Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to the

nutrition divas quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous this

week I'm going to answer a listener question about glycerin.

Just what is this mystery ingredient and how does it affect your body?

Liz writes, what is vegetable glycerin and is it safe?

I've heard some diabetics use it as a sugar substitute.

You know Liz, the other day I was using some vanilla extract in a recipe,

and I noticed that the extract itself had a sweet taste.

Liquid extracts often use an alcohol base to preserve the flavor, but this particular product,

which was labeled alcohol-free, use glycerin instead.

Now I know that vanilla extracts made with alcohol aren't sweet, and I found myself wondering

about the nutritional properties of glycerin. Does it affect the body like sugar?

Is it calorie free?

Well, here's what I found out.

Glisserin comes from fats, either animal or vegetable,

and it's a byproduct of soap manufacturer.

Believe it or not, soap making really hasn't changed much in the 4,000 years since it was first invented.

Today, as in ancient Babylon, soap is made by mixing fat with lie,

and this creates a chemical reaction called

suponification.

In the end, you end up with soap and glycerin.

It turns out that this byproduct has a number of interesting properties.

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