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APPLICATIONS

An Overview of the wide variety of Gum Arabic applications:

In order to stay at the leading edge of Gum Arabic innovation, Agrigum is working collaboratively
with many partners in distribution, academia and food technology.

These collaborations will explore new applications in film forming, gut health and coatings for materials and medical and in time offer these innovations to our partners.

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FLAVOURS &
BEVERAGES

Gum Arabic is recognised as the best natural option for stabilising beverage emulsions and encapsulating sensitive aromatic molecules (e.g. flavours and flavouring agents), while at the same time it can serve as a booster of their nutritional profile.  

Liquid Flavour Emulsions

Gum Arabic is widely used to prepare and stabilise essential oil emulsions (e.g., orange, lemon, lime, cherry and cola), which are supplied to the soft drinks industry.

Spray Dried Flavour Encapsulation

Gum Arabic is universally recognised as an excellent encapsulating material for flavours because of its emulsification properties, low viscosity, bland flavour and for its protective action against flavour oxidation during processing and storage.

Nutritional Drinks

Gum Arabic is a convenient way to add a soluble fibre source for the development of fibre-enriched nutritional drinks.

Confectionery

Gum Arabic has been used in the confectionery industry for hundreds of years and still holds a unique position thanks to its physical properties and unobtrusive taste and odour.

The gum performs four important functions:

  • Retards or prevents sugar crystallisation
  • Acts as a boundary film in glazing systems
  • Texture modifier
  • Emulsifies and keeps fatty components evenly distributed

Examples of confectionery usage:

  • Caramels and Toffees
  • Reduced Sugar and Sugarless Confectionery
  • Coated Products (dragées, chewing gums, chocolate centres, nut centres, coated almonds, chocolate-coated peanuts and raisins)

BAKERY

Gum Arabic is used in the baking industry for its comparatively high water absorption & viscoelastic properties and also its high soluble fibre content. In addition to its favourable adhesive properties for use in glazes and toppings, it imparts smoothness when used as an emulsion stabiliser.

Gluten-Free Bread

Gluten-free bread requires polymeric substances that mimic the viscoelastic properties of gluten in bread dough.

Research studies have successfully formulated Gluten-free bread by incorporating Gum Arabic, Methylcellulose (MC)/Guar Gum and egg albumen into non-wheat flours [1].

Bread From Frozen Dough

Research shows incorporating CMC and Gum Arabic into the frozen bread dough inhibited and reduced the damage caused by the ice crystallisation, thus improving the quality of the produced bread [2].

Benefits of Adding Gum Arabic to Bread

  • Increases water absorption
  • Freeze-thaw stability and potential for shelf-life extension
  • Increases the maximum dough height and bread volume
  • Improves toasting characteristics
  • Helps with gluten effect
  • Adds soluble dietary fibre, improves label claims

Pet food

Gum Arabic can be incorporated into feed products and Pet-foods, such as Cat and Dog foods, as a binder, adhesive, glazing agent, emulsifier and as a fibre source. 

There are many unseen functions and benefits which Gum Arabic performs within pet food that can have a direct effect on pets:

  • Gives texture to pet foods resulting in improved pet dental care
  • The presence of soluble fibres in Gum Arabic reduces the build-up of teeth plaque & tartar
  • Fermentable Gum Arabic fibres improve colonic blood flow and promote intestinal health
  • Increased flavour retention properties
  • Adds a glaze to dry pet foods
  •  

DAIRY PRODUCTS

Gum Arabic is used increasingly in dairy applications. Our products are highly compatible with dairy proteins and work across a wide range of processing conditions and applications, including ice cream, margarines and spreads, yoghurts and dairy-based desserts and drinks.

Gum Arabic’s functionality within dairy products:

  • Reduced sugar applications
  • Reduced fat applications
  • Increased levels of soluble fibre 
  • Ice crystal retardation
  • Improved texture and stabilisation
  • Enhanced flavour
  • Organic certified and non-GMO
  • Cleaner labels, such as through the removal of synthetic mono- & di-glycerides in ice cream

PHARMACEUTICALS
& NUTRACEUTICALS

Gum Arabic is being extensively used in the pharmaceutical industry due to its functionality in both solid and liquid formulations.

