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EC / List no.: 232-519-5
CAS no.: 9000-01-5
Acacia Vera is a tree of middling size, with a crooked stem covered with a smooth gray bark, numerous scattered branches covered with a yellowish-green or purplish bark.
The leaves are alternate, bipinnate, and composed of two pairs of opposite pinnae, with numerous, small, oblong, linear, and smooth leaflets, supported on very short footstalks; on the common petiole, and between each pair of pinnae, is a gland.
The flowers are bright yellow, inodorous, small, and collected in globular heads about two together, and supported on slender, axillary peduncles, and furnished with two small bracts.
The branches and petioles are glabrous ; the spines are in pairs, sharp, and from three to six lines long, and are situated at the insertion of each leaf, being united at their base.
The legume is four or five inches long, moniliform, smooth, fiat, of a pale-brown color, and divided into several orbicular portions, in each of which is contained a single, flattish seed.
The best quality of Acacia Vera is obtained from this tree.
History
These trees grow in upper and lower Egypt, Senegal, and other parts of Africa, also flourish in Arabia, and in Hindostan, where their gum is used for food by the natives.
Arabica is the most widely diffused of the gum-bearing trees.
Acacia Vera is likewise obtained from several other species of Acacia, but not so largely as from the two above-named.
The gum of the Acacias exudes spontaneously from the bark of the trunk and branches, and hardens on exposure; but incisions are sometimes made in order to facilitate the exudation.
Acacia Vera exudes from the trees in the form of a thick and somewhat frothy juice, soon after the rainy season has softened their bark, and rendered it apt to split during the hot weather that succeeds.
Acacia Vera is secreted in greatest abundance by old stunted trees, and in dry, hot seasons, and is thought by some to be the result of disease.
The best quality of Acacia Vera has a very pale, straw color, breaks with a vitreous fracture, is transparent, inodorous, insipid, and feels quite viscid in the mouth.
Acacia Vera is generally in small, round, irregular lumps, of easy fracture.
Its colored varieties are bleached by exposure to the light of the sun.
Its specific gravity varies from 1.3 to 1.4. In powder it is always white.
Acacia Vera is soluble in cold or hot water, forming a viscid solution called mucilage, which, when evaporated, yields the gum unchanged.
Acacia Vera is insoluble in alcohol, ether, and the oils, and is precipitated from its aqueous solution by alcohol.
Concentrated acids decompose it.
A solution of borax coagulates it.
Acacia Vera unites with sugar in solution, which when evaporated yields an uncrystallizable, transparent, solid substance.
Acacia Vera is also soluble in dilute acids, solutions of the pure alkalies, and lime-water.
A concentrated aqueous solution of Acacia Vera may be kept a long while, unless the weather be very hot, in which event it will ferment.
A weak solution ferments speedily, and acetous acid is developed.
Nitric acid changes pure gum into mucic or saccho-lactic acid.
Analysis shows it to contain bi-malate, and muriate of lime, muriate and acetate of potassa, and some other matters.
Properties and Uses.
Nutritive and demulcent.
Used in irritations or inflammations of mucous surfaces ; as, hoarseness, sore-throat, cough, gonorrhea, catarrh of the urinary bladder, dysentery, diarrhea, strangury, and tenesmus.
Acacia Vera may be given, ad libitum, in the form of solution or lozenge; as an article of diet in cases requiring a rigid regimen, as in fevers, it is superior to any other substance; it may be used for this purpose by dissolving the gum in powder, half an ounce, in five ounces of water, and sweetening with loaf-sugar, of which a tablespoonful may be given every two or three hours; in low stages of fever, in typhoid fever, and wherever a mild stimulant is required, one ounce of a saturated solution of camphor in sulphuric ether may be added to the above, and administered in the same way; it is diuretic, promotes the action of the absorbents, and does not materially increase arterial action.
Equal parts of pulverized alum and Acacia Vera form a good preparation to check hemorrhages from small cuts, wounds, etc.
Externally, the application of its solution to burns and scalds has proved serviceable, repeating it until a complete coating is secured.
Acacia Vera is likewise much used for compounding pills, lozenges, mixtures and emulsions; also for administering insoluble substances in water, as oils, resins, balsams, camphor, musk, etc.
Mucilage of Acacia Vera
To four ounces of finely pulverized Acacia Vera, add, very gradually, a pint of boiling water, and rub the whole until perfectly blended.
Dose, ad libitum. When Acacia Vera is adulterated with cherry gum, it is not easy to form a good mucilage; the cerasin of the cherry gum will cause it to be ropy.
Acacia Vera has been used in medicines, baking ingredients, tools, and woodwork for centuries. Acacia Vera has a long history in civilizations as ancient as the Egyptians and the aboriginal tribes of Australia.
These kingdoms and tribes used acacia in surprisingly diverse ways, from making desserts to treating hemorrhoids.
The first species ever discovered was given the name Acacia nilotica by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus in the 1700s, and since then, nearly 1,000 species have been added to the Acacia genus.
Acacia Vera still sits on grocery store shelves in crushed, ground, and whole form.
The name Acacia Vera itself refers to a genus of plant that includes many different types of plants, such as trees and shrubs.
They can be used in a variety of applications.
Relieves pain and irritation
Acacia Vera has a naturally sticky texture. Materials with this property are often used to reduce irritation and inflammation. Acacia Vera has been shown to be especially effective in easing stomach or throat discomfort.
Helps wound healing
Acacia Vera is often used in topical treatments to help wounds heal. Doctors, scientists, and researchers believe that this effect may be due to some of its chemicals, such as alkaloids, glycosides, and flavonoids.
