Liquid Chitosan

Chitosan has been around for ages. It is known throughout the world as a simple substance taken from chitin, a polysaccharide found in the exoskeletons of crustaceans. Chitin has long been considered as the nature’s second most abundant polymer. This is for the fact that it is not only found in shellfish but also found in insect shells and fungi cell walls.

Chitosa, a refined form of chitin, is produced or processed by removing the shells from shellfish. The shells are then ground into a pulverous powder, which is deacetylated or stripped of specific chemical groups allowing the compound to actively soak up fats.

There are a number of applications linked to chitosan. Because of these applications, chitosan is now marketed as a dietary supplement and is used to thicken foods, paints and makeup, and it even has promising applications as an artificial skin for burn victims.

Chitosan is manufactured in two forms: the dry and flakey product, and the liquid chitosan. Both of these forms are marketed as dietary aids, but it is actually the liquid chitosan which gained a lot of interest from the people. Perhaps a reason for this is liquid chitosan is said to eliminate clumping problems or stomach pains as it causes the fat to form into hundreds of tiny calorie-free beads that are far gentler on your digestive tract.

The liquid chitosan is often identified by its appearance, color, protein content, degree of deacetylation, viscosity, insoluble, and other factors. Here is a summary of these factors:

* Appearance: Liquid
* Color: Clear and yellow
* Protein Content: Less than 0.5 percent and often results to 0.14 percent if measured by Kjeldal method.
* Degree of Deacetylation: More than 90 percent with a result of 95 percent if measured through colloidal method.
* Viscosity: If you will prepare liquid chitosan by stirring 30 minutes, you can get a viscosity of about 50cps. You can measure it with Brookfield viscometer.
* Insoluble: Less than 0.5 percent insolubility if 20 grams of liquid chitosan is dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water.
* Heavy Metals (As and Pb): Less than 10ppm if measured through ICP analysis.
* pH: Liquid chitosan has a pH level of less than 5.5
* Odor: Liquid chitosan has actually no taste and smell

Today, liquid chitosan is commonly used as a weight loss supplement. Many of those who have used the flakey product have turned to the liquid form noting that liquid chitosan works better in the system than the flakey form. In fact, there was one report noting that a customer who once used the flakey form of chitosan developed gas and stomach pains. To avoid such unfavorable condition, she turned to using the liquid form.

There is a recently produced liquid form of chitosan that is said to eliminate this problem, and is even deemed two to three times more effective. According to certain reports, instead of forming large clumps, this liquid chitosan causes the fat to form into hundreds of tiny calorie-free beads that are gentler in your digestive tract. However, there is an important side note to the use of this liquid chitosan, that is, in addition to binding fats, it binds the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, making them unavailable to the body. This is the reason that most experts recommend a supplement with high-quality multivitamin.