A Footnote on Liposomes: 

True Liposomes are hard to make correctly. The problem is they often oxidize before getting to the consumer. We've spent years perfecting how to make a stable Liposome and finally we've done it.

Our Liposomes are stable from the time we bottle them to the time you take them. It's all about the manufacturing process. We've taken a pharmaceutical model for manufacturing Liposomes and dissected this looking at each of the many complicated manufacturing steps replacing harsh steps with therapeutic healthful ones.

Our Liposomes are designed to be stable under a high acid environment (stomach) and are geared to reach the middle GI tract. The goal is absorbability into the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream.

This is one reason true Liposomes are so wonderful- They are a delivery device for healthful ingredients directly into the bloodstream. There has been further discussion on the benefits of true Liposomes as they possibly can deliver the payload intracellularly thus making absorption as complete as possible.

Liposomes are made from Phosphatidyl Choline (PC) which has been extensively studied for several important body functions such as for liver and nervous system health. Our Liposomal Vitamin C provides 400mg PC per dose. Liposomal Vitamin C is a true liposome which is stable at an average 200 nanometer size. Practitioners have been enjoying using Liposomal Vitamin C for many health ailments.

Nutraceutical Liposomes - Three Points to Consider:
What They Offer—both as a delivery system and as a stand-alone nutrient
What are they?—a description
How to Determine Quality—Key Attributes

What They Offer
Liposomes solve several nutrition problems:  How to increase absorption of oral nutrients, how to protect delicate nutrients from breakdown when orally ingested and how to do this using food based, healthful ingredients.

As a liquid delivery system liposomes may dramatically increase absorption of nutrients. They can do this while protecting delicate nutrients from premature breakdown in the stomach, so that the nutrient arrives intact.  Further, the liposomes are themselves very nutritious if made of the proper ingredients.  This is a triple-win situation that offers almost endless possibilities, as you can imagine.

Like most things, certain conditions must be met in order to achieve the desired result.  Since orally ingested liposomes must be very small, solid particles could not be encapsulated in them.  So the nutrient must be completely oil or water soluble. Generally speaking, liposomes can hold more water soluble nutrients inside them than oil soluble nutrients.  

The ideal primary ingredient in nutraceutical liposomes is unsaturated phosphatidyl choline, or PC.  This makes the ‘container’, or vesicle, that we call a liposome.  Briefly consider the health benefits of PC:  

Phosphatidyl Choline is the most abundant phospholipid in the cell walls of your body.  Your skin, liver, brain—the living cells of your body require sufficient PC to function properly.  The cell membrane (the cell wall) is semi-permeable and controls the movement of substances in and out of the cell.  Sufficient PC is critical to maintain balanced permeability of the cell membrane.

The liver requires phosphatidyl choline.  Several studies regarding the liver have shown that 1 to 2 grams per day of unsaturated PC can protect against alcohol damage.  Other studies indicate that as little as 300 mg per day over 6 months can help improve fatty liver condition.  

All studies showing the benefits of PC have used the unsaturated form and so do we at Empirical Labs.  As a comparison, drug companies create liposomes using chemicals not approved for nutrition.  This doesn’t matter to them since they are using liposomes to deliver toxic drugs, such as for cancer.  We carefully studied the pharmaceutical model, then developed nutrient-based workarounds to their chemicals.  We have created stable liposomes using unsaturated PC along with food based ingredients to optimize both the long and short term nutritional benefits of liposomes.  

To recap, properly made liposomes are a delivery system that can solve three problems at once:  increase absorption of oral nutrients, protect those nutrients from premature breakdown and accomplish this using natural, healthful, ingredients.

What are they?—a Description

The name liposome is a combination of two Greek words: 'Lipos' meaning fat and 'Soma' meaning body.  So the thin body, or shell, of a liposome is made of a lipid, or fat.  

A liposome looks like a sphere, or ball, when examined with an SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope).  Just as a water balloon has a thin outer membrane and an interior filled with water, liposomes have a thin outer wall, or membrane, made of lipids (oils, fats and waxes are all types of lipids) and an interior filled with a water soluble liquid.  Generally, it is the liquid inside the liposome that carries the nutrient.  Oil soluble nutrients can also be contained in the wall itself.

