Gum arabic

Statema, B. C. P.

Resin & Wood

Gum arabic

Gummi arabicum; acacia gum

Known today as: The dried sap of Senegalia senegal and related acacias.
Kind: Resin & Wood, in 1 older authority
Constituents: arabinogalactan, arabinogalactan-protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium salts
Earliest authority here: Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
In other databases: Plants of the World Online search · GBIF search · Wikidata search

Revised October 1, 2026: An older authority added from a text read in full. Lore added from texts read in full. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Gum arabic: what was it used for?

Soothing for coughs and sore throats, and the binder of troches, pills, and ink.

Gum arabic: what does modern science say?

A soothing demulcent and a common food additive (E414).

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

arabinogalactana branched polysaccharide, 90 per cent
arabinogalactan-proteinthe emulsifier
calcium, magnesium, potassium salts

Mechanism

A soluble fibre that is not digested in the small bowel and is fermented in the colon to short-chain fatty acids: a prebiotic, a demulcent on the throat, and the binder of pills and troches; in trials in Sudan 30 g a day lowered urea in chronic kidney disease, where it feeds the gut bacteria that excrete nitrogen.

Toxic dose

Safe at 30–50 g a day; bloating in excess.

Standing

A food additive (E414) and a USP excipient; the kidney use is under study.

Calame, W., et al. (2008). “Gum arabic establishes prebiotic functionality in healthy human volunteers in a dose-dependent manner.” British Journal of Nutrition 100. Verified against its record · doi:10.1017/s0007114508981447
Kaddam, L., et al. (2017). “Gum arabic as novel anti-oxidant agent in sickle cell anemia.” BMC Hematology 17. Verified against its record · doi:10.1186/s12878-017-0075-y

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

Gum arabic: what lore surrounds it?

Of the acacia that yields the gum Folkard writes that the Acacia Seyal “is reputed to be the Shittah tree of the Old Testament,” of whose Shittim wood, “translated by some as ‘incorruptible wood,’” the Ark was made; “from this same Acacia is obtained a fragrant and highly-prized gum which is employed as incense in religious ceremonials.” Tradition makes the Arabian Nabkha “the tree from which was fabricated the Saviour's crown of thorns,” and “a sprig of Acacia is one of the emblems specially revered by Freemasons.”

Gum arabic: what did the older authorities say?

Pliny: “Gum acacia is produced also from the white and black thorns of Egypt,” Pliny writes, their produce being “by far the best,” with an inferior gum from a more thorny tree in Galatia. The seed of these trees resembles a lentil and “is used also, as a substitute for nut-galls in curing leather.” The gum “of a purple, or of an ashy, grey colour, and which dissolves with the greatest rapidity, possesses the most astringent and cooling qualities of them all, and is more particularly useful as an ingredient in compositions for the eyes.” He lists it for dyeing the hair, erysipelas, chilblains, hangnails, excessive menstruation and ulcerations of the mouth.

Sources

Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants IV. Verified against its record · doi:10.4159/dlcl.theophrastus-enquiry_plants.1916
Dioscorides, De materia medica. Read in part · the text read
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 24.67, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Primary text
Folkard, R. (1884). Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics, “Acacia.” Project Gutenberg #44638. Primary text

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full

Sources

6 cited: 1 read in part, 3 verified against its record, 2 primary text.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 1, 2026

Chicago: “Gum arabic.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 1, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gum-arabic.
MLA: “Gum arabic.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 1 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gum-arabic. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Gum arabic. (2026, October 1). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gum-arabic

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Gum arabic

Gum arabic: what was it used for?

Gum arabic: what does modern science say?

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Gum arabic: what lore surrounds it?

Gum arabic: what did the older authorities say?

Sources

Verification

Cite This Entry

See Also

Also in Pliny the Elder

Drawing on the same sources: Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Folkard

Nearby in the alphabet