My personal theory about Carrageenan causing pain & inflammation

I'm not a scientist, so here's my personal theory as to why carrageenan affects some people, but not all:

Carrageenan is injected into tissue in medical-science experiments to determine if a medicine relieves pain and/or swelling.

• Analgesics is tested with Lambda carrageenan as dilute carrageenan solution when injected subcutaneously leads to swelling and pain. (Carrageenan as Food Additive)

It would seem that carrageenan doesn't cause problems if one's skin/mucous membrane is intact. Otherwise carrageenan would have never been successful as an adult lubricant, however I do wonder if any ladies were more sore than usual after a more athletic-than-usual encounter, from using a carrageenan-based lubricant.

But what if someone's mucous membrane wasn't completely intact, such as stomach ulcers or Leaky Gut syndrome? Then the carrageenan could enter into the tissues of the stomach lining, or tissue of the intestine.

How did I come up with this carrageenan-IBS theory?

My "IBS" always happens in the exact same place, usually between 20 minutes - 2 hours after eating something. Once my 3rd GI told me I didn't sound crazy when I told him out of all the rule-out diets I'd done, with the only pattern I picked up on was commercial food had a higher chance of triggering an IBS attack. He explained that the only way I could figure out what I was sensitive to was to first establish that 100% whole foods kept the IBS away for a week or so―it did. Then I was to challenge myself with one commercial food at a time, writing down that food's ingredients if I suffered an attack.

It took a few months and lots of pain, but I finally figured out that carrageenan was my #1 IBS trigger (I also figured out that nitrites (chemical form, I tolerate celery & beets just fine) and Annatto are minor triggers, as well as something unknown in commercial broths, but none of these caused the extreme swelling and burning pain that carrageenan does).

So that's how I've come to suspect the same area that always swells/burns after eating carrageenan must be a Leaky patch. I've only recently found how to see whether I actually have a Leaky area in my gut lining, so I'll be requesting a Mannitol/Lactulose test next time I visit my GP.

Why do I waste my time with Kroger, bleh!

I've not been able to find any chicken at Kroger that's not injected with the, IMO, evil seaweed aka carrageenan!

Without looking up any studies, I can guess I'm in the minority about not tolerating carrageenan, otherwise it wouldn't be so rampant. But since carrageenan is used in medical studies to induce pain and inflammation of tissues, it stands to reason that if your intestinal lining isn't completely intact, then carrageenan just might somehow leak into the tissues of the intestines, causing pain and inflammation.

When I first figured out that carrageenan was causing my extremely painful gut episodes, with bad swelling, I found carrageenan in things with cream such as ice cream, yogurt, creamy salad dressings, and occasionally frozen dinners. A few months or so later, I noticed it was also injected into cheap Walmart chicken - I'm guessing it pumps up the chicken better than water. After that, I noticed carrageenan in deli chicken, turkey, and sometimes in deli ham.

About the last six months, I noticed Kroger's no-brand "house" chicken also has carrageenan, so it's not just cheap Walmart chicken anymore. HEB still had carrageenan-free chicken last time I shopped, but I have to read the labels carefully, since they do carry some chicken with carrageenan.

But since Kroger brand's brussel sprouts are so much sweeter and tender than name brand brussel sprouts, I had to go to Kroger, ugh! They didn't even have whole nutmeg! IMO, the only difference between Kroger and Walmart is that Kroger doesn't carry as many non-groceries.

Scratch Egg Nog

I've only found one commercial Eggnog without Carrageenan so far, and that brand had a slight medicinal taste (eww!) DH is bringing home eggnog every time he shops, the tries hiding it out of sight in the fridge, sneaking drinks while I'm in another room (I find the coated glass, even triple rinsing won't get rid of that carrageenan residual!)

So of course my season cravings are triggered, so off to search for eggnog recipes that can be adapted to using Half and Half (since we can still find some without carrageenan, unlike most commercial creams). Oh, and without getting into the "salmonella in raw eggs is/isn't dangerous" debate, I prefer my eggnog warm anyway, so problem solved!

In a 2 qt double boiler, beat three large'ish eggs until they're mixed as possible. Add 1 pint Half and Half (I guess it's no surprise I'm not brand loyal, I just use any Half and Half I'm lucky enough to find without pain-inducing carrageenan), and at least 1/4 cup sugar or equivalent sweetening.

Alternate whisking with grating whole nutmegs over pot (DH had some powdered nutmeg he bought quite a few years ago, while I had a few whole nutmegs left from many, many years ago - I let him smell mine after I grated through half of it - he said: "wow!") I grated one entire nutmeg into it, maybe if my nutmeg were fresher I could have gotten away with half a nutmeg ^_^

Once the eggnog started steaming, I turned off the heat, added 1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract, a pinch of salt (because I always add a pinch of salt to everything sweet, to prevent it from tasting hollow [quote from my mother LOL), then decided it needed a bit of butter.

Strain through a metal sieve to remove the eggy bits, I thought it was awesome, but DH is so used to commercial eggnog that he thought it wasn't sweet enough. Plus he's very particular about whether drinks are hot or cold, and he grew up drinking store-bought cold eggnog. Oh well, more for me, but next time I'll try a bit more sugar, and chill it.