Promotes oral health
The extract of a species of acacia known as Acacia catechu, sometimes called black khair, can be used in dental products like mouthwash to prevent gingivitis. Powdered Acacia Vera can also be used in a type of herbal toothpaste that’s been shown to clean teeth without being too abrasive to the surface of your teeth.
Good source of fiber
Acacia Vera contains water-soluble dietary fibers (WSDF) that are not only good fiber for your diet but also helpful in keeping your cholesterol under control.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even made changes to regulations to recognize the beneficial use of acacia as a good fiber source in many popular foods, including cereals, juice, and yogurt.
Reduces body fat
Acacia Vera has the potential to keep your weight in a healthy range while also reducing your overall body fat.
Soothes coughs and sore throats
Because it’s known to relieve irritation and inflammation, acacia gum can also help control coughs.
The properties of acacia gum allow it to be used in solutions to coat your throat and protect the mucus in your throat from irritation. Using acacia for coughs can keep your throat from becoming sore as well as ease or prevent symptoms, including losing your voice.
Restricts blood loss
Acacia Vera, found in the United States and Mexico, can be used to help stop blood flow in gashes, wounds, and other surface cuts.
Pouring an acacia-infused tea on cuts is an especially effective remedy.
This can be helpful for stopping heavy bleeding and washing bacteria from the cut.
Uses:
Acacia Vera has been used in pharmaceuticals as a demulcent.
Acacia Vera is used topically for healing wounds and inhibits the growth of periodontic bacteria and the early deposition of plaque.
A probiotic effect (bifidogenic) of gum acacia has been reported along with increased satiety and decreased body weight in a limited number of clinical trials; however, no effect on lipid or glucose profiles has been demonstrated.
Botany
The acacia tree (A. senegal; syn. with Acacia verek Guill et Perr.) is a thorny, scraggly tree that grows approximately 4.5 m tall. Acacia Vera is most abundant in regions of Africa, especially in the Republic of Sudan. A distinguishing feature of the species is the presence of triple spines at the branchlet base. During times of drought, the bark of the tree splits, exuding a sap that dries in small droplets or tears. Historically, these hardened sap tears served as the major source of acacia gum, but modern commercial acacia gum is derived by tapping trees periodically and collecting the resin semimechanically. Trees of the genera Albizia and Combretum are often confused with acacia, but gums from these species should not be used as substitutes for acacia gum.
History
Acacia Vera has long been used in traditional medicine and everyday applications. The Egyptians used the material as glue and as a base for pain relievers. Arabic physicians treated a wide variety of ailments with the gum, resulting in the alternative name "gum arabic.
Today, it is used widely in the pharmaceutical industry as a demulcent and in the food industry to give body and texture to processed food products. Acacia Vera also is used to stabilize emulsions. The fibers of the bark are used to make cordage. The gum also has been administered intravenously (IV) to counteract low blood pressure following surgery and to treat edema associated with nephrosis, but because IV administration was found to cause renal and liver damage, as well as allergic reactions, it was abandoned.
Chemistry
Acacia Vera is a brittle, odorless, and generally tasteless material that contains a number of neutral sugars, acids, calcium, and other electrolytes.
The main component of the gum is arabin, the calcium salt of the polysaccharide arabic acid.
The gum is built upon a backbone of D-galactose units, with side chains of D-glucuronic acid having L-rhamnose or L-arabinose terminal units.
The molecular weight of the gum is in the range of 200,000 to 600,000 daltons. Acacia Vera is soluble in water, but insoluble in alcohol.
Acacia Vera contains a peroxidase enzyme, which is typically destroyed by brief exposure to heat.
If not inactivated, this enzyme forms colored complexes with certain amines and phenols and catalyzes the oxidation of many pharmaceutical products, including alkaloids and some vitamins.
The quality and grade of acacia gum is variable depending on growing conditions and collection method.
A comprehensive analysis, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectra for 35 samples of Acacia Vera, has been published to serve as the basis for international standardization of acacia gum.
Uses and Pharmacology
Antimicrobial
Conversely, acacia gum reduces the antibacterial effectiveness of the preservative methyl-p-hydroxybenzoate against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, presumably by offering physical barrier protection to the microbial cells from the action of the preservative.
Chemical constituents
Acacia consists principally of arabin, which is a complex mixture of calcium, magnesium and potassium salts of arabic acid.
Arabic acid is a branched polysaccharide that yields L-arabinose, D-galactose, D-glucuronic acid and L-rhamnose on hydrolysis.
1, 3-Linked D-galactopyranose units form the backbone chain of the molecule and the terminal residues of the 1, 6-linked side chains are primarily uronic acids.
Acacia contains 12–15% of water and several occluded enzymes such as oxidases, peroxidases and pectinases.
The total ash content should be in the range of 2.7–4.0%.
Uses:
The mucilage of acacia is employed as a demulcent.
Acacia Vera is used extensively as a vital pharmaceutical aid for emulsification and to serve as a thickening agent.
Acacia Vera finds its enormous application as a binding agent for tablets, for example, cough lozenges.
Acacia Vera is used in the process of ‘granulation’ for the manufacturing of tablets.
Acacia Vera is considered to be the gum of choice by virtue of the fact that it is quite com-patible with other plant hydrocolloids as well as starches, carbohydrates and proteins.
Acacia Vera is used in combination with gelatin to form conservates for micro-encapsulation of drugs.
Acacia Vera is employed as colloidal stabilizer.
Acacia Vera is used extensively in making of candy and other food products.
