A humectant attracts and retains the moisture in the air nearby via absorption, drawing the water vapor into or beneath the organism's or object's surface.
This hydrating property can also be needed to counteract a dehydrating active ingredient (e.g., soaps, corticoids, and some alcohols), which is why humectants are common ingredients in a wide range of cosmetic and personal care products that make moisturization claims (e.g., hair conditioners, body lotions, face or body cleansers, lip balms, and eye creams).
[4] Some common humectants used in food are honey and glucose syrup both for their water absorption and sweet flavor.
[5] Glucose syrup also helps to retain the shape of the product better than other alternatives, for a longer period of time.
[6] In order to gauge a compound's humectancy, scientists will put it through a series of tests, often involving water absorption.
A main advantage of humectant food additives is that, since they are non-ionic, they are not expected to influence any variation of the pH aqueous systems.
[8] Glycerol or glycerin humectants undergo a pretreatment process using saponification, bleaching, ion exchange exclusion, both cationic and ionic ion exchanges, vacuum flash evaporation, thin film distillation, and heating to produce a 100% pure glycerol.
[10] Examples are dry cereal with semi-moist raisins, ice cream in a cone, chocolate, hard candy with liquid centers and cheese.
[13] Humectants are favored in food products because of their ability to keep consumable goods moist and increase shelf-life.
As hygroscopic moisturizers, humectants work by attracting water to the upper layer of the skin (stratum corneum).
Other popular humectants in cosmetics include glycerin, sorbitol (sugar alcohol), hexylene and butylene glycol, urea, and collagen.
[25] The main health concern regarding e-cigarettes is that their production is not regulated, and there is immense uncertainty of quality control during manufacturing.
[27] There are not enough studies or sufficient evidence to suggest that products, particularly the contaminants of the aerosol in e-cigarettes, produce health risks at a concerning level.