Gum Arabic: why Sudan war could hit your fizzy drinks and candy

  • April 29, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Gum Arabic: why Sudan war could hit your fizzy drinks and candy

Subject :International relations

Sec: Places in news

Why in News?

About 70% of the world’s supply of gum arabic, for which there are few substitutes, comes from the acacia trees in the Sahel region that runs through Africa’s third-largest country, which is being torn apart by fighting between the army and a paramilitary force.

What is Gum Arabic

  1. Gum Arabic is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened sap of two species of the Acacia tree, Senegaliasenegal and Vachelliaseyal.
  2. The term “gum arabic” does not legally indicate a particular botanical source.
  3. The gum is harvested commercially from wild trees, mostly in Sudan (80%) and throughout the Sahel, from Senegal to Somalia.

Health benefits of Gum Arabic

  1. Gum arabic is a rich source of dietary fibers.
  2. It is also used in food and pharmaceutical industries as a safe thickener, emulsifier, and stabilizer.
  3. It 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. Improved absorption of calcium from the gastrointestinal tract
  2. Anti-diabetic
  3. Anti-obesity (gum arabic lowers the body mass index and body fat percentage)
  4. Lipid lowering potential (gum arabic 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. Prebiotic improving the intestinal barrier function, preventing colon cancer, and alleviating symptoms of irritable bowel diseases.
  9. In rats, a protective effect on the intestine against the adverse actions of the NSAID drug meloxicam.

Other uses:

  1. Food

Gum arabic is used in the food industry as a stabiliser, emulsifying agent, and thickening agent in icing, fillings, soft candy, chewing gum, and other confectionery and to bind the sweeteners and flavourings in soft drinks.

  1. Painting and art

Gum arabic is used as a binder for watercolor painting because it dissolves easily in water.

  1. Ceramics

Gum arabic has a long history as additives to ceramic glazes. It 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.

  1. Photography
  2. Print making
  3. Pyrotechnics

Gum arabic is also used as a water-soluble binder in fireworks composition.

  1. Fuel Charcoal

Distribution

The trees are native of North Africa and grow mainly in the sub.Sahara or Sahel zone of Africa and also in Australia, India and South America. 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 senegal is found in some parts of India mainly in the dry rocky hills of south east Punjab, in the northern Aravalli hills and other drier parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

About Sudan

It shares its border with seven countries: Libya, Egypt, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea.

Gum Arabic: why Sudan war could hit your fizzy drinks and candy International Relations