Study of the teratogenic potential of gum arabic.

Gum arabic in the diet at 0, 1, 2, 4, 7.5 or 15% was available ad lib. to male and female Osborne-Mendel rats during premating and mating and throughout gestation. During gestation, the treated females consumed from 683 mg gum/kg body weight/day in the 1% group to 10,647 mg gum/kg/day in the 15% group. The animals were killed on gestation day 20. There were no dose-related changes in maternal findings, number of foetuses, foetal viability or external, visceral or skeletal variations. No terata were seen.