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Gum Karaya
Gum karaya or gum sterculia, also known as Indian gum tragacanth, is a vegetable gum produced as an exudate by trees of the genus ''Sterculia''. Chemically, gum karaya is an acid polysaccharide composed of the sugars galactose, rhamnose and galacturonic acid. It is used as a thickener and emulsifier in foods, as a laxative, and as a denture adhesive. It is also used to adulterate Gum tragacanth due to their similar physical characteristics. As a food additive it has E number E416. Gum karaya can be obtained from the tree ''Sterculia urens ''Sterculia urens'' is a species of plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to India and has been introduced into Burma. A small to medium-sized tree with a pale-coloured trunk, it is commonly known as the ''bhutyā'' ( भुत्या) in ...''. It is a valuable substance and is traditionally tapped by cutting or peeling back the bark, or by making deep gashes at the base of the trunk with an axe. These crude methods of extraction ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetable Gum
Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large increase in a solution's viscosity, even at small concentrations. They are mostly botanical gums, found in the woody elements of plants or in seed coatings. Human uses They are used in the food industry as thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers, and in other industrial adhesives, binding agents, crystal inhibitors, clarifying agents, encapsulating agents, flocculating agents, swelling agents, foam stabilizers, etc. When consumed by humans, many of these gums are fermented by the microbes that inhabit the lower gastrointestinal tract (microbiome) and may influence the ecology and functions of these microscopic communities. Examples Natural gums can be classified according to their origin. They can also be classified as uncharged or ionic polymers (polyelectrolytes). Examples include (with E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denture
Dentures (also known as false teeth) are prosthetic devices constructed to replace missing teeth, and are supported by the surrounding soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Conventional dentures are removable ( removable partial denture or complete denture). However, there are many denture designs, some which rely on bonding or clasping onto teeth or dental implants (fixed prosthodontics). There are two main categories of dentures, the distinction being whether they are used to replace missing teeth on the mandibular arch or on the maxillary arch. Medical uses Dentures do not feel like real teeth, nor do they function like real teeth. Dentures can help people through: * Mastication or chewing ability is improved by replacing edentulous areas with denture teeth. * Aesthetics, because the presence of teeth gives a natural appearance to the face, and wearing a denture to replace missing teeth provides support for the lips and cheeks and corrects the collapsed appearance t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edible Thickening Agents
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushrooms, insects, seaweed, and so forth – are referred to as edible. Processed items that normally are not ingested but are specially manufactured to be so, like edible underwear or edible packaging, are also labeled as edible. Edible items in nature It is estimated that approximately half of about 400,000 plant species on earth are edible, yet ''Homo sapiens'' consume only about 200 plant species, because these are the simplest to domesticate. Edible plants found in nature include certain types of mushrooms, flowers, seeds, berries, seaweed, and cacti. Being able to identify the versions of these plants that are safe to eat is an important survival skill. Many animals are also edible, including domesticated livestock as well as wild ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Gums
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethephon
Ethephon is a plant growth regulator. Mechanism of action Upon metabolism by the plant, it is converted into ethylene, a potent regulator of plant growth and ripeness. It is also a butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor. Uses in various crops Ethephon often used on wheat, coffee, tobacco, cotton, and rice in order to help the plant's fruit reach ripeness more quickly. Cotton is the most important single crop use for ethephon. It initiates fruiting over a period of several weeks, promotes early concentrated boll opening, and enhances defoliation to facilitate and improve efficiency of scheduled harvesting. Harvested cotton quality is improved. Ethephon also is widely used by pineapple growers to initiate reproductive development (force) of pineapple. Ethephon is also sprayed on mature-green pineapple fruits to degreen them to meet produce marketing requirements. There can be some detrimental effect on fruit quality. The toxicity of ethephon is very low, and any ethephon used on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rubber Tapping
