Liposome Technology

The New Gold Standard in Nutrient Delivery?

You can consume all the nutrients or supplements in the world, but if your body can’t absorb them or bring them to the right area in your body, they’re useless to you. Enter liposomes.

What is a liposome?

A liposome is an assembly of lipid molecules in a spherical fashion. The sphere is made up of two layers of lipid molecules stacked up on one another. The main purpose of a liposome is to serve as a vehicle for the delivery of drugs and nutrients. They’re called liposomes (lipo- meaning fat and -soma meaning body) because they’re basically made up of lipids.

Liposomes can deliver important molecules to different parts of your body by fusing with other bilayers like the cell membranes of your cells. Upon fusion, delivery of contents into the cells follows. To date, there are 13 pharmaceutical drugs that use the liposomal delivery system. This list of drugs include antifungals, anticancer drugs, vaccines, pain relievers and hormones.

Liposomes were first discovered by a British haematologist called Alec D. Bangham. In 1965, Alec together with his colleagues Jeff Watkins, Malcolm Standish and Gerald Weissman, wrote a paper on liposomes that ignited the liposome technology industry.

However it’s only in recent years that the use of liposomes as vehicles for nutritional supplements gained interest and popularity. It’s a well-known fact that many dietary supplements have low bioavailability and absorption. Liposomes as carriers of these dietary supplements provide an effective method of bypassing or skipping the hostile environment of your stomach. This aids the delivery of these nutrients into the cells.

The structure of liposomes also allows them to engulf biologically active substances. Let’s take glutathione for example. Liposomes keep glutathione in its reduced state, biologically active form. The glutathione delivered through liposome technology is stable enough to penetrate mucous membranes.

This permits rapid release of the products into your bloodstream. If you take glutathione orally without liposome technology, part of it is usually destroyed by your stomach acids. In contrast, glutathione liposomes avoid being degraded by your digestive system.

Major benefits of consuming liposomal nutrients include the following:

1. High bioavailability and absorption. Liposomal nutrients possess higher bioavailability and absorption rates compared to other forms of oral supplements. If you want something stronger or a higher dose, the other option is intravenous delivery (straight into your bloodstream). Taking nutrients in a liposomal form ensures an average of 90% (compared to 20% on non-liposomal products) delivery of nutrients.
2. Very low gastrointestinal upset. Your stomach will thank you for this one. Many traditionally prepared pills bring nausea or stomach distress. Liposome based nutrients avoid bile salts and stomach acids. Imagine not worrying about experiencing diarrhoea when you take high doses of vitamin C supplements.
3. Cost effective. If you absorb more of a nutrient, you can take a lower dose for the same effect.
4. Increase overall health. This is perhaps the greatest benefit of all. If you take liposome based supplements, you get more of the nutrients into your system. This creates an environment suitable for optimal performance for your body systems. The only other method of delivery superior to liposomal is through the intravenous route. Of course, use of the IV route is expensive, complicated and carries certain health risks.

Liposomes have different molecular sizes. The general rule is that the smaller the molecular size, the better the bioavailability and absorption into your system.

When deciding to use liposomal nutrients, make sure you get yours from trustworthy companies and retailers. Liposomal nutrients will continuously revolutionise the way we take our supplements. It’s just a matter of time before most nutrients will be available in a liposomal form!