E1210 — Carbomer
Why it’s used
A high-molecular-weight, cross-linked polyacrylic acid polymer that swells into a gel in water. It is the most recently authorised polymer in this group, used as a thickener and controlled-release agent in solid and liquid dietary supplements, letting manufacturers make smaller, easier-to-swallow tablets or gel-like liquid formulations that release nutrients gradually.
Other names
Carbopol, Carboxypolymethylene, Crosslinked poly(acrylic acid), Acrylic acid polymer
Diet flags
Regulatory status
No FDA food-additive or GRAS authorisation was found for carbomer; in the US it is regulated chiefly as an ingredient in OTC drug and cosmetic products (e.g., topical gels) rather than as a substance approved for oral food or supplement consumption. Source (2026-07-24)
Authorised in the EU only as a stabiliser/thickener in liquid food supplements (up to 30,000 mg/kg) and as a bulking agent/stabiliser in solid food supplements (up to 200,000 mg/kg), excluding products for infants and young children, under Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/440. Source (2026-07-24)
Regulatory status by region
Carbomer has no food-additive listing or notified GRAS determination in the US, so a US dietary supplement using it for oral consumption would not have a clear FDA food-safety basis the way an EU product does. The EU only authorised carbomer as a food additive very recently, via Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/440, permitting it as a stabiliser/thickener in liquid food supplements up to 30,000 mg/kg and as a bulking agent/stabiliser in solid food supplements up to 200,000 mg/kg, excluding products for infants and young children.
Carbomer's EU food-additive status is brand new: Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/440 added it to the additive list only in 2023, setting numeric maximum levels — 30,000 mg/kg as a stabiliser/thickener in liquid food supplements and 200,000 mg/kg as a bulking agent/stabiliser in solid food supplements — and explicitly excluding products aimed at infants and young children. That gives the EU a concrete, quantified authorisation with defined use categories and a protected-population carve-out, unlike the US, where carbomer's regulatory presence is limited to topical OTC drug and cosmetic rules with no analogous oral food-use determination. The rule's recency also means it reflects current EFSA risk assessment rather than a decades-old evaluation.
Found in these products
None of the products in our database currently contain E1210.