Carrageenan

Uncommon card · No. 130760

Carrageenans or carrageenins ( KARR-ə-GHEE-nins; from Irish carraigín 'sea moss') are a variety of natural linear sulfated polysaccharides. They are extracted from red edible seaweeds, of the family Solieriaceae. Carrageenans are widely used in the food industry for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties. Their main application is in dairy and meat products, due to their strong binding to food proteins. Carrageenans have emerged as a promising candidate in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications as they resemble animal glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). They are used for tissue engineering, wound coverage, and drug delivery. Carrageenans contain 15–40% ester-sulfate content, which makes them anionic polysaccharides. They can be mainly categorized into three classes based on their sulfate content. Kappa-carrageenan has one sulfate group per disaccharide, iota-carrageenan has two, and lambda-carrageenan has three. A common seaweed used for manufacturing the hydrophilic...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa, CC BY 2.0