While looking at so many women and men smoking e-cigarettes, has the safety of the much-touted nicotine alternatives flashed on your mind? If it has, you are not alone. While it is said to be safer than smoking nicotine in any form, the safety of vegetable glycerin, which is used to make the e-cigar liquid has been questioned. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating e-cigarette use has shot up (1), analyzing the safety of the substance becomes necessary.

So, coming to the point, what can we say about the safety of vegetable glycerin? That is what this post talks about. Keep reading.

Nuances Of Inhaling Vegetable Glycerin:

While vegetable glycerin has been used extensively in the skin care and FMCG industries, its use in e-cigar industry has made health experts a little skeptical. The liquids present in e-cigarettes have varying flavors, but they mostly contain this substance. It is used with other flavoring ingredients that make the liquid vapor, which is used for smoking (2).

The Risk Factors Present And Their Implications:

A number of studies conducted on the safety and risk of vegetable glycerin in topical and internal usage have shown some reaction possibilities. Topical application of vegetable glycerin on human skin may lead to skin irritation and allergy, but it is definitely not widespread. While the FDA has cautioned about the potential health risks of electronic cigarettes, it has not declared vegetable glycerin as toxic or dangerous. The agency is keener on restricting the cancer-causing substances and toxic chemicals found in such products.

What Health Experts Feel About Vegetable Glycerin?

While several articles and blogs have been written about the potential risk of vegetable glycerin, there are no large-scale studies that can conclusively indicate that inhaling it can cause serious harm to humans. Billions of people actually use it topically without knowing it, and there is not much harm they face from this organic liquid. It is also used in oodles of ingestible products like an artificial sweetener (3). You will also find it being used as an ingredient in a majority of dental products in the market.

How Vegetable Glycerin Is Used By The Human Body:

No matter what method you use for taking vegetable glycerin (including inhaling), it is broken down and carbon dioxide is formed. This is what you exhale through your nostrils. A minuscule amount of it gets converted into sugars, and these are used by the body eventually. Basically, this is what takes place when the substance enters your body in any way.

Studies have found vegetable glycerin to be hypo-allergenic. It is good since the other ingredients in e-cigars are found to contain some allergens. According to the available information, vegetable glycerin does not lead to DNA damage or cell mutation. There has been hardly any large-scale study on its effects, and available animal studies also indicate a low to moderate possibility of risks. Apart from the FDA, several leading pharmaceutical regulating organizations have declared vegetable glycerin to be safe for human usage (4).

What You Need To Do:

Since the majority of health entities do not think vegetable glycerin is harmful, you may use it for inhaling through e-cigars. As it is, you would have already consumed it in so many forms without even being aware.

However, the FDA or any other regulating body is yet to regulate the ingredients used in e-cigarettes on a large scale. These products are manufactured in various countries without any stringent regulations. This can make smoking e-cigarettes injurious to health. You need not be concerned so much about the vegetable glycerin present in the products, but checking for other present components is rather necessary.

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The post Is Vegetable Glycerin Safe To Inhale? appeared first on STYLECRAZE.

by Renold Rajan via STYLECRAZE