E-numbers / Thickeners & emulsifiers / E414
also: Gum acacia
The dried sap of acacia trees. It keeps sweets from going grainy, holds flavours in soft drinks and gives sugar-coated sweets their shell.
Scan a barcode to check a food for gum arabic. NutraSafe Pro · £6.99/month · iOS
Xylitol* (Sweetener), Gum Arabic (Thickener), Calcium Stearate† (Anti Caking Agent), Peppermint Oil, Carnauba Wax (Glazing Agent), *From Trees & Plants, †From Vegetable Sources
Breathing in the powder is a recorded cause of work-related asthma in printers and food factory workers.
925
of the 43,325 UK supermarket foods we checked declare E414 in their ingredients
That is 2.1%, counted by its code or its name.
Counted by NutraSafe from UK supermarket ingredient lists, September 2026. How we counted
Why it’s worth knowing. Breathing in the powder is a recorded cause of work-related asthma in printers and food factory workers.
Gum arabic, also called acacia gum, is the sap that seeps out of the branches of acacia trees and dries hard. Most comes from the Sahel, the dry belt south of the Sahara. It is a mix of long sugar chains and proteins, and it has been used in food for thousands of years.
Dissolved in water it makes a thick liquid that holds together. It coats droplets of oil so they do not join up, which keeps flavourings spread through a drink. It thickens and steadies the watery part of a food, stops sugar crystallising so sweets stay smooth, and dries into a thin film for glazes. It also carries flavours and colours.
Jelly sweets, wine gums, gummy bears, sugar-coated chocolates, chewing gum, some soft drinks and flavoured syrups, beer (where it steadies the foam), bakery glazes, icing, instant desserts, and some fibre supplements. UK labels call it gum arabic, acacia gum or E414.
The body does not digest gum arabic. Bacteria in the large bowel ferment almost all of it, making short-chain fatty acids, and numbers of bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus go up. Several human trials have shown this at normal amounts. At very high intakes, above roughly 30g a day, the gas this makes can cause bloating and loose stools.
10g of acacia gum a day raised Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus counts in healthy adults in a randomised crossover trial.
European reviewers confirmed gum arabic is fermented in the bowel and makes short-chain fatty acids. Animal studies at the highest doses tested showed no harm, including in cancer studies.
The NutriNet-Santé study asked more than 100,000 French adults to record everything they ate, then followed their health for about 7 years. People who ate more gum arabic were slightly more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. This shows a link, not proof that gum arabic causes diabetes, and the researchers called for more research.
Among 104,139 French adults followed for an average of 6.8 years, each extra 1000mg of gum arabic eaten a day was linked to a 3% higher risk of type 2 diabetes.
In 2019 European reviewers looked at gum arabic reaching formula for babies under 16 weeks, where it arrives carried in with other ingredients. No studies in babies that young had been sent in. They compared the amount babies take in with the highest doses that caused no harm in animal studies, found it far lower, and did not restrict it. They asked for tighter purity limits on toxic metals, aluminium and leftover protein.
Reviewers assessed gum arabic carried into infant formula for babies under 16 weeks. With no data specific to this age, they judged the intake far below the highest doses without harm in animal studies, and recommended tighter limits on toxic elements, aluminium and protein residues.
Asthma and a runny nose have been recorded in workers who breathe in gum arabic dust, particularly in printing and food manufacturing. Eaten in normal food amounts, allergic reactions are rare, and it is not one of the allergens UK law makes labels declare. The protein part is the likely trigger.
Printers and food workers who breathe in a lot of gum arabic dust have become sensitised to it, with allergic reactions to its protein part confirmed.
Gum arabic eaten in food is not a declared allergen under UK food law. Reported allergic reactions to it in food are rare, at the level of single case reports.
Daily limit. None set by the international committee or European reviewers.
People with a known acacia allergy, which is rare and usually picked up at work, should look for gum arabic, acacia gum or E414 on the label. Very large amounts, such as from fibre supplements, can cause bloating.
Gum arabic is one of the longest-reviewed additives, with international reviews from the 1980s and a European review in 2017. Neither set a numerical daily limit. This page used to say it is banned in formula for babies under 16 weeks. That was wrong: the 2019 European review looked at that age group and did not restrict it. The 2024 French study adds a small link with type 2 diabetes, which shows a link rather than proof. The clearest recorded harm is to workers who breathe in the dust.
No. Gum arabic is approved in the UK and is on the Food Standards Agency's list.
In 2019 European reviewers looked at gum arabic reaching formula for babies under 16 weeks and did not restrict it. It is not banned for any age group.
Jelly and gummy sweets, sugar-coated chocolates, some soft drinks and syrups, beer, bakery glazes, chewing gum and fibre supplements. Labels call it gum arabic, acacia gum or E414.
Yes. It is the dried sap of acacia trees, with nothing from animals.
Last reviewed: 20 June 2026
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