Why LIPOSOMA’s liposomal DHA instead of
a convention al omega 3 oil?
DHA is arguably the most valuable omega 3 fatty acid for brain and vision health [1-3]. DHA has a range of beneficial effects at the level of brain development, mental state and performance, and cognitive functions at any stage of life. Furthermore DHA plays an important role in eye development, while it helps to maintain retinal function [4].
Most DHA-containing supplements on the market have DHA chemically bound as a triglyceride in an oil (mostly fish oil). Given the wide availability of fish oils this seems like a logical choice. However, DHA in the form of a triglyceride oil is in fact far from ideal. It has been shown in many studies that DHA in the form of a free fatty acid or bound to a phospholipid instead of a triglyceride leads to better brain uptake and therefore to stronger health benefits [5-7]. Indeed, in the brain, DHA is bound to phospholipids and not to triglycerides. Understandably, raw materials with a high content of DHA-containing phospholipids have been developed into supplements and are now marketed, of which krill oil is the most prominent example [8,9].
Liposomal DHA
LIPOSOMA’s Cogneo liposomal DHA product stands out among the wide arsenal of omega 3 fatty acid-containing health supplements in that it holds DHA – the main omega 3 fatty acid for brain health – as a purified free fatty acid encapsulated in a liposome rather than chemically bound as a triglyceride in an oil. Liposomes are small, carefully designed vesicles essentially made of phospholipids that can effectively encapsulate and deliver fatty components such as DHA in their purest form [10].
Besides providing DHA as free fatty acid – which is the best form possible to maximize uptake in the intestines – LIPOSOMA’s Cogneo essentially delivers DHA in a clever “assembly kit” by co-encapsulating it in the liposomes with an equal quantity of phospholipid. Thanks to this encapsulation, the intestinal lumen phospholipid is converted into lysophospholipid, providing the other part of the kit. The cells involved in the uptake will then start to reassemble the kit parts, constructing a new DHA-containing phospholipid out of the lyso-part and the free DHA-part delivered by the liposomes, with maximal brain uptake as a consequence.
Freeze-dried DHA
While most other DHA-containing health supplements are oil-based, LIPOSOMA’s liposomal DHA product also features the benefits of a freeze-dried powder formulation for improved storage stability. LIPOSOMA has developed a freeze drying technique for its liposomal supplements that allows both for freezing and drying without damaging the vesicular bilayer structure of the liposome. This means that after reconstitution in a water environment (e.g. in the intestinal lumen) the liposomes reappear the way they were made without chemical or morphological decay.
Freeze drying not only ensures long-term physical and chemical stability but also makes LIPOSOMA’s supplements compatible with so-called Delayed Release capsules that only open after passage through the stomach, avoiding the detrimental gastric environment. This is something any DHA food supplement product can significantly benefit from but this cannot be achieved with most other (oil-based) products, including the DHA-enriched oils.
Our liposomal vitamins and other nutraceuticals are available as raw materials, capsules, tablets, liquids and many other tailored solutions.
Sources
[1] Harris WS, Baack ML. Beyond building better brains: bridging the docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) gap of prematurity. J Perinatol. 2015; 35(1):1-7.
[2] Bazan NG, Musto AE, Knott EJ. Endogenous signaling by omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid-derived mediators sustains homeostatic synaptic and circuitry integrity. Mol Neurobiol. 2011; 44(2): 216-22.
[3] Bazan NG, Molina MF, Gordon WC. Docosahexaenoic acid signalolipidomics in nutrition: significance in aging, neuroinflammation, macular degeneration, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Annu Rev Nutr. 2011; 31: 321-51.
[4] Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and maintenance of normal (fasting) blood concentrations of triglycerides (ID 533, 691, 3150), protection of blood lipids from oxidative damage (ID 630), contr. (2010). EFSA Journal, 8(10), p.1734.
[5] Ramprasath VR, Eyal I, Zchut S, Jones PJ. Enhanced increase of omega-3 index in healthy individuals with response to 4-week n-3 fatty acid supplementation from krill oil versus fish oil. Lipids Health Dis. 2013; 12: 178.
[6] Ramprasath VR, Eyal I, Zchut S, Shafat I, Jones PJ. Supplementation of krill oil with high phospholipid content increases sum of EPA and DHA in erythrocytes compared with low phospholipid krill oil. Lipids Health Dis. 2015; 14: 142.
[7] Ulven SM, Holven KB. Comparison of bioavailability of krill oil versus fish oil and health effect. Vasc Health Risk Manag. 2015; 11: 511-24.
[8] Burri L, Johnsen L. Krill products: an overview of animal studies. Nutrients. 2015; 7(5): 3300-21.
[9] Chen s, Chen R. Docosahexaenoic acid-containing phospholipids and triglycerides based nutritional supplements. Recent Pat Food Nutr Agric. 2010; 2(3): 213-20.
[10] Alaarg A, Jordan NY, Verhoef JJ, Metselaar JM, Storm G, Kok RJ. Docosahexaenoic acid liposomes for targeting chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer: an in vitro assessment. Int J Nanomedicine. 2016; 11: 5027-5040.