# Is Glycerin really bad for you? I doubt it's Vegan friendly... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240 "2007-05-08T14:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/21 "2013-03-15T07:44:16Z")
Slight tangent… Re: the “living green” aspect, [palm oil can be a contributor in tropical deforestation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_and_environmental_impact_of_palm_oil) and is sometimes avoided by the greenies. And veganism may or may not be "green"er depending on [the specifics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism#Criticisms). ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/22 "2013-03-15T09:24:03Z")
> [@](#): > > To be chemically defined as organic a molecule needs to have Carbon bonded to hydrogen. CaCo3[OH] Chemists think this is organic? Smartest forum in the internet… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/23 "2013-03-15T10:03:09Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > CaCo3[OH] > > Chemists think this is organic? Smartest forum in the internet… What is that supposed to be? Calcium tricobaltate? 😉 Assuming you mean calcium carbonate, what is your point? Calcium carbonate is an inorganic ionic compound, and it doesn’t have C-H bonds, which was the point you were replying to. Not sure why you are including the hydroxyl ion in the formula there, but it certainly isn’t bonded to the carbon atom! There’s no simple definition of an organic compound, but chemists know one when they see one. You could say “it must have C-H bonds”, but this excludes things like CCl[sub]4[/sub] and benzenehexol. You could say it must have C-C bonds, but that excludes methane, urea etc. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/24 "2013-03-15T10:08:54Z")
Ok, so a hydrate is not an ionic bond. Now let’s look at your C-H bond. Aren’t people confusing “organic compounds” with “hydrocarbon compounds?” You see high-grade coal is almost pure carbon and it certainly was of biological origin. Not organic? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/25 "2013-03-15T14:13:48Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Ok, so a hydrate is not an ionic bond. Now let’s look at your C-H bond. Aren’t people confusing “organic compounds” with “hydrocarbon compounds?” You see high-grade coal is almost pure carbon and it certainly was of biological origin. Not organic? No. It is not even a compound. In chemistry, “organic” is a word used to describe compounds. Although many organic compounds are derived from living things, they do not have to be, and that really is not relevant to the what the word means to chemists. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/26 "2013-03-15T16:39:52Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Ok, so a hydrate is not an ionic bond. Now let’s look at your C-H bond. Aren’t people confusing “organic compounds” with “hydrocarbon compounds?” You see high-grade coal is almost pure carbon and it certainly was of biological origin. Not organic? Organic= grown without pesticides etc (as defined by agriculturalists) Organic= comprised of a hydrocarbon chain (chemists, biologists and biochemists) Organic= synthesized by a living creature (?, but I’m sure someone uses it that way) Something can be chemically defined as organic without having been synthesized by a living creature. My understanding is the definition came first from analyzing the major compounds prevalent in living creatures (proteins, fats, carbs, nucleic acids) and determining what those compounds have in common, forming the basis of a chemical definition. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/27 "2013-03-15T16:43:52Z")
Anybody heard from **Phlosphr** lately? He’s been away a while… ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240/28 "2013-03-15T17:08:24Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Organic= grown without pesticides etc (as defined by agriculturalists) > > Organic= comprised of a hydrocarbon chain (chemists, biologists and biochemists) > > Organic= synthesized by a living creature (?, but I’m sure someone uses it that way) > Something can be chemically defined as organic without having been synthesized by a living creature. My understanding is the definition came first from analyzing the major compounds prevalent in living creatures (proteins, fats, carbs, nucleic acids) and determining what those compounds have in common, forming the basis of a chemical definition. The OED has a couple of apposite citations. From 1831: > [@](#): > > By the mutual combination of these principles are formed the organic elements, which exist only in living beings, and are the exclusive product of organization… These organic elements are, gelatine, albumen, fibrin, fat, mucus, and certain other substances less generally distributed. And from 1869, almost 40 years later: > [@](#): > > The term _organic_ has long ceased to imply a substance that is formed only by organized living tissues, and now signifies only matter with a certain degree of complexity of composition. Finally, from 1894: > [@](#): > > We define, therefore, that part of our science which is commonly called organic chemistry as the _Chemistry of the Hydrocarbons and their derivatives._ The original meaning of the word in the sense we’re talking about, by the way, literally meant “related to the organs.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-glycerin-really-bad-for-you-i-doubt-its-vegan-friendly/403240.md?page=1)