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I probably rely on grocery store brand heavy whipping cream a bit too much for my fat needs. It comes with carrageenan and polysorbate 80 as thickeners/emulsifiers. I'm not willing to give up the cream on the "precautionary principle" alone, as it would be costly to find a source of higher quality cream. Is there any evidence that these would be doing significant harm in the amounts present in the cream? Does anyone know of an inexpensive alternative?

Update: I propose that we petition Organic Valley to start a line of heavy cream that does not contain carrageenan or any other additives. Given the quality of their pastured butter, I think they are enlightened enough to listen to demand for natural cream. Currently, their dairy products are sold throughout the US in Whole Foods, etc. Send them a short note if you want a healthier choice for your cream:

Their customer service form

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I'm appalled! In the UK you can get plain single/double cream in any supermarket, plus usually untainted sour cream/creme fraiche. It's cheap too, about $0.43 for 100ml/445 calories, about the same as the cheapest rice/bread per calorie. – David Moss Feb 17 at 16:54
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 Organic Valley has two kinds of whipping cream. One is pasteurized and only contains cream, the other one is ultra-pasteurized and contains carrageenan. My Whole Foods has both, and the regular goes very fast. – Suzan Mar 3 at 20:59
Frustrating. $6/qt and full of additives is all that's available locally. – Brandon Aug 3 at 8:49

5 Answers

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Carrageenan looks to be pretty awful: inducing inflammation, messing with the immune system and possibly degrading into a substance that tears up the digestive tract. I've not looked into any further detail since just that seems enough to put me off!

Polysorbate 80 looks to be pretty ok, I didn't see anything on pubmed either, aside from the possibility of reactions if you're sensitive, but that's from external use anyway,

As to other sources. I think the main way to easily get lots of fat into your diet would be to use lots of butter (or whatever) whenever you cook; it's about as cheap as cream too. The SFA from cream/butter is so slowly digested/released that it's not really an instant energy source anyway, so it shouldn't matter too much when in the day you have it. Any coconut product would be fine. Where I am, dessicated coconut is cheaper than cream per calorie, and I used to use it as a staple; the creamed coconut/milk is more expensive, but more convenient. Being an MCT it's not a direct replacement for dairy fat though. I found macadamia nuts to be a convenient source of pure fat, but worried about the antinutrients. If you were ok with MFA, liberal use of olive oil thrown over any meat/veg would be cheap, (shame about the omega 6, but it's pretty passable).

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I suggest finding a local supplier of raw cream at realmilk.com.

From The Nourished Kitchen:

Fresh, raw cream is a living food. It contains beneficial bacteria and enzymes which are otherwise destroyed during pasteurization and it is precisely these components of living foods that make them so valuable to our overall health. These enzymes enable better digestion of macronutrients and better absorption of micronutrients while the beneficial bacteria promotes intenstinal health and a well-functioning immune system.

Raw cream is more expensive, but absolutely worth it if you're going to consume dairy!

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 I appreciate the sentiment, but I could never afford it in the amounts I consume. I doubt any raw milk dairies even sell cream, because that would necessitate them also doing something with the skim. I don't think anyone informed enough to buy raw milk would touch skim milk. – Acton Feb 20 at 8:21
I buy mine from Organic Pastures through a local grocer (organicpastures.com/products_cream.html). They sell cream at $9.99 for 1 pint. They also sell skim milk. I have no idea who buys it but I'm grateful that they do! ;) – gilliebean♦ Feb 20 at 8:56
How much do you consume per week? – gilliebean♦ Feb 20 at 8:56
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I've read this question a couple of times and I'm not sure what you are asking!

Are you looking for fat alternatives? Surely you can't be looking for alternatives to carageenan...! Or are you looking for inexpensive non-grocery store whipping cream alternatives?

If it is the latter, you may want to investigate a milk or raw milk co-op in your area. But I'm with David Moss - on a calorie-specific basis, the organic cream I buy is not overly expensive.

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What brand of organic cream do you buy? Even Organic Valley adds carrageenan. – Durandal Feb 17 at 18:42
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 I'm in Canada. I usually buy Harmony Organic whipping cream. Ingredients: cream. harmonyorganic.on.ca/store/prod/8 – Charmoula Feb 17 at 20:50
Don't think the carageenen is as bad as the polysorbate. If I can hardly pronounce it I usually don't want to eat it. We used to have a milk cow and have all the cream we could eat- I made my own butter and cheese and ricotta. Those were the days! Now, in Mexico, I have difficulty finding PLAIN yogurt -almost all of it contains sugar. – AnnaA Feb 18 at 0:42
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KGH's take on Carrageenan:

Carrageenan is a polysaccharide, not a protein. Despite in vitro experiments, it is hard to imagine a polymer of dextrose being near as immunogenic or otherwise dangerous as gliadin proteins

I can't answer either of those questions for certain but 30% protein is certainly not deficient.

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Depending on your location, Whole Foods sells Garelick Farm "organic" heavy cream with no additives, and Sky Top Farm heavy cream which is "organic grass-fed unhomogenized" (scare quotes because after all it's marketing). The latter is $3/pint but it is absolutely delicious. I never knew cream could taste like something besides white oil. I am in northeast Massachusetts so your mileage may vary.

Unfortunately Whole Foods sells plenty of adulterated cream along with a great many other unhealthy products, but that's all I got here.

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