Gum Arabic: More Than an Edible Emulsifier

Utilization of Gum Arabic for Industries and Human Health

“…Gum Arabic is being widely used for industrial purposes such as a stabilizer, a thickener, an emulsifier and an encapsulating in the food industry and to a lesser extent in textiles, ceramics, lithography, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. In the food industry, GA is primarily used in confectionery, bakery, dairy, beverage and as a microencapsulating agent (Mariana et al, 2012).…”

“…It is also used in veterinary medicine, to treat skin diseases and inflammations for example. Table 3 showed the amino acid content in gum arabic obtained from A. senegal (Mariana et al, 2012). The Ebers manuscript (a medical document on papyrus written around 1550 BC) describes acacia gum or GA as a means of contraception when utilized with dates.…”

“…Nevertheless, gum Arabic is most famous and prized by producing and exporting countries for its industrial uses, among others, in the nutrition, pharmaceutical and cosmetic branches (Verbeken et al, 2003). (Mariana et al, 2012) Gum Arabic is utilized in the food industry to set flavors, as an emulsifying agent, to prevent the crystallization of sugar in confectionary and as a stabilizing agent in frozen dairy products. It is also useful in the baking industry because of its viscous and adhesive properties, which are used to stabilize mousses and as a turbidity agent in beer.…”

Modification of PET surfaces with gum Arabic towards its bacterial anti-adhesiveness using an experimental factorial design approach

“…Although the exact mechanism of antimicrobial action is unknown, there are some studies suggesting that the presence of antimicrobial enzymes like oxidases, peroxidases and pectinases might be the reason for its antimicrobial activity. Some other studies highlight that the presence of the high amounts of salts may be the reason for the antimicrobial properties of gum Arabic [5047,5148], since glucuronic acid is found as calcium, magnesium and potassium salts in nature [5249]. Furthermore, it was also seen that roughness obtained through modification did not promote the adhesion indicating that surface hydrophilicity can be more important at bacterial adhesion.…”