What They Don't Want You to Know About Propylene Glycol

Propylene glycol is a chemical used to stabilize liquid toothpastes and liquid vitamin supplements. You may have heard of it. It's also used in antifreeze.

The chances of your getting too much propylene glycol aren't high, but the risk is serious. Just like antifreeze can kill your pets, getting too much propylene glycol can cause seizures and fatal arrhythmias of the heart. It's more a problem when there's kidney disease, but poisonings with propylene glycol are known to have occurred in healthy people?

A tiny amount of propylene glycol stabilizes a product and helps make it sweeter, but too much is toxic.

Why would propylene glycol be an issue? Can't toothpaste makers simply measure out a harmless amount?

You would think the answer to this question would be yes, but it happens that measurements for liquid vitamins are typically given in milliliters while propylene glycol is sold in a measurement called millilitcrs. Without getting too technical, the bottom line is, the chemists at the toothpaste plant often simply don't know how much propylene glycol should be in a formula. They typically use too much.

When manufacturers wisely choose not to use use propylene glycol in their sweetening formula, they typically substitute sorbitol. The problem with sorbitol is, it can cause diarrhea. If you want to make a "liquid toothpaste," it's tempting to substitute glyceirne. Glycerine is sweet, but it is very thick, and taking products with glycerine also can cause diarrhea and they raise blood sugars sharply.

So now you have three more things to look out for: propylene glycol, sorbitol, and glycerine. Don't accept any of them in your oral health products. Get an all natural toothpaste, mouthwash and breath mint that mother nature herself would use.