Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large viscosity increase in solution, even at small concentrations. In the food industry they are used as thickening agents, gelling agents and stabilisers.

Examples include:

• Chicle gum, an older base for chewing gum
• Glucomannan, derived from the Konjac plant
• Dammar gum
• Gellan gum (E418)
• Guar gum (E412)
• Gum arabic (E414)
• Karaya gum (E416)
• Locust bean gum (E410)
• Mastic gum, a chewing gum from ancient Greece
• Psyllium seed husks
• Spruce gum, a chewing gum of American Indians
• Tara gum (E417)
• Tragacanth (E413)
• Xanthan gum (E415, made biotechnologically, by bacterial fermentation)

see also: natural chewing gum

Food additives | Gums | Edible thickening agents | Polysaccharides

Pflanzengummi