Liposomes in nutrition

The dietary supplement industry is growing in dynamic ways. There are broad ranges of ingredients that have established health benefits, and use of nutritional supplements is at an all time high. Most attention in the literature has been on treatment benefits and ingredient claims. Select researchers are now focusing on routes of administration, efficiency of absorption, absorption criteria, improving bioavailability and product formulation technology. Liposomes, microscopic lipid vesicles, usually formed from phospholipids, have been used to change the pharmacokinetics profile of, not only drugs, but herbs, vitamins and enzymes. Because of their unique properties liposomes are able to enhance the performance of products by increasing ingredient solubility, improving ingredient bioavailability and in vitro and in vivo stability. This article reviews liposomes, their chemistry and structure, and current liposome technology with respect to applications in nutrition. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.