Gum acacia solution has consistency similar to blood and is administered intravenously in haemodialysis.
Acacia Vera is used in the manufacture of adhesives and ink, and as a binding medium for marbling colours.
Acacia Vera , also known as gum sudani, acacia gum, Arabic gum, gum acacia, acacia, Senegal gum, Indian gum, and by other names, is a natural gum consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the acacia (sensu lato) tree, Acacia senegal (now known as Senegalia senegal) and Vachellia (Acacia) seyal.
The term "Acacia Vera " does not indicate a particular botanical source.
In a few cases, the so-called "Acacia Vera " may not even have been collected from acacia species, but may originate from Combretum, Albizia, or some other genus.
The gum is harvested commercially from wild trees, mostly in Sudan (80%) and throughout the Sahel, from Senegal to Somalia.
The name "Acacia Vera " (al-samgh al-'arabi) was used in the Middle East at least as early as the 9th century. Acacia Vera first found its way to Europe via Arabic ports, so retained its name.
Acacia Vera is a complex mixture of glycoproteins and polysaccharides predominantly consisting of arabinose and galactose.
Acacia Vera is soluble in water, edible, and used primarily in the food industry and soft-drink industry as a stabilizer, with E number E414 (I414 in the US).
Acacia Vera is a key ingredient in traditional lithography and is used in printing, paint production, glue, cosmetics, and various industrial applications, including viscosity control in inks and in textile industries, though less expensive materials compete with Acacia Vera for many of these roles.
Definition
Acacia Vera was defined by the 31st Codex Committee for Food Additives, held at The Hague from 19 to 23 March 1999, as the dried exudate from the trunks and branches of Acacia senegal or Vachellia (Acacia) seyal in the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae).
A 2017 safety re-evaluation by the Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that the term "Acacia Vera" does not indicate a particular botanical source; in a few cases, so‐called "Acacia Vera" may not even have been collected from Acacia species.
Health Benefits
Acacia Vera is a rich source of dietary fibers and in addition to its widespread use in food and pharmaceutical industries as a safe thickener, emulsifier, and stabilizer, Acacia Vera also possesses a broad range of health benefits that have been evidently proved through several in vitro and in vivo studies.
Acacia Vera is not degraded in the stomach but fermented in the large intestine into a number of short chain fatty acids.
Acacia Vera is regarded as a prebiotic that enhances the growth and proliferation of the beneficial intestinal microbiota and therefore its intake is associated with many useful health effects.
These health benefits include
1- Acacia Vera proved to improve absorption of calcium from the gastrointestinal tract.
2- Anti-diabetic
3- Anti-obesity (Acacia Vera lowers the body mass index and body fat percentage)
4- Lipid lowering potential (Acacia Vera decreases total cholesterol, LDL, and triglyceride)
5- Antioxidant activities
6- Kidney and liver support
7- Immune function via modulating the release of some inflammatory mediators.
8- Prebiotics improve the intestinal barrier function, prevent colon cancer, and alleviate symptoms of irritable bowel diseases.
Usage
Other substances have replaced Acacia Vera where toxicity is not an issue, as the proportions of the various chemicals in Acacia Vera vary widely and make Acacia Vera unpredictable.
Still, Acacia Vera remains an important ingredient in soft drink syrup and "hard" gummy candies such as gumdrops, marshmallows, and M&M's chocolate candies.
For artists, Acacia Vera is the traditional binder in watercolor paint and in photography for gum printing, and Acacia Vera is used as a binder in pyrotechnic compositions.
Pharmaceutical drugs and cosmetics also use the gum as a binder, emulsifying agent, and a suspending or viscosity-increasing agent.
Wine makers have used Acacia Vera as a wine fining agent.
Acacia Vera is an important ingredient in shoe polish, and can be used in making homemade incense cones.
Acacia Vera is also used as a lickable adhesive, for example on postage stamps, envelopes, and cigarette papers.
Lithographic printers employ Acacia Vera to keep the non-image areas of the plate receptive to water.
This treatment also helps to stop oxidation of aluminium printing plates in the interval between processing of the plate and its use on a printing press.
Food
Acacia Vera is used in the food industry as a stabilizer, emulsifier, and thickening agent in icing, fillings, soft candy, chewing gum, and other confectionery, and to bind the sweeteners and flavorings in soft drinks.
A solution of sugar and Acacia Vera in water, gomme syrup, is sometimes used in cocktails to prevent the sugar from crystallizing and provide a smooth texture.
Painting and art
Acacia Vera is used as a binder for watercolor painting because it dissolves easily in water.
Pigment of any color is suspended within the acacia gum in varying amounts, resulting in watercolor paint.
Water acts as a vehicle or a diluent to thin the watercolor paint and helps to transfer the paint to a surface such as paper.
When all moisture evaporates, the acacia gum typically does not bind the pigment to the paper surface, but is totally absorbed by deeper layers.
If little water is used, after evaporation, the acacia gum functions as a true binder in a paint film, increasing luminosity and helping prevent the colors from lightening.
Acacia Vera allows more subtle control over washes, because it facilitates the dispersion of the pigment particles.
In addition, acacia gum slows evaporation of water, giving slightly longer working time.
The addition of a little Acacia Vera to watercolor pigment and water allows for easier lifting of pigment from paper, thus can be a useful tool when lifting out color when painting in watercolor.
Ceramics
Acacia Vera has a long history as additives to ceramic glazes.
Acacia Vera acts as a binder, helping the glaze adhere to the clay before it is fired, thereby minimising damage by handling during the manufacture of the piece.
