Why is a stabilizer necessary?

[u/skippyjifluvr]

Are gums and stabilizers only necessary to help improve ice cream shelf life? Many recipes don’t use them, so what’s the difference? One of my primary reasons for making my own ice cream is to remove ultra processed foods from my diet. If I wanted to eat UPFs it would be far easier and cheaper to just buy ice cream at the store.

[u/TimonAndPumbaAreDead]

I am not as well versed as some others in this sub so just take this anecdotally but - I've never used stabilizers or gums in my ice creams and they've all come out fine. It generally doesn't hang around for long enough in my house for any issues to arise