There’s Petrochemicals in What?

7 responses to “There’s Petrochemicals in What?”

1. Miss Diagnoses | March 23, 2014 at 11:37 pm | Reply

   I admit you shocked me with antihistamines and glycerin, and I didn’t think I could be shocked anymore.

   • linda | March 24, 2014 at 12:39 am | Reply

     I think there’s naturally occurring glycerin too… We have to check everything now!

     Most time released medications and supplements contain phthalates. They aren’t mentioned on any labels.

     Convenience has come with some pretty big costs…

     • Tru | October 30, 2021 at 2:37 pm | Reply

       Greetings. I was wondering if you can provide resources for how to determine if petrochemicals are in my “natural” supplements. They cause TIAs for me. I had one yesterday and Im trying to spot the culprit in my vast amount of supplements that I take. I stopped taking them for about a month and decided to resume yesterday and apparently something has petrochemicals in it because I started to have stroke symptoms. I assume I had built up a tolerance perhaps – in all the years I was taking them – but with Covid I have gotten so tired of swallowing so many pills and now Im sort of screwed cause I cant figure out what to avoid. Thank you for any help!!!
       Tru

       • linda @ Seriously "Sensitive" to Pollution | October 30, 2021 at 3:48 pm | Reply

         Hi Tru, there has been some research done on some supplements, but I forget most of the details or who did the research now.

         Here are some things I remember:

         Time released ones usually have phthalates added.
         Many manufacturers use fillers that can cause problems.
         Some manufacturers do use synthetic sources for vitamins.
         Some manufacturers use natural sources.
         Some supplements (and drugs) have contaminants.

         It’s really hard to find specifics, but generally, some companies have stricter policies re source ingredients than others (and even that doesn’t guarantee we will tolerate them).

         I’m not well enough to do the googling now, but I suggest starting with the manufacturer’s websites, looking at what info they offer, perhaps call them up and see if you can get questions and google some keywords and read the research papers (while looking at who wrote them). Some organizations sometimes undertake testing and find things like lead or arsenic or some chemicals that are undeclared…

         Also, it’s good to join some online groups where many people can answer questions, and some of those answers might even be good, based on real research, not opinions or articles (that often copy one BS source and repeat it across many sites – that’s a red flag, without any original research cited)… and avoid manufacturer greenwash (it can be hard to tell sometimes with so much mis-info out there these days).

         Another point, if you are using some of the more reputable supplements, and have looked into their ingredients, and don’t tolerate one brand, you might tolerate another brand of the samely named supplement.

         Sometimes a supplement ingredient will have one original supplier, sometimes there may be several.

         I started reacting to a previously well tolerated supplement, and it also behaved differently in water (I used to empty the cap into water instead of swallowing it) but the manufacturer said nothing had changed. I insisted they look into it, because something had very definitely changed, and it turned out they had changed suppliers for an ingredient, but the ingredient itself hadn’t changed, so no change was noted on the label. I didn’t tolerate the new supplier’s ingredient.

         I also detect changes in baking sodas. I used to get it bulk where I used to live, and at one point there was a change, so I called the wholesaler up to ask what happened, and the QA person dug into it (they used lot #s) and it was a different manufacturer. She was shocked I could tell. I called her a few times after, asking what manufacturer they were using at the time, when I noticed changes, and kind of blew her mind…

         There was one source manufacturer that it took me years to get to the end of the trail past the resellers, and they supply many of the health-food type labels.

         There are many rabbit holes one can go down trying to find out what the source is if one has adverse effects, and our medical and regulatory systems currently have little interest in admitting or exploring these issues.

2. Cameron Von St. James | March 26, 2014 at 3:38 pm | Reply

   Hi Linda! My wife and I were just checking out your blog and I did not know that gylcerin is naturally occurring. I had a quick question and was hoping you could email me back when you get the chance. Thanks! – Cam

3. linda | March 30, 2014 at 9:02 pm | Reply

   Hi Cameron,
   Sorry for the delay in posting your comment. It somehow ended up in the spam folder.
   Glycerin can be vegetable, animal or petroleum based.
   EWG has this page on glycerin:
   http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/702620/GLYCERIN/#
   From a quick search, I found this on the petro based stuff:
   http://www.livestrong.com/article/136368-types-glycerin/

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