How-To, Materials, Equipment for DIY Emulsified-Liposomal Vitamin C

Ascorbic Acid + Lecithin + Distilled Water processed via Ultrasonic Machine or Sonicator

Notes from original Bradley email with a DIY approach to micro-emulsified and liposomal Vitamin C (it's got both):

1. DISSOLVE 3 Tbsp lecithin into 1 cup distilled water
2. DISSOLVE 1 Tbsp ascorbic acid into 1/2 cup distilled water
3. Pour both solutions into the ultrasonic machine.
4. Use plastic straw to stir gently while it runs for 6 minutes. (Or until the following)
5. "By then the entire solution should be blended into a cloudy, homogeneous, milk-like mixture."

This protocol furnishes about 12 grams (12000mg.) of vitamin C product. At 70% encapsulation efficiency, 8400 mg would be of the LET type. 

1 cup = 16 Tablespoons, so this should make around 24 Tablespoons, probably with a little bit of loss from containers/spill in the process. -- PJ

This solution will keep, acceptably, at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. Refrigerated, it will keep much longer.  The " homogenizing effect " is so powerful that after 3 days at room temperature, no precipitation or solution separation appears evident. This type of sequestered vitamin " C " has demonstrated to be, at least 5 times more effective (per volumetric measure) than any other form of orally-ingested vitamin " c "... that we have tested. Additionally, it appears to be even more rapid in tissue-bed availability than IV applications. We estimate the DIY researcher can produce the active LET portion of this solution for 15 cents per gram... as against about $1.00 per gram from commercial sources.

These are the components I use and might suggest if you're making Lipo-C.
Distilled water. This is fairly important especially if there are a lot of minerals in even your filtered water. By the way (unencapsulated-) ascorbic acid will bind to minerals, that's why it is good for metals detox, but that even includes good minerals so if you're taking them in your diet/supplements, do it separately from the ~ +/- 20 minute period of taking the C.

The following links have no commercial element (no amazon commission or anything), they are just to the products I personally chose.

Swanson brand Lecithin sunflower granules Non-Gmo 16 oz

Lekithos brand Lecithin sunflower Non-Gmo liquid cold-pressed

Kendal brand Ultrasonic machine budget but 2cup well + 8min cycles

Kendal brand Ultrasonic machine semi-budget but higher power, 2.5litre well + 8min cycles

For the machines, there are four main criteria:

1. Size of well. If you like the stuff, you'll get sick of making it and want to make more so you can take more, and wish you had a bigger machine. I did, anyway. And I started with a 2 cup size well which is much larger than many of the other budget versions. Note that the 2-cup size I got is big enough to clean jewelry, small parts and even CDs with due to its shape (most small ones won't fit CDs). If you also want to clean parts for things like machines, guns, musical instruments, etc. get the bigger machine that also does heat.

2. Duration of cycles. It only runs during the timer cycle you set. Most have 3 minute cycles which is stupid and I'm not going to stand there all day pushing the button. I only found two that had 8 minute cycles. You want to run it until most all the foam is gone but it's important to slowly stir it around as this is going on (plastic straw).

3. Power of the machine. Obviously the more power the better and likely the longer it'll last with a lot of use.

4. Heat. The machines that are around $75 and up usually have a heater. If cleaning is your goal heat is very important. But if you're only using it for lipo-C it doesn't really matter, in fact you want to AVOID heat in this usage so you won't use the heater part.

* I could add that the decent size/handles/provision of some kind of "plastic basket form" and some "prop" form, for stuff you might wanna stick in there like for cleaning (non-lipo-C uses) might matter to you. But for the lipo C you're using just the well plain. And note, you should never put any real weight directly on the bottom or sides of the machine (many who have that issue rig up something to 'suspend' it into the machine) as it will sooner or later mess up the way the machine works.

Also note that these things don't have spouts and the container doesn't come out so you gotta dump the entire thing out into something. Initially I used a big pyrex mixing bowl that has a handle and spout, I just dumped the whole machine of formula into it. Now I use a very good 'turkey baster' as we call them here -- an oversized suction kitchen tool -- to remove it and put it into jars).

On Lecithin.

OK so liquid lecithin is like blackstrap molasses but stickier. It'll stick to anything you try to measure it in, your fingers and so on. I tried to clean it off two of my fingers under running water and ended up looking like a 2 year old and had to find a towel to get it off. The only way to use this is to open the lid, tare your container you're pouring it into on a scale, then pour it in and measure by weight, use a knife to stop the flow. If you do that, it's easy to work with. Powdered crystals like above are oddly sticky so have their own messy element but nothing like the liquid.

