Vegetable Glycerin

Vegetable glycerin is derived from palm (coconut) oil. It is colorless, odorless, does not make blood sugar rise, and is about half again sweeter than sugar.

It is a liquid used in many cosmetic preparations and in commercial food preparation, but is not yet widely sold as a sweetener. Your natural food store don't usually carry it, but it can be ordered online.

When I first started this website, I was recommending vegetable glycerin as a natural sweetener, however, I changed my mind for several reasons.

First, though it is derived from coconut oil, it is not a whole food sweetener. It is just an isolated fraction of coconut oil, without all the co-factors that surround it in nature.

I have been unable to find anything written about possible health effects, but a nutritional doctor I knew explained to me why it wasn't good for my body. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to write down the details for posterity, but, again unfortunately, a friend who introduced me to the idea of using vegetable glycerin for a sweetener, and consumed it in copious quantities, suddenly died one day, completely unexpectedly. Now he had some health problems and I'm not going to say this was entirely due to vegetable glycerin, but it made me hesitate about using it.