It's no surprise that collagen products are quite popular in
the marketplace—which makes sense given the importance
of collagen to the body. In fact, collagen is the main structural
protein found in skin and other connective tissues. Collagen
is so vital to our health and well-being, that it actually makes
up from 25 to 35 percent of the whole-body protein content.
As the connective tissue protein of choice, collagen has great
strength, and along with elastin and keratin, is responsible
for skin strength and elasticity—and its degradation leads to
wrinkles that accompany aging.
However, not all collagen products are created equal.
While I will not discuss any specific brands of collagen in this
article, I will discuss a specific trademarked collagen peptide
that may be found in multiple dietary brands. It is called
Verisol®, and I'm writing about it because I'm impressed by the human clinical research that has been conducted on this
particular collagen material.
Let's start this discussion by explaining the meaning of
"collagen peptide." In short, a peptide is just a small protein
chain. The significance of this is that smaller protein chains—
or peptides—tend to be easily absorbed and distributed in
the body. This was certainly shown to be the case for Verisol
COLLAGEN PEPTIDES ABSORPTION AND DISTRIBUTION
In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, collagen peptides
could be detected in different organs and connective tissues
after oral administration of Verisol.1 Of particular interest is
that almost 100 percent of the orally consumed collagen
peptides were rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract
as indicated by a pronounced increase of these peptides in
blood plasma within first 12 hours. Later on, these peptides
were detectable in several organs and tissues, including the
skin. In fact, skin is one of the predominantly accumulating
organs caused by a high blood flow rate and good absorption
of small collagen peptides in this tissue.2
Now that we know that Verisol collagen peptides are well
absorbed and distributed in the body, let's look at evidence for
their benefits once they arrive at their destination.
COLLAGEN PEPTIDES, EYE WRINKLE FORMATION, AND PRO-COLLAGEN SYNTHESIS
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study3 was conducted
with 114 women aged 45–65, to examine the effectiveness of
Verisol on eye wrinkle formation, as well as on stimulation of
pro-collagen I (a collagen precursor), elastin (another connective
tissue protein in the skin) and fibrillin (a glycoprotein which is
essential for the formation of elastic fibers found in connective
tissue). The women were supplemented with 2.5 g of Verisol
collagen peptides or placebo, once daily for eight weeks, and
skin wrinkles were objectively measured in all subjects, before
starting the treatment, after four and eight weeks as well as
four weeks after the last intake. A smaller group of the same
subjects were biopsied for pro-collagen I, elastin and fibrillin
content at the beginning of the treatment and after eight weeks
of intake. The results were impressive. Verisol promoted a
statistically significant reduction of eye wrinkle volume (p
< 0.05) in comparison to the placebo group after four and
eight weeks (20 percent) of intake. Moreover, a positive long-lasting
effect was observed four weeks after the last Verisol
administration (p < 0.05). Additionally, after eight weeks of
intake a statistically significantly higher content of pro-collagen
type I (65 percent) and elastin (18 percent) in the Verisol-treated
volunteers compared to the placebo-treated patients
was detected. For fibrillin, a six percent increase could be
determined after Verisol treatment compared to the placebo.
In conclusion, this study demonstrates that supplementation
of Verisol collagen peptides reduced skin wrinkles and had
positive effects on the synthesis of key skin proteins.
COLLAGEN PEPTIDES, SKIN ELASTICITY, SKIN MOISTURE AND SKIN ROUGHNESS
In a second double-blind, placebo-controlled trial,4 69 women
aged 35–55 years received 2.5 g or 5 g of Verisol collagen peptides
or placebo once daily for eight weeks. Skin elasticity, skin
moisture, skin water loss and skin roughness were objectively
measured before supplementation began, after four and eight
weeks of regular intake. Skin elasticity was also assessed four
weeks after the last intake of Verisol collagen peptides.
Results were that skin elasticity in both Verisol dosage groups
showed a statistically significant improvement in comparison
to placebo (p < 0.05). Furthermore, after four weeks of followup
treatment, a statistically significantly 10 percent higher skin
elasticity level was determined in older women. A positive
influence of Verisol was also observed in a subgroup analysis
with regard to skin moisture and skin evaporation.
COLLAGEN PEPTIDES AND CELLULITE
In a third double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study,5 the
effects were investigated on the efficacy of Verisol collagen
peptides on the cellulite treatment in normal and overweight
women. In total, 105 women aged 24–50 years with moderate
cellulite received a daily dosage of 2.5g Verisol or a placebo
over six months. The degree of cellulite was evaluated before
starting the treatment and after three and six months of intake.
In addition, skin waviness (i.e. a measure of skin smoothness,
or lack thereof), skin density, and the length of subcutaneous
borderline were assessed. Verisol treatment led to a statistically
significant decrease in the degree of cellulite and a reduced skin
waviness on thighs (P < 0.05) in normal weight women. Moreover,
dermal density was significantly improved (P < 0.05) compared
to placebo. The subcutaneous borderline showed a significant
shortening after Verisol intake compared to the beginning of the
study, indicating cellulite improvement. The efficacy of Verisol
treatment was also confirmed in overweight women, although
the impact was less pronounced in comparison with women of
normal body weight. The results of the study demonstrated that
a regular ingestion of Verisol over a period of six months led to
a clear improvement of the skin appearance in women suffering
from moderate cellulite. Based on the current data, it can be
concluded that a long-term supplementation with Verisol leads
to an improvement of cellulite and has a positive impact on
Conclusion Verisol Is The Best Collagen Supplement
Collagen is a protein that plays a major structural role in skin
and other connective tissues. Collagen peptide, and specifically
Verisol collagen peptide, is a small protein chain shown to
be easily absorbed and distributed in the body, including the
skin. Furthermore, research on Verisol collagen peptides has
demonstrated that only 2.5 g daily is needed to help reduce eye
wrinkle formation, promote pro-collagen synthesis, improve skin
elasticity and skin moisture content, while reducing cellulite
and improving skin smoothness. It should be noted that 2.5 g is
significantly less the typical dose of five or ten grams generally
required to provide benefits from collagen.
- Oesser S, Adam M, Babel W, Seifert J. Oral administration of (14)C labeled gelatin hydrolysate leads to an accumulation of radioactivity in cartilage of mice (C57/BL). J Nutr 1999;129:1891–5.
- Watanabe-Kamiyama M, et al. Absorption and effectiveness of orally administered low molecular weight collagen hydrolysate in rats. J Agric Food Chem 27-1-2010;58:835–41.
- Proksch E, Schunck M, Zague V, Segger D, Degwert J, Oesser S. Oral intake of specific bioactive collagen peptides reduces skin wrinkles and increases dermal matrix synthesis. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2014;27(3):113–9.
- Proksch E, Segger D, Degwert J, Schunck M, Zague V, Oesser S. Oral supplementation of specific collagen peptides has beneficial effects on human skin physiology: a doubleblind, placebo-controlled study. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2014;27(1):47–55.
- Schunck M, Zague V, Oesser S, Proksch E. Dietary Supplementation with Specific Collagen Peptides Has a Body Mass Index-Dependent Beneficial Effect on Cellulite Morphology. J Med Food. 2015 Dec;18(12):1340–8.