As a secondary effect, it also acts as a deflocculant, increasing the fluidity of the glaze mixture, but also making it more likely to sediment out into a hard cake if not used for a while.
The gum is normally made up into a solution in hot water (typically 10–25 g/l), and then added to the glaze solution after any ball milling in concentrations from 0.02% to 3.0% of Acacia Vera to the dry weight of the glaze.
On firing, the gum burns out at a low temperature, leaving no residues in the glaze.
More recently, particularly in commercial manufacturing, Acacia Vera is often replaced by more refined and consistent alternatives, such as carboxymethyl cellulose.
Photography
The historical photography process of gum bichromate photography uses Acacia Vera mixed with ammonium or potassium dichromate and pigment to create a coloured photographic emulsion that becomes relatively insoluble in water upon exposure to ultraviolet light.
In the final print, the acacia gum permanently binds the pigments onto the paper.
Printmaking
Acacia Vera is also used to protect and etch an image in lithographic processes, both from traditional stones and aluminum plates.
In lithography, gum by itself may be used to etch very light tones, such as those made with a number-five crayon.
Phosphoric, nitric, or tannic acid is added in varying concentrations to the acacia gum to etch the darker tones up to dark blacks.
The etching process creates a gum adsorb layer within the matrix that attracts water, ensuring that the oil-based ink does not stick to those areas.
Gum is also essential to what is sometimes called paper lithography, printing from an image created by a laser printer or photocopier.
Pyrotechnics
Acacia Vera is also used as a water-soluble binder in fireworks composition.
Fuel charcoal
Acacia Vera is used as a binding agent in the making of fuel charcoal.
Charcoal made from the taifa plant is powdery, and so in order to form charcoal cakes, Acacia Vera is mixed with this powder and allowed to dry.
Fuel charcoal made from taifa and Acacia Vera is used for cooking fires in Senegal and a few other African countries.
Composition
Arabinogalactan is a biopolymer consisting of arabinose and galactose monosaccharides.
Acacia Vera is a major component of many plant gums, including Acacia Vera.
8-5' Noncyclic diferulic acid has been identified as covalently linked to carbohydrate moieties of the arabinogalactan-protein fraction.
Production
While Acacia Vera has been harvested in Arabia, Sudan, and West Asia since antiquity, sub-Saharan acacia gum has a long history as a prized export.
The gum exported came from the band of acacia trees that once covered much of the Sahel region, the southern littoral of the Sahara Desert that runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea.
Today, the main populations of gum-producing Acacia species are found in Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Acacia is tapped for gum by stripping bits off the bark, from which gum then exudes.
Traditionally harvested by seminomadic desert pastoralists in the course of their transhumance cycle, acacia gum remains a main export of several African nations, including Mauritania, Niger, Chad, and Sudan.
Total world Acacia Vera exports are today (2019) estimated at 160,000 tonnes, having recovered from 1987 to 1989 and 2003–2005 crises caused by the destruction of trees by the desert locust.
Acacia Vera: Everything You Need to Know
Acacia Vera, also known as Gum Acacia, is a tree gum exudate that has been an important commercial ingredient since ancient times.
The Egyptians used it for embalming mummies, and for making paints for hieroglyphic inscriptions.
However, in recent years, a renewed interest in Acacia Vera has occurred, as more articles are published concerning its structure, properties, and novel applications in food and pharmaceuticals.
Acacia Vera is a tree exudate that is obtained mainly from the Acacia Senegal or Acacia Seyal species.
The trees grow widely across the Sahelian belt of Africa, a region of Africa is a 3,860-kilometre arc-like land mass immediately south of the Sahara Desert that stretches east-west from Senegal in the west to Somalia in the east.
Acacia Vera is the resin that oozes from the stems and branches of trees.
Production of Acacia Vera or Gum Acacia is stimulated by `tapping,’ which involves removing sections of the bark, taking care not to damage the tree.
The sticky, gummy substance dries on the branches to form hard nodules which are picked by hand and are sorted according to color and size.
Other names: Acacia Vera (Acacia senegal) Gum hashab, kordofan gum, Acacia Vera (Acacia seyal) Gum talha, Acacia gum, Arabic gum.
Chemical And Molecular Structure Of Acacia Vera
Acacia Vera consists mainly of calcium, magnesium and potassium salts which yield arabinose, galactose, rhamnose, and glucuronic acid after hydrolysis.
Chemical compositions of Acacia Vera may vary slightly with the source, climate, season, and age of the tree.
Acacia Senegal and Acacia Seyal both contain the same carbohydrate residues.
However, Acacia Seyal gum has lower rhamnose and glucuronic acid contents, and higher arabinose and glucuronic acid contents than the gum derived from Acacia Senegal. The amino acid compositions are similar in both gums, with hydroxyproline and serine being the major constituentz.
Both gums from the Acacia and Acacia Seyal display similar features regarding high-weight molecular mass distributions.
However, the molecular mass of gum from Acacia Seyal is higher than the gum of Acacia Senegal, with an average molecular mass of 380,000 and 850,000, respectively.
Molecular Weight / Distance Benefit Prebiotics
The adult human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is 9 meters (or 29.5 feet ) from the esophagus to the anus.
Acacia Vera is important to note that short-chain, low molecular weight monosaccharides and disaccharides are more easily fermented proximally in the gastrointestinal tract than their more resistant and complex, higher molecular weight, oligosaccharide or polysaccharide counterparts.
While shorter-chain prebiotics can impart benefits, the large, slowly fermented polysaccharides of higher molecular weight have significant advantages over small, rapidly fermented sugars such as lactulose, and other non-digestible oligosaccharides.