Gum Arabic has been used successfully in a variety of pharmaceutical products because of its following functional properties:

  • As a binder and as a glaze for pharmaceutical tablets
  • In syrups, it is used for its soothing and protective action
  • As a suspending and emulsifying agent
  • As one of the main ingredients in medicated cough drops and lozenges

Protective Coatings

  • Encapsulation of oil-soluble vitamins, flavours, aromas
    – Vitamin A stabilised by spray drying it in an emulsion containing antioxidant, fat, lactose and Gum Arabic, gave an encapsulated powder retaining 85% of its vitamin activity after 12 months storage at room temperature [3].
  • Protection of unstable oils, flavours and colours from the development of rancidity and off-tastes

PLANT BASED
FOODS

Gum Arabic is currently used as an emulsifier and texture enhancer in plant-based milks and yoghurts, as a replacement binder and cryoprotectant in alternative meats, in gluten-free products, and as a syneresis inhibitor (weeping and separation of liquid ingredients) in confectioneries and granola bars.

These properties make Gum Arabic very suitable for use in plant-based foods:

  • Binding Agent & Emulsifier
  • Provides a silky mouthfeel where other gums become slimy
  • Anti-Syneresis – prevents separation of fats and oils
  • Cryoprotectant – improved freeze-thaw stability
  • Diabetic and Keto friendly
  • Slows down carbohydrate absorption
  • Gentle intestinal transit
  • Fibre and Calcium source
  • Excellent flavour retention

Gum Arabic can be used as a healthy filler, a coating agent and a replacement for some of the harder to digest and chemically modified gums currently used in this sector.

GUT HEALTH

Gum Arabic is well known for its important role on gut health & digestive wellness. It has been traditionally used as a therapeutic treatment for gastrointestinal conditions, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.

Its potential as a functional food ingredient is tremendous and the research on the exact mechanisms involved is booming!

In addition to its versatility, Gum Arabic can be beneficial to digestive health thanks to the following properties:

  • Prebiotic (Soluble fibre) beneficial to the gut microbiome
  • Low Glycaemix Index, being an indigestible carbohydrate
  • Has the potential to reduce glucose absorption
  • Diabetic diet – Gum Arabic does not metabolise into high glycaemic sugars that create an insulin spike
  • Lowers the Glycaemic Index of other carbohydrates in a formulation
  • Ketogenic diet – Gum Arabic passes the gut and is metabolised by Lactobacillus Rhamnosus to produce Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFAs)
  • Smooth intestinal transit – suitable for an older population
  • Source of Calcium and Potassium
  • Increases satiety & Minimises bloating
  • Potential against gut dysbiosis – selectively increases the proportion of beneficial microbial population in healthy subjects [4]
  • Has been shown to reduce BMI and Body fat, as well as total cholesterol (LDL, VLDL) [5

 

Rawi, M.H. et al. (2021). Manipulation of gut microbiota using acacia gum polysaccharide. ACS Omega. 6(28):17782-17797

Ali, B.H. et al. (2009). Biological effects of gum Arabic: a review of some recent research. Food Chem Toxicol. 47(1):1-8

 

Cosmetics & Personal-care products

Gum Arabic is widely used in the cosmetics industry in a range of formulations of popular consumer products (e.g. mascaras, eyeliners, make-up sets, etc.), taking advantage of its diverse functionalities.

Some of its most common uses include:

  • Stabiliser in lotions & protective creams
  • Provides texture due to efficient thickening and texture improvement properties
  • Moisturiser in serums and anti-ageing products
  • Protective agent in hair care
  • Foam stabiliser in liquid soaps
  • Adhesive in facial masks or face powders
  • Film forming agent, on formulations for skin, hair & nails
  • Contributes in the treatments for skin inflammation
  • Oral health – anti-carries effect, prevention of dental plaques and gingival inflammation

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Gum Arabic is a key ingredient that can be found in a plethora of industrial (non-food) applications, delivering benefits and desired functionality to many sectors.

Inks & Paints

Used for its protective colloid properties, emulsifier and suspending agent.

Lithography

Used as sensitiser for lithographic plate. Used in fountain solution to moisten plates.

Other Industrial Uses

  • Used as a surface-active additive in detergents and cleaning products.
  • Used as a dispersing agent for pesticidal and insecticidal emulsions.
  • Used as a binder in shoe polish coatings.
  • Used as a thickener in printing pastes for the textile industry, as well as to give body to finishing fabrics without loss of transparency.
  • Used as a suspension and plasticiser agent in fluid cement mixes.
  • Used as an adhesive on stamps and rolling papers.
  • Used as a binder in pyrotechnic compositions.
  • Used as a thickener in ceramic and porcelain pottery glazes.

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