Gum Arabic

Gum arabic is obtained from acacia trees. Also known as gum acacia, gum arabic is a natural gum. Why is it called natural gum? Well, because it is made using the hardened sap obtained from Acacia Seyal and Acacia Senegal, the two species of the acacia tree. Other than gum acacia, it is also known as meska, char goond and chaar gund. Although, West Asia and Arabia were the regions where the wild trees were cultivated for the production of gum arabic, it is now widely harvested in places including Senegal, Somalia, Sahel and Sudan. While it is produced in African Sahel in huge quantities for commercial purposes, it is still used traditionally in places such as the Middle East.
Gum arabic is a food additive and is edible as it is a mix of glycoproteins and polysaccharides. Gun arabic powder or Xanthan gum is mostly used in confectioneries as a stabilizer, thickeners or even for sugar crystallization. Food additives are identified with number codes called E numbers and the number code for gum arabic is E414. Not just gum arabic is edible but it has numerous other uses and it is used by a variety of industries other than the food industry.
Gum Arabic Uses
Food Products
As mentioned earlier, gum arabic has properties of a binder or a glue that is edible for human beings. This is because it is a mixture of proteins and saccharides. Now although it may be edible, it have a toxic effect which will be discussed later in the article while discussing the possible gum arabic side effects. To name a few food items in which gum arabic is used as a binder would include marshmallows, syrups and candies. Xanthan gum uses can also be referred to know more about xanthan, another type of food additives used in many products.
Photography
Similar to painting and printing, it is also used in a photography technique and the name of the process is gum bichromate photography. In this process to produce a colored photographic emulsion; gum arabic is mixed with other components including ammonia and pigment. As in case of the water paints, the pigment binds into the paper of the final print.
Painting
Gum arabic is a traditional binder used in making watercolors or water paints such as the gouaches. This is because gum arabic easily dissolves in water and gels well with the water and then in the process of drying, the color pigment binds into the paper surface. Heard of one of the methods of printing called lithography? Gum arabic is one of the main ingredients used in this ancient printing method.
Other Uses
Besides these, gum arabic is also used as a soluble binder in producing fireworks or in pyrotechnic devices, in inks, cosmetics, shoe polish, incense cones, postage stamps and of course glues.
While some research reports suggest that gum arabic can be used as an alternative medicine to lower cholesterol levels because of its properties, there are arguments that it does not due to inconsistent and strangely opposite results in certain cases.
Some of the gum arabic substitutes include guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan and gum tragacanth. Studies suggest that high dosage of dietary gum arabic is the possibility of resulting in any side effect such as stomach upsets or irritations. Although if the person is allergic to acacia they may experience skin reactions or even asthma attacks in certain cases. Many of the food products contain xanthan gum so you might be interested in knowing Xanthan gum side effects as well. I hope this article on gum arabic has given you substantial information on its nature, uses and side effects.