As people bring alt-milk into their homes, they’re also bringing questions. Specifically, what’s in it? Plant-based milks often have long lists of ingredients. Some, like water and almonds, are easily recognizable; others, like gellan gum…not so much. Gellan gum is a vegan thickening agent added to foods to create and maintain a desired consistency. “It’s found in nature, growing on water lilies,” explains Lauren McNeill, R.D., MPH. Food producers don’t go pond-hopping to find it, though. They “make it artificially for our food through fermentation,” McNeill explains. Levin explains that gellan isn’t the only type of gum that’s used to emulsify foods. “There are all sorts of different kinds of thickeners out there. There are other gums like xanthan gum and guar gum.” Food manufacturers choose a gelling agent based on what they’re thickening, Levin says. Food producers also vary the quantity of their chosen gum, depending on how thick they want the food or drink to be, McNeill explains. In almond milk, small amounts of gellan gum “bind added nutrients to the almond-milk base so that there’s less separation.” But when manufacturers use more, for example, in jams, “it can help to form a gel-like consistency.” In addition to thickening food and drinks, gellan gum can also maintain these products’ forms as temperatures change. “So if you purchase almond milk off the shelf in the grocery store in the refrigerated section and take it home” in a hot car, the gellan gum “can help to prevent any kind of harmful effects of the temperature changes,” McNeill says. Although there’s a broad consensus that gellan gum is safe to eat, it can cause side effects in some cases. “In some very small studies, it has been shown to be a fecal bulking1 agent1,” McNeill says. This could help people who experience constipation, but for others, it slows digestion. That said, McNeill emphasizes that gellan gum “is typically used in really, really small amounts so it’s unlikely to cause any problems.” Otherwise, Levin coaches her clients who are uncomfortable with the premade variety’s long lists of ingredients to make almond milk at home. “It’s not super hard,” she says. But if you do go the homemade route, she recommends taking supplements to replace the vitamin and nutrient fortification that store-bought plant-based milks have.
