Gum arabic–good or bad for you?

Packaging for foods or beverages may list gum arabic or gum acacia on the ingredient list. The typical nutritionist will tell you to be aware of anything you can’t pronounce or don’t know but did you know gum arabic is actually from a tree? It is a natural source and is in your product for a reason.

Gum arabic is a good stabilizer. What this means is that if you didn’t have this ingredient in your product, it might separate out. Think of a salad dressing bottle. If you let it sit, the oil will separate out but this can be avoided with an inclusion of gum arabic. Why do manufacturers use it? One because it is from a natural source but most importantly it allows for them provide you a product that otherwise could only be offered in a oil form. For example, if you are doing the keto diet, you are probably consuming MCT oil. But what if you didn’t have to add it to your coffee as an oil but as a powder. This is where gum arabic could come in. With some processing of MCT oil and gum arabic, you’d be able to make a powder that was good for various applications.

Gum arabic is also a soluble dietary fiber so it helps you feel full longer. Plus, manufacturers love it because it can be a good substitute for high fructose corn syrup as well as corn syrup solids. Remember, don’t put the product away just because it has an unfamiliar sounding ingredients as sometimes names can’t be made simple for an item!