The Story of Hidden Propylene Glycol

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When I was told that one of my allergens is  Propylene Glycol, my doctor told me an interesting thing: the law doesn't require companies to disclose the ingredients that are in their extracts. They merely have to state that there IS an extract in their product. Extracts can be made many ways and one of the ways is to dissolve the substance into Propylene Glycol.

Click here to read my Propylene Glycol post to learn what it actually is.

So, how did he find this out? It was actually by chance and now at speaking events, he tells the story himself.

This doctor also develops beauty serums and ant-aging products in addition to being a patch test specialist. For one of his products, he was adding an extract from the middle east. He got a phone call one day from the middle eastern company and it pretty much went like this:

COMPANY: "We need to add extra ingredients into this extract due to the extreme heat. It won't make it traveling overseas to the U.S.A. without going bad. Propylene Glycol is what we'd like to add."

DOCTOR: "OK, go ahead."

COMPANY: "Would you like us to add the extra ingredient onto the ingredient label?"

DOCTOR: "Don't you have to?"

COMPANY: "No, we are only required to list that an extract is present in the product."

So, the lesson to learn from this is: If you're allergic to Propylene Glycol, avoid ALL extracts unless they disclose how the extract was made. Whole Foods actually has a line of extracts that are created naturally.