Oral supplementation of specific collagen peptides has beneficial effects on human skin physiology: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Various dietary supplements are claimed to have cutaneous anti-aging properties; however, there are a limited number of research studies supporting these claims. The objective of this research was to study the effectiveness of collagen hydrolysate (CH) composed of specific collagen peptides on skin biophysical parameters related to cutaneous aging. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 69 women aged 35-55 years were randomized to receive 2.5 g or 5.0 g of CH or placebo once daily for 8 weeks, with 23 subjects being allocated to each treatment group. Skin elasticity, skin moisture, transepidermal water loss and skin roughness were objectively measured before the first oral product application (t0) and after 4 (t1) and 8 weeks (t2) of regular intake. Skin elasticity (primary interest) was also assessed at follow-up 4 weeks after the last intake of CH (t3, 4-week regression phase). At the end of the study, skin elasticity in both CH dosage groups showed a statistically significant improvement in comparison to placebo. After 4 weeks of follow-up treatment, a statistically significantly higher skin elasticity level was determined in elderly women. With regard to skin moisture and skin evaporation, a positive influence of CH treatment could be observed in a subgroup analysis, but data failed to reach a level of statistical significance. No side effects were noted throughout the study

Oral intake of specific bioactive collagen peptides reduces skin wrinkles and increases dermal matrix synthesis

Dietary consumption of food supplements has been found to modulate skin functions and can therefore be useful in the treatment of skin aging. However, there is only a limited number of clinical studies supporting these claims. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the effectiveness of the specific bioactive collagen peptide (BCP) VERISOL® on eye wrinkle formation and stimulation of procollagen I, elastin and fibrillin biosynthesis in the skin was assessed. A hundred and fourteen women aged 45-65 years were randomized to receive 2.5 g of BCP or placebo, once daily for 8 weeks, with 57 subjects being allocated to each treatment group. Skin wrinkles were objectively measured in all subjects, before starting the treatment, after 4 and 8 weeks as well as 4 weeks after the last intake (4-week regression phase). A subgroup was established for suction blister biopsies analyzing procollagen I, elastin and fibrillin at the beginning of the treatment and after 8 weeks of intake. The ingestion of the specific BCP used in this study promoted a statistically significant reduction of eye wrinkle volume (p < 0.05) in comparison to the placebo group after 4 and 8 weeks (20%) of intake. Moreover a positive long-lasting effect was observed 4 weeks after the last BCP administration (p < 0.05). Additionally, after 8 weeks of intake a statistically significantly higher content of procollagen type I (65%) and elastin (18%) in the BCP-treated volunteers compared to the placebo-treated patients was detected. For fibrillin, a 6% increase could be determined after BCP treatment compared to the placebo, but this effect failed to reach the level of statistical significance. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that the oral intake of specific bioactive collagen peptides (Verisol®) reduced skin wrinkles and had positive effects on dermal matrix synthesis

