Liposomal Vitamin C: Why Doctors Recommend It For Immune Health

In the wide world of supplements, vitamin C is one of those nutrients that everyone can pretty much agree on: It's a low-key workhorse when it comes to supporting your health.  

Vitamin C plays a key role in processes that amp up your skin's glow factor, and it even supports brain and heart health. Plus, perhaps most importantly (given our current COVID-19 reality), it's a powerhouse for immunity—vitamin C deficiencies have been associated with increased risk of virus-induced respiratory infections, including colds. 

Vitamin C is also an essential nutrient, meaning our bodies can't make it naturally, so we need to get it from foods and supplements. But if you've Googled vitamin C supplements at all recently, you may have noticed a new result popping up in your feed: liposomal vitamin C. 

Liposomal vitamin C isn't totally new, but it is newly trendy. This year, several companies have released liposomal vitamin C products promising enhanced absorption; and on a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, renowned longevity expert and Harvard geneticist David Sinclair, Ph.D., said he's been taking it to support immune health during the pandemic.

First, let's talk about liposomes. These are extremely tiny lipids or fat particles that are manufactured from common fats like sunflower oil, and they've been used as an effective method of drug and nutrient delivery1 since the 1970s. More specifically, liposomes are phospholipids—the same type of fat as those that make up your cell membranes. 

The key benefit: an increase in absorption, by way of better uptake into the bloodstream, and less degradation1 by stomach acid. With regular vitamin C, absorption rates aren't exactly great—in fact, with doses over 1,000 mg, absorption is only about 50%2. What happens with the rest? You pee it out. But due to the structure of liposomal vitamin C, absorption rates may be much higher.  

"Liposomes are better absorbed because they bond to your tissue membranes first, facilitating delivery of nutrients," says integrative physician Amy Shah, M.D. The liposomes are able to bond to cell membranes in the intestinal wall—and then directly enter the bloodstream—specifically because both are made from phospholipids. 

Signs point to yes. In two studies, from 20163 and 20194, researchers noted greater vitamin C bioavailability (as measured by blood plasma concentrations) when it was encapsulated in liposomes compared to an unencapsulated form. Another study from 2019 found that white blood cells absorbed around 50% more vitamin C from a liposomal vitamin C product than a non-liposomal product. 

As with all supplements, it's a good idea to seek out a liposomal vitamin C product from a reputable company that's third-party tested for purity and potency. 

Some companies add additional nutrients, flavorings, and non-caloric sweeteners to their liposomal vitamin C products, so read labels carefully and choose a product that best meets your needs. A few options include Pure Encapsulations, Baseline, and Trilogia.

Compared to typical vitamin C, there's a pretty good consensus among doctors and researchers that liposomal vitamin C is easier for your body to absorb and thus utilize—and this, in turn, may translate to improved health. This, coupled with its relative lack of side effects, could make it a smart addition to your supplement lineup.