Liposomes

What Are Liposomes?

Liposomes are tiny spheres with a membrane made of a phospholipid bilayer, the same material that our cell membranes consist of. Having this bilayer makes them biocompatible and also biodegradable.

Due to this biocompatibility with the cell membrane and the nature of phospholipids, liposomes have several advantages over traditional delivery methods. You will find them listed below.

The liposomal membrane is a lipid, which means it can carry lipophilic ingredients. However, its core is aqueous, and that means it can hold hydrophilic components. This means that the benefits of liposomal delivery can work for water-based or fatty active compounds.

What Is Liposomal Delivery

Liposomal delivery is used to describe the delivery of active content (for example, vitamins) to cells to result in the least amount of loss of the active content.

With traditional delivery methods like tablets or capsules, much of the main ingredient is degraded within the digestive tract. Degradation means that it is destroyed before it can reach the cells. Moreover, even with the part that does manage to go past the digestive tract, absorption is questionable, and it varies significantly between different kinds of ingredients. The actual absorbed amounts of active ingredients can go as low as 10%.

Liposomal delivery helps keep the active content isolated from the effects of the digestive tract. It is protected by phospholipid membrane and delivered directly into the cell due to the biocompatibility of the cells and the liposomes phospholipid membranes. With high-quality liposomal products, the amount of active compound used by cells can be above 90%.

Benefits of Liposomal Delivery

As previously discussed, bioavailability of over 90% is achieved from two main aspects of liposomal delivery.

First of all, liposomes protect active content from stomach acids and enzymes that would otherwise reduce its amount well before it has the chance to exert its benefits. Active content passes through the stomach within liposomes and is absorbed in the small intestine.

Secondly, when a liposome with active content reaches a cell, the cell membrane readily accepts the liposome due to the biocompatibility of phospholipids of the two membranes. The biocompatibility is so because phospholipids have hydrophilic heads and lipophilic tails. Their heads will tend to join with the heads of other phospholipids and turn towards an aqueous environment. In addition, their tails will tend to stay inside between the two layers of heads, thus forming a lipid environment.

As phospholipids' heads and tails from the liposome membrane tend to join with their respective counterparts from the cell membrane, cell membranes readily accept liposome membranes and let the active content from the liposome directly into the cell.

Liposomal delivery marks the revolution in the bioavailability of various active compounds by combining the protection and the delivery through the membranes straight into the cell.

Traditional Supplements vs Liposomal Liquid vs Dry liposomes

Traditional Supplements

Traditional supplements generally have a long shelf life, neutral taste, and high stability. However, while they are easy to take with you, their limited absorption and bioavailability make them inferior to liposomal products.
After all, people take supplements for their health benefits, and traditional supplements are proven to be not very effective.

Liposomal Liquid

Liquid liposomal products have significantly improved bioavailability due to the liposomal encapsulation technique, as described earlier.

The benefits of supplementation with liposomal liquid are highly enhanced because they are very safe for the stomach and intestines.
However, they have limited stability, limited shelf life, not the best taste, and they require refrigeration, making them less convenient for travel.

Dry liposomes

Dry liposomes take the best of both worlds. They provide unmatched bioavailability, efficacy, neutral taste, long shelf life, are easy to transport and store. Furthermore, they are produced naturally and safely.

This latest development of dry liposomes combines efficiency, safety, and convenience like no other product before.