Bioactive collagen peptides as supplement for horses with osteoarthritis

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterised by progressive destruction of cartilage and bone with a high prevalence in horses. It causes pain, lameness and functional disability and is therefore economically important. Existing treatment options are limited and often based on pain reduction. Research on Bioactive Collagen Peptides® (BCP) demonstrated its stimulating effect on cartilage tissue in pre-clinical in vitro and in vivo studies, the latter ones done in a validated OA animal model on Str/ort-mice. The aim of this pilot study was to test if oral BCP supplementation has the potency to mend OA in horses. Animals, materials and methods: 38 privately owned horses with mild to moderate OA were available for the two-centred study. In one centre 18 of these patients (6±3 years old; 519±100kg BW) received either 25g (n=6) or 50g (n=12) BCP#/day orally for 12 weeks. In the second centre 20 horses (18±4; 413±94kg BW) received either a placebo (Con; maltodextrine; n=10) or 25g BCP/day. The attending veterinarian performed an orthopaedic examination, a flexion test and evaluated the degree of lameness, rotation pain, step length and arc of flight during trot (8 parameters) at the beginning and after 6 and 12 weeks of the trial. The owners answered a weekly questionnaire about their perception of lameness, mobility and the horses’ willingness to move. Statistical significance of the differences between the 3 groups (25g, 50g, Con) were tested calculating the effect size (Cohen r) for the evaluation of veterinarians and owners as well as the p values (Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney-U-test). Results: Data of all 38 horses from both centres were evaluated together. As expected, no adverse effects have been observed. In the 50g group in 6/8 parameters a strong effect (Cohen r>0.5) was detected between beginning and end of the trial, with 2 parameters (lameness, flexion pain) significantly improved already after 6 weeks. In the 25g group a moderate effect (Cohen r=0.3-0.5) was seen in 6 parameters, with 3 parameters improved already after 6 weeks. The evaluation of the owners’ answers revealed a strong effect for the factors mobility and willingness to move (Cohen r 0.69 and 0.62, respectively) and a moderate effect (Cohen r=0.49) for the development of lameness in the 50g group when compared to the placebo treatment (group Con). The 25g dosage showed a moderate improvement (r=0.41) of the lameness. All these differences in the BCP groups were of statistically significance when compared with the placebo treatment demonstrated by the Mann-Whitney-U-test. Discussion: This study revealed promising effects of the safe oral BCP supplementation on symptoms of OA in horses already after the relatively short period of 3 months. The higher dosage of 50g/day had superior impact on the skeletal health of the osteoarthritic horses. Further long-term investigations on BCP efficacy in horses with OA, preferably in blinded and placebo controlled studies, are needed. #Petagile® GELITA AG, German

The preventive effects of two nutraceuticals on experimentally induced acute synovitis

Background: Nutraceuticals are often used in the management of equine osteoarthritis, but scientific evidence of their efficacy is lacking. Objectives: To study the preventive effects of two new nutraceuticals after the experimental induction of synovitis in comparison with positive and negative control treatments. Study design: Blinded, controlled, randomised experiment. Methods: Twenty-four healthy Standardbred horses were randomly allocated to supplement AT (multi-ingredient, 28 days), supplement HP (collagen hydrolysate, 60 days), meloxicam (4 days) or placebo (60 days). Synovitis was induced in the right intercarpal joint by intra-articular injection of 0.5 ng lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Escherichia coli while treatments were continued. Blood and synovial fluid were sampled before treatment, immediately prior to LPS injection, and at 8, 24 and 48 h post-injection. Synovial fluid samples were analysed for total nucleated cell count (TNCC), total protein (TP) and selected biomarkers (prostaglandin E2 [PGE2], interleukin-6 [IL-6], glycosaminoglycans [GAGs], type II collagen synthesis [CPII], matrix metalloproteinase [MMP]). Lameness was scored by visual examination and pressure plate analysis immediately prior to LPS injection, and at 8, 24 and 48 h post-injection. Clinical examinations were performed before treatment, immediately prior to LPS injection, at 2, 4 and 6 h post-injection, and then twice per day during the test period. Results: Before treatment and intra-articular challenge, there were no statistically significant differences among the treatment groups for any of the parameters. After intra-articular challenge, the placebo group showed significantly higher synovial fluid TP, TNCC and PGE2 compared with the meloxicam group, although the model did not induce a relevant amount of lameness. Both nutraceuticals resulted in significantly lower synovial fluid TP, TNCC and PGE2 compared with placebo. No statistical differences in IL-6, GAGs, CPII or MMPs were observed among treatment groups. No adverse effects were observed. Main limitations: Despite evidence of synovitis, lameness was too mild to detect. Conclusions: The preventive administration of these nutraceuticals showed anti-inflammatory effects in this validated synovitis model. Therefore, further studies of their clinical applicability are warranted

The association between early-life gut microbiota and childhood respiratory diseases: a systematic review

