[dust2]

I received this in my email:

"Some people might have no problem drinking a tall glass of commercially prepared soy milk, containing sugar, chocolate powder and carrageenan, a Vaseline-like food additive. The Vaseline-like emulsifier often produces gastric distress, and soymilk drinkers erroneously conclude that they are allergic to soy."

 

[jeneticallymodified]

thats interesting. i don't like the 'vaseline' description though, it conjours thoughts of petrol byproducts in my head- which i suppose is relevant if its an industrially processed item, which it seems carrageenan (which is a seaweed extract) is. i've had a quick look online, and it does seem that it can cause gastro intestinal upset in some people and that it does have its concerns (like a lot of stuff does). i'd like to see some more unbiased sources of info, before i panic about it though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrageenan

http://www.notmilk.com/carageenan.html

i suppose it would be pertinant for people who have an issue with soyamilk and a sore tummy to try a brand that doesn't contain it, or try making their own, and seeing how it affects them (obviously this doesn't go for those who get seriously ill or go into aniphylactic shock and flap about like a fish out of water).

personally i'm alright drinking soyamilk with carrageenan in it, so far- though i did used to eat vaseline lipsalves as a small kid too- so maybe my stomach is used to that kinda thing.

 

[Tesseract]

I think use of the word "Vaseline-like" to describe carageenan's emulsifying properties is a dirty mind trick. Whoever wrote that is obviously hoping the reader will suddenly start thinking of carageenan in a negative light because it's now associated in their mind with petroleum products, which carageenan is not.

If carageenan is shown to upset some people's stomachs, I'll be sure to advise newbies having trouble with soymilk to try a carageenan-free brand before giving up on it entirely.

 

[Bonoluvr]

We use Vitasoy only, it doesnt have carrageenan in it. i switched from silk when i read some info on carrageenan , it didnt describe it as vaseline but it was enough to make me think about it.

anyway everyone here likes the vitasoy so it all worked out!

 

[kpickell]

Who wrote that email?

 

[jeneticallymodified]

pretty much the same statement is on the notmilk site, so maybe they started it?

eta:yeah, looks like the same statement to me (quick look) so that'll be by mr robert cohen, their executive director. still curious as to where the OP's email came from though- i wonder if they have a mailing list. hmmmmm.

eta: i'm also curious as to why a site trying to stop people using dairy milk, would use such unappealing discriptive words to describe a compound in soya milk- you'd think they'd word it in a nicer, friendlier, more 'natural product' way, instead of adding the petrolchemical connotations in there- in the hopes of not putting people off soya milk and right back onto dairy milk, wouldn't you? or is notmilk anti soya milk too?

 

[kpickell]

Thanks.

I can't believe Robert Cohen is still around in the public eye... As disliked and discredited as that man is, he just needs to give it up. Not even his own people believe anything he says.

 

[jeneticallymodified]

who is this mysterious mr cohen? any links that i could use to read up on him? i like to know my crazy peoples in advance, incase i acciedently start believing their work to be at least partially factual.