Bioavailability is the greatest problem facing the supplement industry today. The most bioavailable supplements are only 5% efficient, meaning that approximately 95% of what you put into your mouth never makes it across the gut and into the bloodstream. Even less makes it into cells to be used in metabolism which is the total of all biological chemical processes necessary to sustain life. Nanotechnology has solved this problem virtually completely; however, to appreciate how this is done we need to look a little bit deeper into how chemical reactions occur.

All chemical reactions take place between two or more particles. All chemical reactions occur only at the surface of interacting particles . Therefore, the surface area of particles available for reaction is the single most important factor in chemical reactivity. Finally, the surface area is inversely related to the size of the reacting particles. Expressed differently, the smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area available for reactions to take place.

As an example, if a large apple has 6 square inches of surface area, chewing it into pieces will increase its size to approximately the surface area of a pickleball court. Then, if the churning of the stomach breaks the apple into applesauce size particles, the surface area may increase to the size of a basketball court. Finally, if we reduce the size of the particles of the apple to the nanoscale, we have a surface area as great as the whole town in which the football field or pickleball court is located!

Size does matter but in the case of chemical reactions…..smaller is better!

Size in bioavailability also matters for another reason……absorption. Only really small particles get across the gut to the bloodstream. Only small micronized or nanosized particles make it into cells to be used by the body. But if those infinitesimally small particles go into the mouth, the vast majority pass through the mucous membranes of the mouth and are in the bloodstream in seconds!

These particles must be prepared in order to diffuse across the skin of the mouth but the good news is…..that is exactly what we do in our XanthoMyst!