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

Proksch E, Schunck M, Zague V, Segger D, Degwert J, Oesser S · Skin Pharmacology and Physiology

Double-blind and placebo-controlled, with eye wrinkle volume named as the primary outcome and measured by instrument. The gap against placebo was more than 7.2% at 4 weeks (p<0.05) and 20.1% at 8 weeks (p<0.01), and it partly reflects wrinkle volume rising continuously in the placebo group over the same period. Four weeks after the last dose the collagen group's wrinkle volume was unchanged from its 8-week value and still 11.5% below placebo (p<0.01). Suction-blister fluid from a subgroup of 40 gave 65% more procollagen type I and 18% more elastin than placebo, both p<0.01; fibrillin rose 6% and did not reach significance.

Population

Women aged 45.0-65.4 (mean 55.6)

Intervention

2.5 g specific bioactive collagen peptides (VERISOL) once daily for 8 weeks

Comparator

Maltodextrin

Limitations

Skin, not cartilage — the dermis is vascularized and turns over far faster than articular cartilage, so a dermal result transfers to a joint claim only by assumption. The blister-fluid arms were unbalanced before treatment, which is why those three markers are reported relative to each group's own baseline rather than as raw between-group values, and they rest on 20 people per arm. Eight weeks. The product was provided by GELITA AG and co-author Oesser is at the GELITA-linked Collagen Research Institute, but the paper carries no funding statement and no declaration of interests.