When you hear vitamin C, do you instinctively think of orange juice and the common cold? The credit for this perception goes to Linus Pauling and his 1970 book Vitamin C and the Common Cold. In it, Pauling postulated that high-doses of vitamin C could stop the progression of a cold and improve your overall health. His book triggered a devotion to vitamin C that’s still going strong today.

And vitamin C deserves to be put on a pedestal because regardless of how you get it – juice, fruit, or supplements – its benefits are enormous. Vitamin C is a required nutrient for all major enzyme systems within the human body. It’s a super antioxidant that fights off free radical damage and supports healthy immune system function. It even helps you look younger by enhancing collagen production, which helps firm up sagging skin.

Vitamin C’s Absorption Problem

Vitamin C supplements have a reputation for making expensive urine, and here’s why. In its most common form- ascorbic acid – vitamin C is water-soluble. All water-soluble vitamins dissolve in water and are readily absorbed into your tissues with any excess quickly excreted in your urine. Because your body doesn’t store vitamin C, it needs to be replenished daily through your diet.

As far as vitamin absorption goes, vitamin C has even more challenges. Vitamin C needs transporter proteins to carry it from your small intestines to your bloodstream. And even more, transporters are required to move the vitamin from your blood to your cells. Your body doesn’t have enough of these transporter proteins to carry large does of vitamin C to its intended destinations. Instead, it gets stuck in your intestines and gets excreted when you pee instead.

 

The Solution – Liposomal Technology

Liposomal encapsulation technology was invented in the 1960s for use with vaccines and gene therapies. Then around 2003, it was discovered that this technology could make high-dose Vitamin C more absorbable and its benefits more accessible. Liposomal Vitamin C supplements bypass your body’s restrictive transport system and ensure higher absorption, helping your body reap more of the vitamin C’s health benefits.

How Liposomal Vitamin C Works

The word Liposomal comes from the word liposome. Liposomes are microscopic spheres made from plant-based phospholipids that form a double-layered sphere around the vitamin C nutrient, creating a protective encapsulation. These phospholipids are nearly identical to the human phospholipids that encase your own cell membranes.

Because of this liposomal encapsulation, vitamin C can travel from your intestines into your bloodstream without the help of protein transporters. And because their composition nearly matches human cell membranes, the liposomes assimilate into your cells and release the vitamin C where it’s needed.

Much research has been done on liposomal vitamins, and the findings are impressive. One study found that the liposomal delivery systems made vitamin C circulate in higher concentrations in the body compared to un-encapsulated vitamin C. Another study published in Integrative Medicine showed that liposomal technology increased intracellular delivery and resulted in higher bioavailability than other forms of oral supplements.

Liposomal Vitamin C Supplements

Although vitamin C is available in a variety of citrus fruits and vegetables like broccoli, surprisingly, a study done on 16,000 Americas showed that 33% of us are vitamin C deficient. And that’s a problem because even a moderate deficiency can lead to fatigue, dry skin, delayed wound healing, weight gain, and an impaired immune system.

Fortunately, a high-quality vitamin C supplement like Stonehenge Health Dynamic Liposomal Vitamin C can quickly and efficiently replenish your daily need for this critical vitamin. Our formula contains a potent dose of 1,500 mg of vitamin C in the form of ascorbyl palmitate to increase its absorption power. Unlike ascorbic acid, ascorbyl palmitate is fat-soluble and highly bioavailable. Dynamic Liposomal Vitamin C also uses a high-quality liposomal delivery system using phosphatidylcholine sourced from non-GMO sunflower for optimal results.

 

Sources
Wallace TC, et al. 2020. “Multivitamin/Mineral Supplement Contribution To Micronutrient Intakes In The United States, 2007-2010. – Pubmed – NCBI “. Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24724766.
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Helmersson J, et al. 2020. “Low Dietary Intake Of Beta-Carotene, Alpha-Tocopherol And Ascorbic Acid Is Associated With Increased Inflammatory And Oxidative Stress Status In A … – Pubmed – NCBI “. Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19079838.

Carr, Anitra, and Silvia Maggini. 2017. “Vitamin C And Immune Function”. Nutrients 9 (11): 1211. doi:10.3390/nu9111211. “The Roles Of Vitamin C In Skin Health”. 2017. Nutrients 9 (8): 866. doi:10.3390/nu9080866.

Johnston, Carol S, and Bing Luo. 1994. “Comparison Of The Absorption And Excretion Of Three Commercially Available Sources Of Vitamin C”. Journal Of The American Dietetic Association 94 (7): 779-781. doi:10.1016/0002-8223(94)91950-x

“Liposomal-Encapsulated Ascorbic Acid: Influence On Vitamin C Bioavailability And Capacity To Protect Against Ischemia–Reperfusion Injury – Janelle L. Davis, Hunter L. Paris, Joseph W. Beals, Scott E. Binns, Gregory R. Giordano, Rebecca L. Scalzo, Melani M. Schweder, Emek Blair, Christopher Bell, 2016”. 2020. Nutrition And Metabolic Insights. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.4137/NMI.S39764.