Get More Curcumin Now
Curcuminoids—the most biologically active compounds in turmeric—have been highly praised for their across-the-board, high-end potential to dramatically improve health. Yet these remarkable benefits have been somewhat elusive, owing to extremely limited bioavailability when curcuminoids are taken orally. Not only has it been difficult to enhance their solubility and increase absorption—owing to acids and digestive enzymes in the stomach, intestinal lumen, intestinal wall, and liver—but it has also been a challenge to prevent their metabolism to other substances while sustaining high plasma levels. Moreover, delivering them in adequate amounts to the most important tissue targets has been virtually unachievable. Until now.
Solid-lipid nanospheres (SLNs) are about to change all that, because they embrace and embody state-of-the-art nutrient-delivery technology that can defeat the pitfalls of the oral delivery route.
SLNs, a product of nanotechnology, as the name implies, are very small particles, measured in billionths of a meter. These nanoparticles, with dimensions in the range from 1 to 1000 nanometers (nm), are now burgeoning into the field of drug- and nutrient-delivery systems as nanospheres, with diameters as small as 50 nm or even lower. The ones starting to show particularly great efficacy are made of natural lipids, in which lipophilic compounds, such as curcuminoids, can readily dissolve. Their purpose is to improve the bioavailability of such compounds by exploiting their own special size range and unique properties.
Long under development, SLNs typically consist of a central, spherical core of a natural, plant-based lipid, such as a solid triglyceride (fat), encased by a shell consisting of a natural phospholipid, such as phosphatidylcholine. The latter acts as an emulsifying agent during the production process; thereafter it serves a protective function, its chemical properties playing a vital role in stabilizing the nanospheres in their aqueous environment.
Curcuminoids dissolve into the lipids as the nanospheres form during the fabrication process; they wind up being dissolved primarily in the core or in the shell. There, they’re protected from their environment until the nanospheres are destroyed by lipases, which are enzymes that break down fats into fatty acids and glycerol. The curcuminoids are then released.
We call our SLNs NanoBioSpheres. Given our proprietary manufacturing process, which takes their mean size down below 50 nm, they provide much-needed solubility for lipophilic compounds, such as curcuminoids, and they are more readily taken up by our cells than are larger particles. Also, they tend to be preferentially absorbed by types of tissue that are characterized by capillaries that are more permeable (“leakier”) than normal. That allows the nanospheres to slip through tiny openings and gain access to the cells. Called passive targeting, this is a property of all ordinary nanospheres.
Our ultimate goal, not yet achievable, is active targeting, in which SLNs are directed, via molecular recognition systems, to specific organs or tissues that need their therapeutic payload. This is what the future will bring, but for now we offer NanoBioSpheres, which may well be the best delivery system yet.
Suggested Use: Take 1 capsule 3 times daily, preferably with meals, or as directed by your physician.