What is it?
A moisture-binding ingredient made by joining glycerin to glucose, a simple sugar. The same molecule occurs in nature: salt-tolerant cyanobacteria make it to protect their cells, and it forms in small amounts when sake, miso and mirin are brewed. Commercial glyceryl glucoside is made with an enzyme that moves glucose from ordinary sugar (sucrose) onto glycerin. In moisturizers and other skin care it works as a humectant and skin-conditioning agent.
Key information
- It is made from glycerin and glucose, and it also occurs naturally in sake, miso and mirin.
- The EU cosmetic ingredient inventory lists it as a humectant and skin-conditioning agent, with no restrictions.
- In a 2012 study, a formula with 5 percent glyceryl glucoside reduced water loss from volunteers' skin compared with the same formula without it.
More information
Glyceryl glucoside, also called glucosylglycerol, is a glycerin molecule with a glucose attached. Researchers first identified it in sake in a study published in 2000, at about 0.5 percent, and also found it in miso and mirin; it forms when enzymes from koji transfer glucose to glycerin during brewing. In nature it is best known from salt-tolerant cyanobacteria, which accumulate it to cope with salty surroundings, and it has also been found in the resurrection plant Myrothamnus flabellifolia. Industrial production uses an enzyme, sucrose phosphorylase, to move glucose from sucrose onto glycerin.
The EU’s cosmetic ingredient inventory (CosIng) lists glyceryl glucoside as a humectant and skin-conditioning agent, with no restrictions and no opinions from the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety. Most published research on it looks at how well it works. In a 2012 study, a formula with 5 percent glyceryl glucoside applied to volunteers’ skin raised the skin’s expression of aquaporin-3, a channel that moves water and glycerin in skin cells, and reduced water loss compared with the same formula without it.
Its safety record rests mainly on what it is made of. Glycerin and glucose are among the most widely used and best-studied ingredients in food and cosmetics, and the combined molecule is part of traditional fermented foods. On ingredient lists it appears as glyceryl glucoside. Despite the similar name, it is a different ingredient from decyl glucoside and other cleansing “glucosides.”
Sources: European Commission CosIng: Glyceryl Glucoside; Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry (2000): Identification of alpha-D-glucosylglycerol in sake; Microbial Cell Factories (2021): Whole cell-based catalyst for enzymatic production of the osmolyte 2-O-alpha-glucosylglycerol; Skin Pharmacology and Physiology (2012): Effects of glyceryl glucoside on AQP3 expression, barrier function and hydration of human skin
