Original article date: April 11, 2014 by Jill Frank
Updated Sept. 9, 2022 by Gavin Van De Walle
Guar gum is an important ingredient used for many food and beverage product applications.
Unfortunately, price volatility and ingredient scarcity have become challenges for manufactures.
Fortunately, alternatives like xanthan, locus bean, and tara gum offer similar properties with better cost and product stability, representing viable alternatives. You can read about these alternatives in Part 1.
This article will discuss six more guar gum alternatives. But first, here’s a refresher on guar gum.
Guar gum applications and market challenges
Guar gum is derived from the seeds of the guar plant (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, Fabaceae). The seeds grow in clusters giving guar gum its common name, cluster bean.
It’s a fiber composed of a complex carbohydrate polymer of galactose and mannose, similar to locust bean gum, but with different proportions of these two sugars.
Guar seed endosperm is a water-soluble gum, which is used as a stabilizer, emulsifier and thickener in various food products.
Here are a few examples of guar gum applications in various food categories:1
- Frozen foods – Helps control crystal growth, separation, and syneresis.
- Condiments – Helps reduce phase separation in oil-in-water matrices and keeps products free-flowing.
- Beverages – Contributes to mouth feel and viscosity.
- Dairy foods – Maintains viscosity, improves texture, and controls ice crystal formation.
- Baked goods and confectionery – Improves shelf life and freeze-thaw stability, manages moisture, and stabilizes the crystallization of sugars in icing.
- Gluten-Free products – Mimics the structure-building viscoelastic properties of gluten.
Guar gum also has applications in pet foods where it’s used to retain moisture and provide thickening and stabilizing properties.
Additionally, there is growing interest in using guar gum as a functional ingredient for gut health.
Partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG) demonstrates prebiotic properties by increasing the abundance of healthy bacteria species, namely Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, as well as colonic short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which strengthen the gut barrier function.2
Outside of these food applications, guar gum has commercial importance where it’s used in textile and carpet printing, explosives, paper production, and in the oil and gas industries. These commercial uses have contributed to the volatility in guar gum prices and product availability, leading manufacturers to seek alternatives.
Guar gum alternatives
There are several alternatives to guar gum. To decide which alternative suits your product best, consider factors related to use rate and the how it affects the flavor, texture, and stability.
Here are six alternatives to guar gum:
- Acacia gum (gum arabic): This alternative offers high solubility, low viscosity, and stabilizes emulsions.
- Alginates: Derived from brown algae, alginates form cold set yet heat stable gels in the presence of calcium ions and may be blended with other stabilizers for effective use in ice creams and other dairy products. Propylene glycol alginate works well in acidified conditions like yogurt and for thickening and stabilizing milk proteins.
- Certain fibers: Fibers from citrus fruits, potatoes, oats, and barley, among others, offer oil or water binding ability and can improve the texture or structure in certain products.
- Flaxseed powder: You can incorporate this alternative into baked goods while boosting the protein and omega-3 fatty acid content of the final product.
- Cellulose gums: Origination from the fibers of plants, cellulose gums have good water-holding capacity, helping to aid in prolonging the shelf life of some products. Types of cellulose gums include carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), methylcellulose (MC) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC).
- Carrageenan: Sourced from seaweed, carrageenan has three main commercial types — kappa, iota, and lambda — that vary in their functionally based on their degree of sulfation and number of galactose molecules. Kappa is the most common form, but a mix may be better for certain applications, particularly for preventing ice crystal growth.
Remember that not all guar gum alternatives are created equal. Review your countries regulations and consult your suppliers for further information on molecular weight, electrostatic interaction, hydration rates, and processing requirements to get the best replacement in your system.
Also, running real-time shelf-life studies can help you decide which alternative is the best long-term solution for your product.
References
- Mudgil D, Barak S, Khatkar BS. Guar gum: processing, properties and food applications — a review. J Food Sci Technol. March 2014;51(3):409-418.
- Reider SJ, Moosmang S, Tragust J, et al. Prebiotic effects of partially hydrolyzed guar gum on the composition and function of the human microbiota — results from the PAGODA trial. Nutrients. May 2020;12(5):1257.
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