Since none of "enhancers" you and I have discussed so far, are mentioned in relation to this new product - Just tell me how the Tomatidine and Fulvic Acid are "complexed"
Before releasing the product, we carefully tested tomatidine in cyclodextrin complexes, phospholipid complexes, and shilajit complexes. In terms of dissolution, the cyclodextrin (HPBCD) and shilajit complexes were roughly equal -- but the shilajit complex dissolved much more rapidly in water, which is a major plus. The use of shilajit also brings with it additional benefits, and it is more clearly DSHEA compliant. Shilajit isn't cheap, but it was clearly the best choice for use with tomatidine.
The mechanism of complexation is not terribly straightforward. It involves a combination of hydrogen bonding, inclusion in humic acid cavities, and particle amorphization. There are some details in the studies I've referenced in the product's writeup.
Aside: Phospholipid complexation does not mean sticking anything "inside" phospholipid envelopes. Dane is absolutely right.
The word "Phytosome" is actually sneaky. It piggybacks on the word "liposome" -- but phytosomes are not liposomes. Liposomes actually
are phospholipid envelops which contain active drugs.
Liposomes are far from ideal for supplement products. Their production requires a tremendous excess of phospholipid/sterol. If I'm not mistaken, loading is typically around 3-4% -- so 100mg of liposomal curcumin would deliver quite a negligible amount of curcumin. (It would be no mistake to simply visualize this as trapping curcumin molecules inside a large envelope of phospholipid/sterol. It doesn't even make sense as a concept, from first principles, without a huge excess of phospholipid.)
Another thing to consider is that liposomes, practically by definition, are colloidal suspensions. For e.g., Wikipedia's list of approved liposomal drugs is a list of liquid formulations. And I'm not aware of any exceptions that are commercially available.
Solid liposome formulations are, of course, possible, but they are very difficult to make, and seem to be very difficult to stabilize. They are generally freeze-dried from the aforementioned colloidal suspensions, and require lyoprotectants, storage in low-humidity conditions, etc. Not terribly practical.
So, with all that said, phytosomes are not liposomes. Which is not to say that they're bad; phospholipid complexation is a valid and effective technique. But it's a "bonding" technique, not an "inclusion" technique. I can't post links, but see figure 7 at PMC4914027 for an idea of how this would look; it's all H-bonding.
H-Bonding is the basis of shilajit complexation, as well. (Though there's more to it than that!)
