-secret-to-beautiful-skin-peach-gum.
- ↑ "军医科普："桃胶"的功效和使用" (in zh). 2 March 2016. http://www.xinhuanet.com//mil/2016-03/02/c_128767735.htm.
 |  |
