On 08/28/2008 06:32 PM, couvrette2002 wrote:
> I came upon this site recently and had a conversation with Dr Levy...
>
> Unfortunately, my knowledge of chemistry is sadly lacking...so I am
> simply posting this for those with a higher level of knowledge to
> discuss...and perhaps consider.
>
> http://www.livonlabs.com/
>

The site is a commercial producer and seller of a limited number of
vitamins/nutrients that have been placed in liposomes. A liposome is "an
artificial vesicle that is composed of one or more concentric
phospholipid bilayers and is used especially to deliver microscopic
substances ... to body cells" - /Webster's Third New International
Dictionary, Unabridged/ . Merriam-Webster, 2002.
http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (29 Sep. 2008)

Liposomal delivery of drugs to the human body is scientifically based on
the fact that fats are absorbed into the blood stream by a fundamentally
different pathway (not into and out of intestinal lining cells, by more
like squeezing between them - as I recall the process). A PubMed search
of "liposome OR liposomal" gives 36727 hits, so these words are
certainly used often in the scientific ltierature. Liposomal delivery of
vitamins, nutrients or drugs also means that they will likely be less
processed by the liver before going on to the other parts of the body.
While I have been aware of the potential of liposomal delivery for about
15 years, I have never done much research into it because such a method
of making a compound available will be far more expensive than is
currently done for most and likely that is why very few companies have
been interested in developing this technology and doing the research to
verify the superior efficacy of each liposomally encapsulated compound.

I was not very impressed by the homepage of this website, however, since
once again it confuses correlation with causality. Just because the
blood levels of vitamin C in middle aged to elderly people who had less
mortality during a 4 year followup period was higher than that of others
who had more mortality during that period, does not mean that those
higher levels of vitamin C caused that lower mortality. All that such a
study indicates is that such cause and effect is likely good to test.

In addition, while some nutrients may well be better absorbed and
utilized with liposomal delivery, vitamin C is certainly not one that I
would ever think of doing that way. There is much controversy on just
how much is good for a person and that more may be harmful, and I am
convinced that one can get all that one needs via the normal absorption
route.

> My research did find one Pubmed study that indicated interest in the
> process.
>
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15545088?ordinalpos=30&itool=EntrezSystem2.PE\
ntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
>

I am sure there must be more papers than that one, but it would likely
be a good review of the subject if one could get the full paper.


--Paul