Data from animal models suggest a role of early-life gut microbiota in lung immune development, and in establishing susceptibility to respiratory infections and asthma in humans. This systematic review summarises the association between infant (ages 0-12 months) gut microbiota composition measured by genomic sequencing, and childhood (ages 0-18 years) respiratory diseases (ie, respiratory infections, wheezing, or asthma). Overall, there was evidence that low α-diversity and relative abundance of particular gut-commensal bacteria genera (Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcus, and Roseburia) are associated with childhood respiratory diseases. However, results were inconsistent and studies had important limitations, including insufficient characterisation of bacterial taxa to species level, heterogeneous outcome definitions, residual confounding, and small sample sizes. Large longitudinal studies with stool sampling during the first month of life and shotgun metagenomic approaches to improve bacterial and fungal taxa resolution are needed. Standardising follow-up times and respiratory disease definitions and optimising causal statistical approaches might identify targets for primary prevention of childhood respiratory diseases

Influence of specific collagen peptides and 12-week concurrent training on recovery-related biomechanical characteristics following exercise-induced muscle damage—A randomized controlled trial

IntroductionIt has been shown that short-term ingestion of collagen peptides improves markers related to muscular recovery following exercise-induced muscle damage. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether and to what extent a longer-term specific collagen peptide (SCP) supplementation combined with a training intervention influences recovery markers following eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage.MethodsFifty-five predominantly sedentary male participants were assigned to consume either 15 g SCP or placebo (PLA) and engage in a concurrent training (CT) intervention (30 min each of resistance and endurance training, 3x/week) for 12 weeks. Before (T1) and after the intervention (T2), eccentric muscle damage was induced by 150 drop jumps. Measurements of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), rate of force development (RFD), peak RFD, countermovement jump height (CMJ), and muscle soreness (MS) were determined pre-exercise, immediately after exercise, and 24 and 48 h post-exercise. In addition, body composition, including fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), body cell mass (BCM) and extracellular mass (ECM) were determined at rest both before and after the 12-week intervention period.ResultsThree-way mixed ANOVA showed significant interaction effects in favor of the SCP group. MVC (p = 0.02, ηp2 = 0.11), RFD (p &lt; 0.01, ηp2 = 0.18), peak RFD (p &lt; 0.01, ηp2 = 0.15), and CMJ height (p = 0.046, ηp2 = 0.06) recovered significantly faster in the SCP group. No effects were found for muscle soreness (p = 0.66) and body composition (FM: p = 0.41, FFM: p = 0.56, BCM: p = 0.79, ECM: p = 0.58).ConclusionIn summary, the results show that combining specific collagen peptide supplementation (SCP) and concurrent training (CT) over a 12-week period significantly improved markers reflecting recovery, specifically in maximal, explosive, and reactive strength. It is hypothesized that prolonged intake of collagen peptides may support muscular adaptations by facilitating remodeling of the extracellular matrix. This, in turn, could enhance the generation of explosive force.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier ID: NCT05220371

High glycine concentration increases collagen synthesis by articular chondrocytes in vitro: acute glycine deficiency could be an important cause of osteoarthritis

Collagen synthesis is severely diminished in osteoarthritis; thus, enhancing it may help the regeneration of cartilage. This requires large amounts of glycine, proline and lysine. Previous works of our group have shown that glycine is an essential amino acid, which must be present in the diet in large amounts to satisfy the demands for collagen synthesis. Other authors have shown that proline is conditionally essential. In this work we studied the effect of these amino acids on type II collagen synthesis. Bovine articular chondrocytes were cultured under a wide range of different concentrations of glycine, proline and lysine. Chondrocytes were characterized by type II collagen immunocytochemistry of confluence monolayer cultures. Cell growth and viability were assayed by trypan blue dye exclusion method. Type II collagen was measured in the monolayer, every 48 h for 15 days by ELISA. Increase in concentrations of proline and lysine in the culture medium enhances the synthesis of type II collagen at low concentrations, but these effects decay before 1.0 mM. Increase of glycine as of 1.0 mM exceeds these effects and this increase continues more persistently by 60–75%. Since the large effects produced by proline and lysine are within the physiological range, while the effect of glycine corresponds to a much higher range, these results demonstrated a severe glycine deficiency for collagen synthesis. Thus, increasing glycine in the diet may well be a strategy for helping cartilage regeneration by enhancing collagen synthesis, which could contribute to the treatment and prevention of osteoarthriti