Collagen Studies
Improved Skin elasticity and reduced wrinkles – In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 69 women aged 35-55 years were randomized to receive collagen peptides or a placebo once daily for 8 weeks, with 23 subjects being allocated to each treatment group. Results indicated that skin elasticity had significantly improved and skin moisture had also improved in both collagen groups compared to the placebo group. This study shows that collagen peptides have a beneficial effect on skin physiology and has anti-aging effects on the skin reducing the appearance or wrinkles.
Liane Bolke,1 Gerrit Schlippe,1 Joachim Gerß,2 and Werner Voss1, 2014, Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, Oral supplementation of specific collagen peptides has beneficial effects on human skin physiology: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Skin Pharmacology and Physiology, PubMed.
Increases Wound healing and is anti-aging– A 2019 review of eleven studies with a total of 805 patients, eight of the studies used collagen hydrolysate 2.5g/day to 10g/day for 8-24 weeks. The study concluded that the result of long term and short use of oral collagen supplements can increase skin elasticity, hydration and in particular show beneficial results for speeding the process of wound healing. Oral supplementation of collagen peptides can also slow down skin aging.
Franchesca D. Choi, Calvin T. Sung, Margit L.W. Juhasz, Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovsk, 2019 Jan, Oral Collagen Supplementation: A Systematic Review of Dermatological Applications, Pub Med.
Increased hydration
Two placebo-controlled clinical trials were run to assess the effect of a daily oral supplementation with collagen peptides on skin hydration by corneometry, on collagen density by high-resolution ultrasound and on collagen fragmentation by reflectance confocal microscopy. The results concluded that oral collagen peptide supplementation significantly increased skin hydration after 8 weeks of intake. The collagen density in the dermis significantly increased and the fragmentation of the dermal collagen network significantly decreased after 4 weeks of supplementation. Both effects persisted after 12 weeks.
Jerome Asserin, PhD, 1 Elian Lati, PhD,2 Toshiaki Shioya, B.Eng.,3 & Janne Prawitt, 2015 Dec, The effect of oral collagen peptide supplementation on skin moisture and the dermal collagen network: evidence from an ex vivo model and randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, PubMed.
Repairs sun damaged skin -
Natural collagen production decreases with age and even more so with exposure to the sun and hence UV rays. A study that tested the effects of daily ingested collagen show that collagen peptides suppressed UV induced decreases in skin hydration, bumps on the epidermis due to sun exposure and Type 1 Collagen which is normally found in the skin. These results suggest that collagen peptide is beneficial as a dietary supplement to supress UV induced skin damage and photoaging.
Tanaka M, Koyama Y, Nomura Y, 2009 Apr, Effects of Collagen Peptide Ingestion on UV-B-Induced Skin Damage. Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, PubMed.
Better joint health
A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial with collagen peptides was carried out to study the effectiveness of orally supplemented collagen peptides to control the progression of osteoarthritis in patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis over a period of 13 weeks.
The results showed that enzymatically hydrolysed collagen, the collagen peptide, is absorbed and distributed to joint tissues and has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. The study demonstrated that collagen peptides are potential therapeutic agents as nutritional supplements for the management of osteoarthritis and maintenance of joint health.
Suresh Kumar 1, Fumihito Sugihara, Keiji Suzuki, Naoki Inoue, Sriraam Venkateswarathirukumara, 2015 March, A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, clinical study on the effectiveness of collagen peptide on osteoarthritis, J Sci Food Agric, PubMed.
Improves nail health -
A study was conducted with the goal to investigate whether daily oral supplementation with collagen peptides alleviates the symptoms of brittle nails and improves nail growth rate. The study was conducted with 25 participants who took 2.5g of bioactive marine collagen peptides over 24 weeks. The result found that bioactive collagen prompted an increase of 12% nail growth and a decrease of 42% decrease of broken nails. This was further enforced with 88% of participants experiencing improvement in nail appearance in just 4 weeks. The experiment concluded that daily ingestion of collagen increased nail growth and improved brittle nails decreasing frequency of broken nails.
Doris Hexsel, Vivian Zague, Michael Schunck, Carolina Siega, Fernanda O Camozzato, Steffen Oesser, 2017 Dec, Oral supplementation with specific bioactive collagen peptides improves nail growth and reduces symptoms of brittle nails, Journal of cosmetic dermatology, PubMed.