Products
Tragacanth is used in medicinal products as an excipient.
Structure and properties
Tragacanth is the air-hardened, gummy exudate that flows naturally or after incision from the trunk and branches of the shrub and from certain other West Asian species of the genus. Tragacanth is a complex polysaccharide composed of different monosaccharides and associated with ions. A distinction is made between the water-soluble tragacanthin and the water-insoluble and swelling bassorin. Tragacanth exists as white, yellowish, brown or translucent, odorless ribbons, flakes or powder and has a mucilaginous taste.
Effects
Tragacanth has gelling, stabilizing, thickening, emulsifying, suspending and binding properties.