Do liposomes make food supplements more effective? A chemistry expert explains common myths about these products

• There has been an explosion in nutritional supplements that promise a
  superior product because they contain nanoparticles called liposomes.
• But there’s a lot of misleading information and outright myths about these being shared online, so it’s important to understand how liposomes work before you spend money on an expensive new food supplement.
• Liposomes can fuse together to form a similar structure to human cell membranes while retaining a liquid core.

Pharmaceutical vs food supplement liposomes

• This means food supplement companies are having to work harder to convince people their products can overcome this problem.
• It may seem logical that if liposomes work well for medicines, they could help your body absorb vitamins and other supplements too.
• In the food supplement industry, there are a multitude of products on the market that are of poor quality or downright fake.
• In contrast, the liposomes used in food supplements are often the most basic, delicate type.

Do liposomes enhance oral absorption?

• There are conflicting reports about whether liposomes enhance gastrointestinal absorption.
• Food supplement liposomes may enhance absorption by improving the ability of the nutrients they contain to fuse with other substances in your food.
• The same goes for claims that conventional liposomes are absorbed into your bloodstream and remain intact.

Can liposomes be used with any type of nutrient?

• Even in pharmaceutical research, where more advanced techniques are used, some drug molecules are difficult to fit inside liposomes.
• Furthermore, liposomes are not an impervious plastic bag, but more akin to a cotton bag through which water can pass.
• This means if you take a dose, only 10% of it will consist of the drug molecules encapsulated in liposomes.
• While it might be possible to see larger liposomes using a quality light microscope, the smaller and more effective liposomes are measured in nanometres.