You find gelatin in food products that have been thickened. Food consistency (loose or thick) is a matter taste. Mouthfeel is what the term is for how a product feels in the mouth and some of us are very sensitive to this. That is why we choose one brand of sour cream, for example, over another.
Gelatin is the most common ingredient used to achieve a thicker product. Gelatin is animal-based, usually extracted from the boiled bone remains of animals used in food processing (cows, pigs, sheep and chickens).
Although someone allergic to cow, pig, sheep or chicken products may know they should probably avoid foods containing gelatin, they may not be aware of the animal connection at their doctor’s office. Most vaccines (be they for big stuff like Hepatitis or for more common but equally scary health conditions like the flu / influenza) are often produced using actual animal products – like foetal / fetal calf serum – and/or grown in animals (like horses) and then extracted and purified before being given to human recipients. IF you have serious allergies to animals, make your doctor or hospital staff aware of this before you receive a shot.
Non-animal-based thickeners are becoming more commercially available. Most are extracted from sea plants. Agar and carrageenan are the better known examples. They have also been used for generations in the food industry and because they are plant-based, they are considered suitable for vegetarian diets.
If you have digestive problems (like Coeliac / Celiac or Crohn’s Disease) and or are immuno-compromised you may want to consider avoiding carrageenan-containg products. There have been recent studies that suggest carrageenan irritates intestinal linings and can therefore further negatively influence adsorption of nutrients into the system.
For follow-up information we suggest contacting your local healthcare website, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website or Wikipedia.
Reposted from You Get Well Soon Inc.
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