These include the ability to be tolerated at higher doses by consumers with reduced risk of side effects such as intestinal discomfort and flatulence caused by excessive gas formation; mucosal damage from rapid acidification; or the laxative effect of too high concentrations of small sugars in the colon.
Perhaps more importantly, high-molecular weight polysaccharides supply a persistent source of fermentable carbohydrate throughout the length of the colon rather than being completely fermented proximally.
A Novel Approach to Prebiotic Supplementation
We know that the fermentation of refined, and short-chain carbohydrates and oligosaccharides occur more proximally, whereas the more complex oligosaccharides and polysaccharides can be fermented distally.
We also know that a highly refined “Western Diet” high in saturated fat while lacking in complex carbohydrates is associated with several metabolic, and autoimmune diseases.
However, what we might not have known is that carbohydrate complexity is also associated with molecular weight and viscosity.
The lower the molecular weight, the shorter the chains.
The higher the weight, the higher the number of polymer chains. Further, the more polymer chains, the higher the viscosity.
In fact, the source of the most complex polysaccharides with the highest molecular weight that are found in the diet are food-grade hydrocolloids.
Food Hydrocolloids And Their Prebiotic Activity
High molecular weight is an attractive feature of commercial hydrocolloids or a substance that forms a gel in the presence of water.
This group of high viscosity, high-molecular-weight non-digestible complex polysaccharides include pectins, arabinogalactans, beta-glucans, inulin, mucilages, as well as bacterial gums like xanthan gum or gellan gum; tree gums, such as Acacia Vera, gum tragacanth, and gum ghatti; leguminous gums, such as guar gum and locust bean gum; as well as food-grade, water-soluble seaweed extracts, such as carrageenan, sodium alginate, and agar.
As we know, many complex polysaccharides have prebiotic activity and feed beneficial microorganisms, imparting metabolic benefits to the host.
Health Benefits of Acacia Vera or Gum Acacia
While Acacia Vera has been investigated extensively for its properties as a hydrocolloid with several food applications, it has also been the subject of more recent investigation for its ability to improve human health.
Because Acacia Vera can reach the large intestine and resist digestion in the small intestine, it can be categorized as a non-digestible carbohydrate or dietary fiber.
Acacia Vera can also be categorized as a prebiotic.
In the large intestine, Acacia Vera is fermented by bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), particularly propionic acid, as by-products of fermentation that are associated with significant improvements to human health.
Bifidogenic: Fermentation of Acacia Vera has shown to selectively increase the proportions of lactic acid-producing bacteria and bifidobacteria in study subjects.
Acacia Vera also augments the water content of stools and increases stool output.
Further, evidence suggests that Acacia Vera acts as a prebiotic as doses of 10g/day, and can be consumed with at even higher daily doses without any adverse gastrointestinal issues.
Acacia Vera is known to feed several different strains of indigenous bifidobacterium including B.
longum, and showed that it could increase Bifidobacterium animalis subsp.
lactis significantly better than both inulin and glucose.
Prebiotic: Acacia Vera can selectively raise the proportions of lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria in healthy subjects.
Acacia Vera is fermented slowly, with digestibility around 95%.
Acacia Vera also increases stool output by augmenting the water content of stools.
Anti-Diabetic: Other studies found that microbial SCFA production (and viscosity) was significantly increased after the addition of Acacia Vera to foods, and further suggested that it also reduced postprandial glycemic response having a homeostatic effect on diabetes via increased acetic acid production.
Therefore, the simple addition of Acacia Vera improved foods metabolically for human use.
These results suggest that the effect of Acacia Vera on intestinal glucose transport may be useful in the prophylaxis and treatment of metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes.
Nephroprotective: Acacia Vera increases creatinine clearance, enhances renal excretion of antidiuretic hormones, decreases plasma phosphate concentration, enhances renal secretion of antidiuretic hormone , and is used as a treatment for chronic and end-stage renal disease in Middle Eastern countries.
The effects of Acacia Vera on plasma phosphate concentration, blood pressure, and proteinuria may prove beneficial in chronic renal failure (CRF) and diabetic nephropathy.
Acacia Vera moderately reduces histological and biochemical markers after acute gentamycin nephrotoxicity.
Acacia Vera may also serve as a treatment for a renal disease as well due to its ability to trap bile salts in conjunction with its relatively high effect on butyrate production which has shown to suppress the production of TGF-beta1 cytokines.
Anti-carcinogenic: Angiogenins are angiogenetic factors upregulated by tumor cells, and are involved in the vascularization and growth of tumors. Angiogenins are upregulated in cancer cells by numerous tissues that include colon, stomach, liver, pancreas, uterus, breast, ovary, prostate, bladder, kidney, and brain.
Angiogenins are also found up-regulated in leukemia, osteosarcoma, lymphoma, melanoma, and Wilms tumor. According to this study, Acacia Vera produced a “profound inhibitory effect on angiogenin suppression. “
Anti-Obesigenic: Acacia Vera significantly reduced the BMI and body fat percentage in a two-arm randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of healthy adult females.
Authors of the study suggest that Acacia Vera should be investigated further as a treatment for obesity.
However, it was noted that common side effects included preliminary bloating and diarrhea.
Lower Cholesterol: In other studies, Acacia Vera + apple fiber were found to lead to a significant reduction of total serum cholesterol concentration, especially the LDL fractions in men with high cholesterol.
