Infant formulas, carrageenan

The WHO has set an acceptable daily intake of carrageenan of not specified as the total daily intake was not considered to represent a hazard to health. In the UK, the Food Advisory Committee has recommended that carrageenan should not be used as an additive for infant formulas. ... 

Using Poisson logistic-regression analysis, the risk of one or more colds in full-term infants during each month of the infants first 6 months of life was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [Cl] = 0.90-0.99, P= 0.015). Analysis of 364 preterm infants (333 of whom received liquid formula) showed no effect (OR = 1.05, 95% Cl = 0.96-1.14, P= 0.277). The authors concluded that the data suggest that carrageenan-containing liquid infant formula is not immunosuppressive and not associated with an increased frequency of upper respiratory tract infections in either preterm or full-term infants (Sherry et al., 1993). 

The focus of the current assessment is use of carrageenans in infant liquid formulas. It has been proposed that carrageenan could be used at maximum concentrations of 0.03 g/100 ml in milk- and soy-based formulas and 0.1 g/100 ml in hydrolysed protein- and/or amino acid-based liquid infant formulas. 

Table 1. Estimates of dietary exposure of infants aged 3-12 months to carrageenan from infant formula...

Data submitted summarizing customer complaint records for cow s milk-and soy-based infant formulas with and without carrageenan content did not reveal statistical differences between these groups with respect to blood in stool or upper respiratory tract infections. The Committee noted that these records did not relate to hydrolysed protein- and/or amino acid-based liquid formulas and that such reports would be unlikely to reveal subtle adverse effects. One epidemiological study indicated an association between consumption of carrageenan and incidence of mammary cancer. The Committee concluded that these data did not support a causal relationship because of limitations in the methodology and lack of adjustments for acknowledged risk factors for mammary carcinoma. 

The Committee previously concluded that the NOEL of 750 mg/kg bw per day for inflammatory responses in the gastrointestinal tract greatly exceeded the estimated human intake of carrageenan or processed Eucheuma seaweed of 30-50 mg/person per day from their use as food additives and therefore allocated a group ADI not specified . The new information available to the Committee did not alterthis conclusion. The group ADI not specified for the sum of carrageenan and processed Eucheuma seaweed was maintained for food additive uses in foods other than infant formula. 

Eucheuma seaweed R of carrageenan and processed Eucheuma seaweed was maintained for food additive uses in foods other than infant formula. The Committee was of the view that based on the information available, it is inadvisable to use carrageenan or processed Eucheuma seaweed in infant formulas. 

There are many ways to microencapsulate active components, such as spray drying, film coating, coacervation, carrageenan entrapment, molecular encapsulation using P-cyclodextrin, double emulsions, liposomes, and microemulsions (Vilstrup, 2001). Of these, spray drying is currently the best technology available to the food industry to produce stable, cost-effective, microencapsulated ingredients or products. Spray dryers, first constmcted in 1878 (Hayashi, 1989), are now widely used in the dairy industry and, in a modified form, by infant formulae manufacturers. 

The consumption of formula by infants can be calculated based on the caloric requirement of 125 kcal/kg bw per day and on a content of 0.8 kcal/g in formula in order to provide a realistic estimate of dietary exposure to carrageenan. 

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