Not just any lipid will work.  The best type of lipid is unsaturated phosphatidyl choline, or PC.  You are already familiar with PC if you have heard of taking lecithin for your heart and circulatory system.  The main active component of lecithin is PC.  The fascinating thing about PC is that under the right conditions (very precise, controlled conditions) it will form tiny hollow spheres.  There are several sources of PC and each source offers many types, or grades.  We have carefully evaluated them, several times.  We have found only one PC that meets all the requirements for stable liposomal formation as well as nutritional benefits.  This is an expensive PC extracted from soy based lecithin.  We feel it is well worth the extra expense to maintain liposomal stability and nutritional value.

Liposomes come in a variety of sizes.  Nanosomes is a term coined in the 1990s that refers to liposomes in the nanometer range.  This is the preferred range for oral absorption.  These nanosomes are too small to be seen by conventional microscopes.  Instead, a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is required.  

To make an SEM image, liposomes are frozen and then sliced into an extremely thin layer.  This layer is then processed to create the SEM image.  As you might surmise, the slicing (it is called “freeze-fracturing”) will slice open some of the liposomes.  You can observe this in the SEM image where you will see both intact, spherical liposomes, and hollow, neatly sliced liposomes.  At first the image may appear confusing, but if you look at the image for a few moments you can clearly see the balls (liposomes that haven’t been sliced open) and the hollow, or concave, liposomes that have been sliced open.  In fact, if the image doesn’t have this arrangement of balls and sliced-open balls, then you realize you haven’t got liposomes.

So, how do you know you have liposomes appropriate for ingestion?

How to Determine Quality—Key Attributes:
3 Basic Considerations When Using Liposomes

1. What is the PC (Phosphatidyl Choline) content?   A one gram (1000 mg) dose of ascorbic acid will require at least 350 mg of PC—and more PC is better.  To visualize this, imagine trying to put that ascorbic acid into tiny bags (the liposomes).  You will need a lot of those ‘bags’ to hold the ascorbic acid.  Further, PC is a beneficial nutrient itself—be certain the label states exactly how much PC per dose.  Terms such as ‘essential phospholipids’ are undefined and don’t tell you how much PC is present—not a good indication.

2. What size are the liposomes?  For oral ingestion, size is very important.  Too small and your vesicle (liposome) won’t carry enough nutrition inside it.  Too large and there is no way for the vesicle to absorb intact through the gut.  The optimal range that carries ample nutrition and is directly absorbable in the gut (either through the intestinal tight junctions or the lymph lacteals) is 100 nm to 400 nm (nanometers).  Look for the majority of vesicles to be under 400 nm.

3. Since most clinics do not have an SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), your manufacturer needs to provide images of their product.  They should be monitoring their quality.  When you look at an SEM image, look for vesicles of the right size (# 2 above) and correct shape.  You should see many examples of both the outside (convex) and the inside (concave) of the vesicles.  The SEM technique actually freezes and splits a thin section, so you can easily observe this.  If you don’t have proper looking vesicles or the vesicles are too large, this would indicate: (1)  Solid globs of lipids mixed in water (we call this a simple emulsion) are certainly not carrying anything inside them and aren’t liposomes.  (2) The PC content is probably far too low AND of poor quality, unable to form stable liposomes (3) even if there is an occasional liposome, it is too large to directly absorb.  Finally, if the liposomes seem to be surrounded by, or floating in, foam, this another indication of a simple emulsion.  The liquid around the liposomes should be clear—you shouldn’t see it at all in the SEM image.

Conclusion:  Although the techniques to manufacture liposomes are proprietary, there are benchmarks to help verify quality.  Look for a manufacturer that is willing to educate you, not just “sell” you.  Look for claims and content that can be verified.  The three points: PC content, vesicle size and laboratory proof (such as SEM images), can help determine liposome quality.

Empirical Labs is your quality choice for nutraceutical liposomes.