Ulcerative Colitis: Acacia Vera may serve as a treatment for ulcerative colitis due to its ability to increase the SCFAs butyrate production and its trophic effects on the gut membrane, as well as its ability to reduce the duration and incidence of diarrhea.
Common Food Applications of Acacia Vera
Here’s a fun fact: When the US imposed sanctions on Sudan over the government’s actions in Darfur in 2000, it stopped all imports except one: Acacia Vera.
The government feared that stopping the imports on Acacia Vera would have too severe an impact on the US food industry.
Acacia Vera is one of the most ubiquitous ingredients in consumer products— ranging from Coca-Cola to shoe polish, to pharmaceuticals and confectionaries.
Confectionary Applications: The primary application of Acacia Vera is in the confectionery industry, used in a variety of products including gums, pastilles, marshmallows, and toffees.
Traditional wine gums also incorporated Acacia Vera at high concentrations and added wine for flavor.
Beverages: Acacia Vera is stable in acid conditions.
For this reason, Acacia Vera is often used as an emulsifier in the production of concentrated flavor oils, such as those found in soft drinks.
Acacia Vera inhibits the coalescence of oil droplets, keeping emulsions stable for up to a year.
Dietary Fiber Fortification: In regulatory terms, dietary fiber refers to carbohydrate polymers which are neither digested nor absorbed in the small intestine, with polymerization of above three.
In other words, monosaccharides and disaccharides are inherently excluded from meeting requirements of the definition.
Acacia Vera meets the requirements from a scientific point of view and has shown beneficial physiological effects.
Utilizing Acacia Vera in place of other ingredients in commercial recipes can help decrease net carbs in products and improve nutritional value.
What Is Acacia Vera?
Acacia Vera, also sometimes called acacia gum or acacia powder, is a fibrous product made from the natural hardened sap of two types of wild Acacia trees.
Around the world, Acacia Vera goes by many names, including acacia gum, arabic gum, acacia powder, Senegal gum, Indian gum and others.
Acacia senegal (L.), a tree in the Leguminosae (Fabaceae) plant family, is most commonly used to make Acacia Vera products.
Vachellia (Acacia) is another species that produces a dried gum from its trunk and branches.
These trees grow most abundantly in Sudan, where about 50 percent of the world’s Acacia Vera is now produced, but are also found in other parts of Africa, such as Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
What’s interesting about acacia trees is that they produce the most Acacia Vera when they experience “adverse conditions,” such as poor soil, drought or high heat.
This actually damages the trees to some degree but causes an increase in the production of arabic gum.
What type of organic molecule is Acacia Vera?
Acacia Vera is made of a mixture of glycoproteins, a class of proteins that have carbohydrate groups attached to the polypeptide chain, and polysaccharides, a carbohydrate whose molecules consist of a number of sugar molecules bonded together.
Acacia Vera also includes oligosaccharides, another type of carbohydrate.
Additionally, gums collected from acacia trees are a source of natural sugar compounds called arabinose and ribose, which were some of the first concentrated sugars to be derived from plants/trees.
The exact chemical composition of Acacia Vera varies from product to product, depending on its source and the climate/soil conditions in which it was grown.
Today, there are many industrial and food-related uses for Acacia Vera.
For example, gelatin, modified starch, Acacia Vera and pectin are the main types of gums used in many sugary/confectionery products.
Arabic gum is used to help stabilize products including:
A wide variety of desserts and baking ingredients
Dairy products like ice cream
Syrups
Hard and soft candies
Ink, paint, watercolors, and photography and printing materials
Ceramics and clay
Stamps and envelopes
Shoe polish
Cosmetics
Firworks
Herbal medicines, pills and lozenges
Emulsions that are applied to the skin
Acacia Vera is the gum that is exuded from certain trees, such as the Acacia senegal tree.
It's a dietary fiber that can dissolve in water.
Acacia Vera is used for high cholesterol, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.
In manufacturing, Acacia Vera is used as a pharmaceutical ingredient in medications for throat or stomachinflammation and as a film-forming agent in peel-off skin masks.
What is Acacia Gum?
Acacia gum is also called Acacia Vera.
Acacia Vera is made from the sap of the Acacia senegal tree, or gum acacia.
Acacia Vera is used medicinally as well as in the production of many items.
In fact, the many acacia gum uses span numerous professional industries.
Acacia Vera may even be an important part of everyday health.
Further acacia arabic information can help you decide if you should include it in your diet.
Much of the supply of acacia gum comes from the Sudan region, but also from Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Kenya, Eritrea, and Senegal.
Acacia Vera comes from the thorny Acacia senegal tree where the sap bubbles up to the surface of the branches.
Workers must brave those thorns to scrape the stuff off the bark as it occurs during the rainy season.
The sap is dried using the naturally warm temperatures of the region.
This process is called curing.
Countless tons of the sap is sent annually to Europe for processing.
There it is cleaned, dissolved in water, and dried again to create a powder.
The sap is a cold, water soluble polysaccharide.
In its gum form, the product thins out as temperature rises.
These variable forms make it useful in a host of products.
Historical Acacia Vera Information Acacia Vera was first used in Egypt in the mummification process to adhere the bandage wrappings.
Acacia Vera was even used in cosmetics.
The substance was used to stabilize paint as early as biblical times.
During the Stone Age, it was used as a food and an adhesive.
Ancient Greek writings mention its use to relieve discomfort of blisters, burns, and stop nose bleeds.
Later periods found artists utilizing it to bind pigments and in ink.
More modern occurrences found it in glue, as part of textile manufacturing, and in early photographic prints.
Today’s uses are off the map and Acacia Vera can be found in most households.
