Joint & Bone Health

Joint & Bone Health

Some clinical studies report that the oral ingestion of 10g of hydrolyzed collagen by day decreases the joint pain, and that patients having the most severe symptoms benefited more.^[9][10]

Other clinical trials have yielded mixed results. Four studies reported positive effects with no side effects. However, the studies were not extensive and all recommended the need for further controlled studies.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Another study found that oral collagen only improved symptoms in a minority of patients and reported nausea as a side effect.^[15] Another study reported no improvement in disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.^[16] Yet another study found that collagen treatment may actually cause an exacerbation of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.^[17]

Any beneficial action is probably due to the fact that hydrolyzed collagen is accumulated in cartilage ^[3] and stimulates the production of collagen by the chondrocytes, the cells of cartilage.^[18]

On bone health, several studies have shown that a daily intake of 10g per day of hydrolyzed collagen for 4 to 24 weeks increases bone mass density.^[19][20] It seems that hydrolyzed collagen peptides stimulated the differentiation and the activity of osteoblasts, the cells that build the bone, instead of osteoclasts, those that destroy it.