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 peptide.

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 skin health.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.