Acacia Gum Uses Today Acacia gum can be found in soft drinks, canned and frozen foods, snacks, and desserts.
Acacia Vera is considered a stabilizer, flavor fixer, adhesive, emulsifier, and helps prevent crystallization in sugary foods.
Acacia Vera is high in fiber and non-fat.
In non-food use, it is part of paint, glue, cosmetics, carbonless paper, pills, cough drops, porcelain, spark plugs, cement, fireworks and much more.
Acacia Vera improves textures, makes a flexible film, binds shapes, negatively charges water, absorbs pollutants, and is a nonpolluting binder when on fire.
Acacia Vera is also used in the health food industry to lower cholesterol, suppress appetite, keep blood sugar regulated, and treat digestive issues.
Overview
Acacia Vera[GA] is a branched-chain, complex polysaccharide, either neutral or slightly acidic, found as a mixed calcium, magnesium and potassium salt of a polysaccharidic acid.
Its backbone is composed of 1,3-linked b-D-galactopyranosyl units. The side chains are composed of two to five 1,3-linked b-D-galactopyranosyl units, joined to the main chain by 1,6-linkages.
Applications
GA has wide industrial uses as a stabilizer, thickening agent and emulsifier, mainly in the food industry[e.g. in soft drinks syrup, gummy candies and marshmallows], but also in the textile, pottery, lithography, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.
In folk medicine, GA has been reported to be used internally for the treatment of inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, and externally to cover inflamed surfaces.
Some recent reports have claimed that GA possesses anti-oxidant, nephroprotectant and other effects.
Clinically, it has been tried in patients with chronic renal failure, and it was claimed that it helps reduce urea and creatinine plasma concentrations and reduces the need for dialysis from 3 to 2 times per week.
Biological and pharmacological effects
Blood glucose level
Mixtures of different types of gum have been shown to inhibit glucose movement in vitro, and lower postprandial blood glucose and plasma insulin in human subjects when incorporated in a drink containing 50 g glucose.
Gastrointestinal tract
GA can improve small intestinal absorption of water as well as electrolytes.
Various mechanism have been proposed to account for the proabsorptive effects of GA on intestinal water and electrolytes under normal conditions and more so in conditions of diarrheal illness.
GA is a soluble fiber with moderate emulsifying properties that may result in greater accessibility of electrolytes and associated water to the microvillous membrane.
This was probably reflected in the increased lumen-to-serosa water influx noted with GA administration in the chronic osmotic-secretory diarrhea model.
Tooth mineralization
Acacia Vera has been shown, using histopathological methods, that GA has the ability to enhance remineralization, probably by supporting other remineralization activities.
This supporting role was ascribed to the rich content of Ca2+, Mg2+, and K+ salts of polysaccharides in GA, and to the effect of the gum on the metabolism of Ca2+ and possibly phosphate.
Description
Acacia gum is an odourless white to yellow-white powder.
Acacia Vera is soluble in water and incompatible with alcohol and oxidising agents and precipitates.
Acacia Vera gels on addition of solutions of ferric salts, borax, lead subacetate, alcohol, sodium silicate, gelatin, and ammoniated tincture of guaiac.
Acacia Vera is non-toxic and non-hazardous.
Acacia Vera is a water-soluble gum from several species of the acacia tree, especially Acacia senegal and A.
arabica, and used in the manufacture of adhesives and ink and as a binding medium for marbling colours.
Acacia Vera is also known as gum acacia and is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the Acacia tree – Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal.
Acacia Vera is a natural product of the Acacia senegal tree, occurring as an exudate from the trunks and branches.
Acacia Vera is used primarily in the food industry as a stabiliser but has had more varied uses.
Acacia Vera is normally collected by hand when dried, when it resembles a hard, amber-like resin normally referred to as ‘tears’.
Acacia Vera is widely used in the food industry as an emulsifier, thickener, and flavouring and thickening agent.
Acacia Vera is employed as a soothing agent in inflammatory conditions of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts and is useful in diarrhoea and dysentery.
Acacia Vera exerts a soothing influence upon all the surfaces with which it comes in contact.
Gum acacia is an ingredient of all the official Trochisci and various syrups, pastes, and pastilles or jujubes.
During the time of the gum harvest, the Moors of the desert are said to live almost entirely on it, and it has been proved that 6 oz. is sufficient to support an adult for 24 h. Gum acacia is highly nutritious, is a mixture of saccharides and glycoproteins, and provides the properties of a glue and binder suitable for human edibility.
In many cases of disease, it is considered that a solution of Acacia Vera may for a time constitute the exclusive drink and food of the patient.
Acacia Vera reduces the surface tension of liquids, which leads to increased fizzing in carbonated drinks.
Chemical Properties
Acacia gum is a white to yellow-white odorless powder.
Acacia Vera is soluble in water and incom- patible with alcohol, oxidizing agents, and precipitates or forms jellies on addition of solutions of ferric salts, borax, lead subacetate, alcohol, sodium silicate, gelatin, ammoni- ated tincture of guaiac.
Acacia Vera is non-toxic and non-hazardous.
A water-soluble gum from several species of the acacia tree, especially Acacia senegal and A. Arabica , it is used in the manufacture of adhesives and ink, and as a binding medium for marbling colors.
Acacia Vera, also known as gum acacia, chaar gund, or char goond, is a natural gum made of hardened sap taken from two species of the acacia tree— A. senegal and A. seyal .
Acacia Vera is a natural product of the A. senegal tree, occurring as an exudate from the trunks and branches.
Acacia Vera is used primarily in the food industry as a stabilizer, but has had more varied uses.
