Gum arabic, powder

Background: Gum arabic is the dried gum exudate of Acacia Senegal of the Eastern African Kordofan region particularly, and of Western Africa north of river Senegal. The gum has been a very useful and, so, significant item in commerce for thousands of years, appearing in historical records from antiquity. It was and still is used in medicine, the arts, crafts, cosmetics, foods and millions of products ranging from ice cream to adhesives.

Illustrations of Acacia with large mounds of the dried gum were found in archaeological artifacts of the reign of Ramses III of Egypt. As gum of Canaan it was exported from the Gulf of Aden by 1,800 BC. Theophrastus (400-300 BC) described it as Egyptian gum detailing many uses. During the 1st century AD Dioscorides included reference of gum Arabic's medicinal applications and uses in his botanical reference work de Materia Medica. Pliny the Elder had previously described acacia spp. gum.

In carbonated drinks it increases the sparkling feature by reducing liquid surface tension. It is an essential ingredient in food items: syrups, gummi candies, marshmallows, chewing gum, and many others. It is the traditional binder in watercolors, is used in stone lithography, photography and printing, as a binder in fireworks, and in adhesives in stamps and cigarette papers.

Applications:
As used by physicians throughout the ages, "Acacia is largely employed in the preparation of pills and in the emulsification of oils and resins. It is demulcent and probably slightly nutritive. In the form of a solution or mucilage it is an agreeable lenitive for irritated and inflamed membranes, and for this purpose is frequently used in medicinal preparations for coughs, colds, hoarseness, pharyngitis, gastric irritation and inflammation, diarrhea, dysentery, etc. It also forms a good mucilage in which to suspend heavy and insoluble powders. When the stomach is irritable in low fevers and in pulmonary tuberculosis, a half ounce of acacia may be dissolved in 5 fluid ounces of water, sweetened with sugar, and given in tablespoonful doses occasionally to relieve the sense of hunger when but little food can be taken. Mucilage of acacia is soothing to burns and scalds of the mouth and alimentary canal, and may be used as a demulcent after poisoning by irritant and corrosive poisons. Acacia may be given freely and at pleasure, in the form of powder, troches, mucilage, or syrup, as desired."