# Gum arabic (Senegalia senegal)

**Gummi arabicum*; acacia gum*

**Known today as.** The dried sap of *Senegalia senegal* and related acacias.

Kind: Resin & Wood

## What was it used for?

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

## What does modern science say?

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

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **arabinogalactan**: a branched polysaccharide, 90 per cent
- **arabinogalactan-protein**: the 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.

**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.

## 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.”

## 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.
- Dioscorides, *De materia medica*.
- Pliny the Elder, *Natural History* 24.67, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library.
- Folkard, R. (1884). *Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics*, “Acacia.” Project Gutenberg #44638.
- Calame, W., et al. (2008). “Gum arabic establishes prebiotic functionality in healthy human volunteers in a dose-dependent manner.” *British Journal of Nutrition* 100.
- Kaddam, L., et al. (2017). “Gum arabic as novel anti-oxidant agent in sickle cell anemia.” *BMC Hematology* 17.

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*Gum arabic.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/gum-arabic

Historical description, not medical advice.