Rubber tapping is the process by which latex is collected from a rubber tree. The latex is harvested by slicing a groove into the bark of the tree at a depth of with a hooked knife and peeling back the bark. Trees must be approximately six years old and in diameter in order to be tapped for latex. Rubber tapping is not damaging to the forest, as it does not require the tree to be cut down in order for the latex to be extracted. Jungle rubber is essentially old secondary forest, strongly resembling the primary forest. Its species' richness is about half that of the primary forest. Michon and de Foresta (1994) found that sample jungle rubber sites contained 92 tree species, 97 lianas, and 28 epiphytes compared with 171, 89, and 63, respectively, in the primary forest, and compared with 1, 1, and 2 in monoculture estates. Thiollay (1995) estimated that jungle rubber supports about 137 bird species, against 241 in the primary forest itself. Jungle rubber is expected to resemble prima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sterculia Urens
''Sterculia urens'' is a species of plant in the family Malvaceae. It is native to India and has been introduced into Burma. A small to medium-sized tree with a pale-coloured trunk, it is commonly known as the ''bhutyā'' ( भुत्या) in Marathi (meaning "ghost tree"), kulu, Indian tragacanth, gum karaya, katira, sterculia gum or kateera gum. The specific name ''urens'' refers to the stinging hairs present on the flowers. Subspecies ''Sterculia urens'' var. ''thorelii'' (Pierre) C. Phengklai is an accepted name according to the Catalogue of Life and found in Vietnam, where it is known as ''bảy thưa Thorel''. Synonyms of ''S.u. thorelii'' are: ''Sterculia thorelii'' Pierre and ''Clompanus thorellii'' Kuntze. Description The gum karaya is a medium-sized deciduous tree with horizontally-spreading branches, growing to a maximum height of about . The bark is smooth, fibrous and thick, greenish-grey, with the surface layer peeling off in large flakes. The twigs are hair ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E Number
E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly found on food labels, their safety assessment and approval are the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The fact that an additive has an E number implies that its use was at one time permitted in products for sale in the European Single Market; some of these additives are no longer allowed today. Having a single unified list for food additives was first agreed upon in 1962 with food colouring. In 1964, the directives for preservatives were added, in 1970 antioxidants were added, in 1974 emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and gelling agents were added as well. Numbering schemes The numbering scheme follows that of the International Numbering System (INS) as determined by the ''Codex Alimentarius'' committee, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Food Additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve Taste, flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (salting), smoke (Smoking (cooking), smoking), sugar (crystallization), etc. This allows for longer-lasting foods such as bacon, Candy, sweets or wines. With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly (called "indirect additives") in the manufacturing process, through food packaging, packaging, or during storage or transport. Numbering To regulate these additives and inform consumers, each additive is assigned a unique number called an "E number", which is used in Europe for all approved additives. This numbering scheme has now been adopted and exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tragacanth
Tragacanth is a natural gum obtained from the dried sap of several species of Middle Eastern legumes of the genus ''Astragalus'', including '' A. adscendens'', '' A. gummifer'', '' A. brachycalyx'', and '' A. tragacantha''. Some of these species are known collectively under the common names "goat's thorn" and "locoweed". The gum is sometimes called Shiraz gum, shiraz, gum elect or gum dragon. The name derives from the Greek words ''tragos'' (meaning "goat") and ''akantha'' ("thorn"). Iran is the biggest producer of this gum. Gum tragacanth is a viscous, odorless, tasteless, water-soluble mixture of polysaccharides obtained from sap that is drained from the root of the plant and dried. The gum seeps from the plant in twisted ribbons or flakes that can be powdered. It absorbs water to become a gel, which can be stirred into a paste. The major fractions are known as tragacanthin, highly water-soluble as a mucilaginous colloid, and the chemically related bassorin, which is far ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laxative
Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubricant and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under certain circumstances. Sufficiently high doses of laxatives may cause diarrhea. Some laxatives combine more than one active ingredient. Laxatives may be administered orally or rectally. Types Bulk-forming agents Bulk-forming laxatives, also known as roughage, are substances, such as fiber in food and hydrophilic agents in over-the-counter drugs, that add bulk and water to stools so that they can pass more easily through the intestines (lower part of the digestive tract). Properties * Site of action: small and large intestines * Onset of action: 12–72 hours * Examples: dietary fiber, Metamucil, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. '' Panthera leo'' (lion) and '' Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus '' Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. phylogenetic analysis should cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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