Ingredient framework; direct source links are available in the studies library when published.
How it works
Exchange -- the major extracellular anion, moving alongside sodium and potassium to maintain fluid balance and the electrical gradient across cell membranes
Maintain -- parietal cells in the stomach use chloride channels to secrete hydrochloric acid, the acid needed for protein digestion and mineral absorption further down the gut
Regulate -- chloride is the ion that flows through GABA-A and glycine receptor channels, the mechanism behind inhibitory (calming) neurotransmission in the brain and spinal cord
Sense -- chloride channels (CFTR among them) also regulate fluid secretion across epithelial surfaces including the lungs, gut, and sweat glands -- the same channel disrupted in cystic fibrosis, illustrating how central chloride transport is to normal epithelial-tissue function generally, not only stomach acid production
Form matters
The same nutrient can be made in very different forms -- and a study done on one form does not automatically apply to another. Methylcobalamin is not cyanocobalamin; magnesium glycinate is not magnesium oxide; a whole-food extract is not the synthetic isolate that was studied. Two things decide whether what is in the bottle behaves like the research: the exact form, and independent lab verification (a Certificate of Analysis) that the form and dose on the label are truly what is inside. Without a COA, you are trusting a label, not the science.