The Science of Fluid Balance

Why fluid builds up: three defining issues

Puffiness happens when fluid leaks out of your blood vessels faster than your body's drainage system can clear it away. That imbalance comes from three places:

Illustration of a weak blood vessel wall leaking fluid into surrounding tissue

Weak blood vessel walls

Vessel walls are held together partly by collagen and connective tissue. When that structure is weaker, the walls don't hold their shape as well under normal, everyday conditions - so fluid escapes into the surrounding tissue more easily than it should. This is a "baseline leakiness" issue. Leading to what everyone calls puffiness, or bloating, or excess water retention. 


How fluid balance can help..


Vitamin C. And pine bark (proanthocyanadins). Both have been shown to help with the production of collagen. Helping to strengthen the vessel walls.

Illustration of a blood vessel leaking fluid dramatically under pressure

Vessels leak under pressure

Even sturdy vessel walls will let more fluid through when the pressure pushing on them goes up, or when something makes them temporarily more porous (leaky). There are a lot of triggers for this, here are a few: 

  • Salt and water balance - your kidneys control how much water your body holds onto based on sodium intake. More salt means more retained water, which raises the volume and pressure inside your vessels, pushing more fluid out into tissue.
  • Alcohol - alcohol interferes with the hormone (ADH) that normally tells your kidneys how much water to hold onto. This throws off your fluid balance and can shift how much water sits in your tissues.
  • Allergy and inflammation - conditions like eyelid dermatitis or allergic conjunctivitis release histamine. Which directly loosens the junctions between cells in vessel walls. That's a chemical trigger. Not a pressure one. It makes vessels leakier on the spot.
  • Hormonal shifts - hormones can change how much fluid vessels let through and how much your kidneys retain, in both men and women, at different points in a cycle or life stage.
Anatomical illustration of the full human lymphatic system

When lymphatic clearance can't keep up

Your lymphatic system's job is to pick up the fluid that leaks out of vessels (some leakage is normal). And carry it back into circulation. Puffiness shows up when that pickup rate falls behind. Many things slow it down, here's 2 big ones:

  • Body position - lying flat for hours (sleep). This lets gravity pull fluid toward your face and upper body instead of down toward your legs, where it's normally headed during the day.
  • Reduced movement - lymph relies heavily on muscle movement to push fluid along. Long stretches without movement (including sleep) mean less of that pumping action, so fluid sits longer before it's cleared.

How fluid balance can help..

Proanthocyanadins (The compound found in pine bark & grape seed) have been shown to improve lymphatic drainage in this study 
Cleavers herb is recognised as the primary lymphatic tonic. And has been used for centuries.

(Check out the ingredients page for more studies)

These three mechanisms cover most day-to-day puffiness. The kind tied to salt, alcohol, sleep position, allergies, or hormones. But swelling and oedema can also come from conditions in completely different categories: kidney, heart, or thyroid disease, infections, or neurological issues. Those work through different mechanisms entirely and need a doctor's evaluation. 

Please make sure to consult your doctor before consuming our product. Especially if you are on medication.