Karaya Gum
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Karaya Gum
Gum karaya or gum sterculia, also known as Indian gum tragacanth, is a vegetable gum produced as an exudate by trees of the genus ''Sterculia''. Chemically, gum karaya is an acid polysaccharide composed of the sugars galactose, rhamnose and galacturonic acid. It is used as a thickener and emulsifier in foods, as a laxative, and as a denture adhesive. It is also used to adulterate Tragacanth, Gum tragacanth due to their similar physical characteristics. As a food additive it has E number E416. Gum karaya can be obtained from the tree ''Sterculia urens''. It is a valuable substance and is traditionally Rubber tapping, tapped by cutting or peeling back the bark, or by making deep gashes at the base of the trunk with an axe. These crude methods of extraction often resulted in the death of the tree, but it has been found that application of the plant growth regulator ethephon stimulates the production of gum, and when used in carefully controlled amounts, increases gum yield and enhan ...
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Vegetable Gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large increase in a solution's viscosity, even at small concentrations. They are mostly botanical gums, found in the woody elements of plants or in seed coatings. Human uses They are used in the food industry as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers, and in other industrial adhesives, binding agents, crystal inhibitors, clarifying agents, encapsulating agents, flocculating agents, swelling agents, foam stabilizers, etc. When consumed by humans, many of these gums are fermented by the microbes that inhabit the lower gastrointestinal tract (microbiome) and may influence the ecology and functions of these microscopic communities. Examples Natural gums can be classified according to their origin. They can also be classified as uncharged or ionic polymers (polyelectrolytes). Examples include (with E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances use ...
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