Acacia Vera is normally collected by hand when dried, when it resembles a hard, amber-like resin normally referred to as “tears.” Acacia Vera is widely used in the food industry, as an emulsifi er, thickener, and fl avor enhancer.
Acacia Vera is employed as a soothing agent in infl ammatory conditions of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tract, and is useful in diarrhea and dysentery.
Acacia Vera exerts a soothing infl uence on all the surfaces with which it comes in contact.
Gum acacia is an ingredient of all the offi cial Trochisci, and various syrups, pastes, and pastilles or jujubes.
During the time of the gum harvest, the Moors of the desert are said to live almost entirely on it, and it has been proved that 6 oz is suffi cient to support an adult for 24 h. Gum acacia is a mixture of saccharides and glycoproteins, is highly nutritious, and provides the properties of a glue, and a binder suitable for human consumption.
In many cases of disease, it is considered that a solu- tion of Acacia Vera may, for a time,constitute the exclusive drink and food of the patient.
Acacia Vera reduces the surface tension of liquids, which leads to increased fi zzing in carbonated drinks.
Uses:
A gum obtained from breaks or wounds in the bark of acacia trees.
Acacia Vera dissolves in hot or cold water forming clear solutions which can be up to 50% gum acacia. The solubility in water increases with temperature.
Acacia Vera is used in confectionary glazes to retard or prevent sugar crystallization and acts as an emulsifier to prevent fat from forming an oxidizable, greasy film.
Acacia Vera functions as a flavor fixative in spray-drying to form a thin film around the flavor particle.
Acacia Vera also functions as an emulsifier in flavor emulsions, as a cloud agent in beverages, and as a form stabilizer.
Acacia Vera is also termed acacia.
As mucilage, excipient for tablets, size, emulsifier, thickener, also in candy, other foods; as colloidal stabilizer. In the manufacture of spray-dried "fixed" flavorsstable, powdered flavors used in packaged dry-mix products (puddings, desserts, cake mixes) where flavor stability and long shelf life are important.
acacia (Acacia senegal)(acacia gum; black catechu; gum acacia; Acacia Vera) is commonly used in traditional remedies as a soothing and anti-inflammatory agent.
Acacia Vera is also used as a vegetable gum for product thickening. In extract form, acacia is recommended for dry, sensitive, or delicate skin.
Acacia is the dried gummy sap from the stems and branches of various species of the African acacia tree.
Acacia Vera may cause skin rashes in cases of allergy.
Production Methods
Acacia is the dried gummy exudate obtained from the stems and branches of Acacia senegal (Linné ) Willdenow or other related species of Acacia (Fam. Leguminosae) that grow mainly in the Sudan and Senegal regions of Africa.
The bark of the tree is incised and the exudate allowed to dry on the bark.
The dried exudate is then collected, processed to remove bark, sand, and other particulate matter, and graded.
Various acacia grades differing in particle size and other physical properties are thus obtained.
A spray-dried powder is also commercially available.
Pharmaceutical Applications
Acacia is mainly used in oral and topical pharmaceutical formulations as a suspending and emulsifying agent, often in combination with tragacanth.
Acacia Vera is also used in the preparation of pastilles and lozenges, and as a tablet binder, although if used incautiously it can produce tablets with a prolonged disintegration time.
Acacia has also been evaluated as a bioadhesive; and has been used in novel tablet formulations,and modified release tablets.
Acacia is also used in cosmetics, confectionery, food products, and spray-dried flavors.
IUPAC NAMES
Acacia Senegal Gum
acaciadealbata gum
ARABIC GUM
GUM ARABIC
Gum arabic
gum arabic
SYNONYMS:
acaciadealbatagum
acaciasenegal
acaciasyrup
australiangum
gumdragon
gumovaline
gumsenegal
nci-c50748
senegalgum
starsolno.1
starsolno1
wattlegum
Acacia, Total ash <4%
ARABIC GUM INDUSTRIAL GRADE
Acacia Gum (Gum Arabic)
Gum Arabic (Gum Acacia)
Gum Arabic, powder(Acacia)
Acacia gum, Acaciae gummi
Gum arabic from acacia tree, Gum arabic
Acacia, Total ash <
Gumacabic powder
GuM arabic, powder 250GR
Acacia NF
Gum arabic from acacia tree Vetec(TM) reagent grade
Acacia gum, total ash <4%
Gum acacia Arabic gum
GUM ARABIC FROM FROM ACACIA TREE, BR
Acacia gum, for analysis
ArabMa gum powder
Arabia gum powder
runus persica
Gum Arabic Food Grade
cacia senegal、Acacia seyal
ARABIC GUM
FEMA 2001
GUM ACACIA
GUM ARABIC
ACACIA
ACACIAE GUMMI
ACACIA GUM
Acacia,powder；Gum arabic,powder
Gum acacia powder
GUM ARABIC, SPRAY-DRIED
GUM ARABIC, FINE POWDER
ACACIA (GUM ARABIC) POWDER, PURIFIED, PH . EUR., PH. FRANC.
GUM ARABIC, PH EUR
ACACIA, POWDER
GUM ARABIC PHRMACEUTICAL GRADE
Acacia(EnzymeFree)Gr
GumArabicSolution
AcaciaSprayDriedPowder
ACACIA GUAR GR ( Gum Acacia Powder)
gum arabic from acacia tree
ACACIAMELANOXYLON
ACACIAGERRARDII
ACACIA(SEN)SUPERGUM(R)
ACACIATUMIDA
ACACIAERIOPODA
