Acacia Gum

Description

SoapGoods is not FDA regulated. All of our products are recommended for external use only. Soapgoods does not sell items for use in food.

Acacia gum has been used in pharmaceuticals as a demulcent. It is used topically for healing wounds and has been shown to inhibit the growth of periodontic bacteria and the early deposition of plaque.

Acacia gum is a brittle, odorless and generally tasteless material that contains a number of neutral sugars, acids, calcium. The main component of the gum is Arabian, the calcium salt of the polysaccharide Arabic acid. 4 The structure of the gum is complex and has not yet been fully explained. A comprehensive analysis, including NMR spectra for 35 samples of gum Arabic, has been published to serve as the basis for international standardization of acacia gum. 10 The gum is built upon a backbone of D-galactose units with side chains of D-glucuronic acid with L-rhamnose or L-arabinose terminal units

The acacia is a plant in the family Mimosacaea, related to the mimosas of the southern United States and a close cousin of the legumes. It would not be inaccurate to think of the acacia as a tree-sized, woody, spiny bean.

The plant only produces acacia gum under adverse conditions, such as poor soil, drought, or heat, and damaged trees produce more gum. For these reasons, the most abundant harvest of acacia gum is produced in Sudan.

In the Southwestern United States a potentially toxic plant (a species of Acacia) known locally as ua de gato (cat's claw) is frequently confused with the medicinal plant ua de gato from the Peruvian Amazon (Uncaria tomentosa). It is not the rainforest herb, and it is not a source of acacia gum, although it is sometimes sold in hierberas as either or both.

Acacia gum is colorless, tasteless, and soluble in cold water. Chemically, acacia gum is a combination of complex polysaccharides and proteins. On the molecular level, this arabino-galactan-protein complex is a beautiful amalgamation of complex branches, trapping water in its 'folds' for the use of the plant.

Precautions: Safe for internal use for external use without limitation, although allergies are possible for people exposed to windborne pollen (in Africa, India, or Saudi Arabia).