For NON-GMO SUNFLOWER as source, I found the crystals for about $10 per 16oz (Swanson brand) and the liquid for about $20 per 16oz (with the crystals having $5 shipping and the liquid having $10 shipping). So the liquid is more. Note that I also got the kind that is "cold-pressed" and not solved with hexane so there may be cheaper liquid versions. Soy is cheaper.

Liquid lecithin is more instant if you're making lipo-C: you need to give more time to the granules to sit and blend with the water (like at least an hour, preferably overnight). For a batch that uses 1 cup of water for the lecithin it uses 3 Tbsp or about 45g of the lecithin.

For the lipospheric element:

The first thing that matters is temperature. The lecithin-water must be 90-110+ degrees F for the liposomal nature of the lecithin to 'open up.' (I have not been able to nail down the precise temp 'officially'.) As it cools it 'encapsulates' the liquid medium it's in, which in this case, is water which was ascorbic acid fully dissolved in it. However AA is inactivated at around 115 degrees F (I also can't find official detail on this; another source I found says 158F) so you want to avoid hitting that. The sonication action will heat it up a little bit, but not a lot if you are not doing a long process.

The second thing that matters most is the 'sonicating' with the machine. This is not what makes it lipospheric you understand, the nature of phospholipids, the temperatures, and the fact that the AA is truly dissolved in the water before it's blended with the lecithin-water, is the key there. However the machine is what basically "slice up the liposomes" at a molecular level (these machines look like almost nothing is happening to their fluid content, but are capable of exploding cells on a microscopic level -- don't be sticking your fingers in it) and when this happens the spheres re-form in smaller size. So the result is that the spheres are more numerous and smaller.

The actual process of what sonication does to lecithin liposomes is a lot like that digital game "fruit ninja." There is something (imagine a sphere), it gets 'sliced open', it is floating in a liquid medium, and its skin/outer-shell/etc. "re-forms" back into a sphere, but since it's in liquid, it encloses liquid inside its new sphere when this happens.

This allegedly causes them to be better directly absorbed and used by body tissues. If the size is below 200 nanometers, the liver will simply send them off for direct use in the tissues rather than breaking them down locally first. If the size is larger than that, the liver dissembles them and it receives their content.

The point of my making making and taking lipo-C initially was an experiment. I wanted to get more C into me without hitting the bowel tolerance limit.

So with the lipo, you could get the kind of quantity into you that you'd normally have to do intravenously but you're just drinking it. (It tastes vile thanks to the Lecithin and you will need orange juice or something to drink just before/after it to deal with that if you're a supertaster wimp like me.) Even if you take so much it gives you bowel flush on the non-encapsulated portion, if you're willing to put up with the inconvenience (obviously not chronically long term), you're still getting all the lipospheric benefit -- all that AA to tissues plus all that lecithin. Ideally sunflower not soy and ideally non-gmo (and if the liquid, ideally cold-pressed not hexane-solved).

The way it works

Phospholipids are heavily used in nerve coverings and the membrane of cells (and other things). Our body creates billions of cells a day, who knows on the nerve sheath measure. So the liver grabs the <200nm sized phospholipids and sends them out to the body tissues. When they get to the tissues, the cells and chemicals which help with this "break down" the phospholipids of the sphere to use them as building materials. When this happens, the 'encapsulated' stuff inside the microscopic spheres 'spills out' -- into the tissues in question. So it is a direct delivery of the liposomal content to the tissues.

True Liposomal C is said to get AA to tissues even faster than venous (IV) C. Now how well the home-made version works comparatively is another question.

My results

I'm still new to it (July 2013) but this stuff makes a huge difference for me and I mean huge, if I take at least half a cup a day preferably more, preferably a few times. For the first week I had this profound spine-nervous-system weariness that reminded me of once when I seriously overtrained on deadlifts, but each day it reduced and after a week it was gone. I think it was the lecithin literally filling in and fixing the myelin sheath of the nerves starting with the spine.

When I take it my body is vastly more 'competent', my mood is greatly more stable and patient, and the gazillion red bumps (keratosis pilaris) on the back of my upper arms went away (totally unexpected, hadn't even considered that until my teenager pointed it out with awe), as well as these thick-rough-skin places I had just under eath elbow.

My inflammation and bloating are both less, although the sense of "body-competence" -- not quite like strength or energy but like a sort of independent competence that doesn't make it suck all the energy out of my whole being -- is the most amazing part for me.

According to my kid I am more active, more cheerful, and nearly a different person, so she is heavily leaning on me to make it and take it a lot. I bought a bigger machine so I didn't have to make it constantly, could take a lot more and still have some for her too.

PJ