Guar gum: processing, properties and food uses
What it found
Guar gum is a plant gum used as a thickener and stabiliser in many foods, and the authors say eating it may help with cholesterol, diabetes and bowel movements.
The paper is a review of its production, properties and uses, not a new experiment.
What they found
Studies in people
Irritable bowel syndrome
Partially hydrolysed guar gum, a lower viscosity form, reduced symptoms in both constipation predominant and diarrhoea predominant irritable bowel syndrome. It also reduced laxative needs and incidence of diarrhoea.
Animal and lab studies
Harmful effects in animals
In animal studies, harmful effects were seen only when guar gum was given at a high concentration of about 10 to 15% by weight. This reduced growth because the animals ate less and digested food less well, and the authors link this to the high viscosity of gut contents.
Beneficial use level
The authors say guar gum can be used for beneficial effects at a lower concentration of about 0.5 to 1.0%. Above this, they say it shows negative effects such as higher viscosity and poorer use of protein and fat.
Starch digestion in lab tests
A lab study found that guar gum significantly decreased the digestion of starch by acting as a barrier between starch and the enzymes that break it down.
Safety test on PHGG
A toxicity study on partially hydrolysed guar gum found it was not mutagenic up to a dose level of 2500 mg per day.
Other findings
What guar gum is
Guar gum is a gel-forming carbohydrate taken from the endosperm of cluster bean seeds. It is mainly made of galactose and mannose sugars joined in long chains.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that guar gum is a useful material with strong hydrogen bond forming tendency in water, making it a novel thickener and stabilizer.
- They note that its low cost makes it popular in the gums and stabilizers industry.
How it was done
The authors wanted to bring together what is known about how guar gum is made, what it is made of, how it behaves in water and food, and what health effects have been reported.
They gathered and described published information on guar gum's production, processing, composition, physical properties, food applications and health effects. No new people or animals were studied for this paper.
What it can’t tell you
- This is a review of published information, not a new experiment, so it cannot show cause and effect.
- Many of the health effects described come from animal studies or lab tests, which cannot show what happens in people.
- The paper does not report how many people were studied or for how long in the human studies it mentions.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, India
The paper
- Title
- Guar gum: processing, properties and food applications-A Review
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Mudgil D, Barak S, Khatkar BS (2014). Guar gum: processing, properties and food applications-A Review. Journal of food science and technology. doi:10.1007/s13197-011-0522-xFree full textPubMed 24587515DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error