Gamma Cyclodextrin:
Helping Natural Medicines Reach Their Potential With Up To 8X Better Absorption

There is an astonishing variety of nutrients that can boost energy, strengthen the immune system, protect the heart and brain, regulate blood sugar, and improve overall well-being. But unfortunately, there is one major catch that can limit their efficacy: absorption.

Fortunately, gamma cyclodextrin can help. Your patients may not have heard about it before, but this odd-sounding ingredient can enhance the bioavailability of hard-to-absorb, fat-soluble nutrients so that small doses can be beneficial and provide more consistent results.

Gamma cyclodextrin can:

• Increase absorption by up to 8 times
• Make difficult-to-absorb ingredients more effective
• Increase the intensity and shorten response time of nutrients

Nutrients Make a Difference – But Only if They’re Absorbed

Whether it’s been mentioned by your colleagues or patients, you may have had to contend with the belief that supplemental ingredients are too difficult for the body to absorb, making them of little use. There is some truth there; nutrients do have to be absorbed in order to be useful. To make natural medicines of any type more effective and consistent, they may require an extra boost.

Sometimes, nutrients that have already shown promise just need a little help to make them better and easier to take. Curcumin from turmeric is a notable example. Curcumin is considered one of the turmeric plant’s most valuable compounds, but to get much benefit from it, large doses – up to twelve grams in some cases – were previously recommended. That’s why I prefer curcumin blended with turmeric essential oil. It has better absorption and bioavailability. In fact, compared to standard extracts, it is 700 percent better absorbed.

But what about nutrients that don’t have closely related absorption systems, like turmeric oil is for curcumin? How do you get fat-soluble ingredients, which are by their very nature tougher for the body to absorb, into the bloodstream so they can provide real, noticeable benefits?

One answer is gamma cyclodextrin.

Gamma cyclodextrin is an oligosaccharide (a plant-based ingredient) that improves the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients by enveloping them in an open-ended microscopic structure. This structure is sometimes described as “bucket shaped” or as a “truncated cone.” The exterior of this molecule is water soluble, which allows it to escort ingredients through intestinal walls for better absorption.

But however you want to think about it, the important thing to remember is that gamma cyclodextrin makes nutrients that may be difficult for the body to absorb and use into much more beneficial, efficacious, and consistent natural medicines.

Makes Berberine Better

Berberine is a go-to compound for many practitioners to help their patients regulate blood sugar levels, reduce triglycerides, and protect DNA. But normally, recommending large doses of berberine has become the standard, because the absorption rate is normally so low. In fact, some research has stated that only about 0.5 percent of berberine is absorbed in the small intestine, and perhaps only 0.36 percent actually circulates in the bloodstream.

Fortunately, work combining berberine and beta cyclodextrin has shown positive results, so these specialized molecules can help. However, of the cyclodextrins, including alpha, beta, and gamma forms, gamma cyclodextrin has the largest cavity for fat-soluble contents and the highest water-solubility, so it is the preferred choice in formulations.

So in order to avoid the need for inconvenient dosages simply to get some berberine ultimately into the bloodstream, pairing the compound with gamma cyclodextrin could help this absorption-resistant nutrient function much more efficiently.

Other nutrients that become even more useful when paired to gamma cyclodextrin include CoQ10, quercetin, and red ginseng.

In fact, the case for combining CoQ10 with gamma cyclodextrin is an especially strong one: it’s been shown to boost absorption by as much as eight times. If any of your patients take statin drugs or simply want to keep their minds and hearts working in peak condition, adding CoQ10 with gamma cyclodextrin to their daily regimen is an excellent recommendation. That one small enhancement to this critical nutrient could make all the difference in their health.

Creates More Consistent Quercetin

While quercetin is a favorite natural ingredient to moderate allergic reactions and bolster viral immunity, it has extremely variable bioavailability, possibly as low as three percent.

Combining it with gamma cyclodextrin, along with vitamin C to help recycle the nutrient in the body, could be a key to delivering consistent levels of compounds to the bloodstream, making it a much more reliable option for your patients who struggle with allergies or who want to strengthen their immune responses.

Enhances Red Ginseng’s Actions

Clinical work has compared the effects of a hydroponically grown red ginseng for alleviating the symptoms of post-viral fatigue.

Participants used either capsules or chewable tablets formulated with gamma cyclodextrin. Both forms showed similar numbers regarding positive effects, and those who experienced benefits reported some impressive numbers:

• 67 percent boost in energy
• 48 percent increase in mental clarity
• 46 percent improvement in restful sleep
• 72 percent increase in stamina

But one of the interesting findings in this study was that the effective dosage of the chewable (100 – 200 mg) was typically lower than that of the capsules (200 – 400 mg). This may very likely be due to the absorption assist from gamma cyclodextrin.

This same red ginseng, paired with gamma cyclodextrin, was also featured in a clinical study including elite weightlifters. In this case, supplementing with either the encapsulated version or the chewable with gamma cyclodextrin resulted in more than double the improvement compared to the control numbers, and helped professional athletes push their workouts even further. Interestingly, the chewable version with gamma cyclodextrin worked faster and at a lower dosage level.

Gamma Cyclodextrin Helps Deliver Results

Bioavailable and bioactive forms of botanicals, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients are already incredibly valuable for their inherent healing abilities and their practicality for any patient’s regimen. After all, if a given nutrient is better absorbed, it requires fewer dosages, and that generally means better patient compliance.

Gamma cyclodextrin can greatly assist compliance and, as a result, efficacy as well. It helps deliver the full potential and positive results of the natural medicines that you recommend to your patients.