Oral supplementation with specific bioactive collagen peptides improves nail growth and reduces symptoms of brittle nails

Hexsel D, Zague V, Schunck M, Siega C, Camozzato FO, Oesser S · Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology

The only trial of VERISOL with a nail endpoint. Nail growth rate rose 12% and the frequency of broken nails fell 42%; 64% of participants reached a global clinical improvement during treatment and 88% four weeks after stopping. The design is what to read first: open-label, single-centre, 25 people, and no placebo or control group of any kind — everyone received the peptide and every comparison is against their own baseline.

Population

Women with brittle nail syndrome, single centre in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Intervention

2.5 g specific bioactive collagen peptides (VERISOL) once daily for 24 weeks, then 4 weeks off therapy

Limitations

Uncontrolled and unblinded, so nothing separates the peptide from seasonal nail growth, regression to the mean, or the effect of being measured every few weeks by a dermatologist. Physician global improvement and participant satisfaction are subjective endpoints assessed without blinding. Two of six authors are at the Collagen Research Institute in Kiel, the GELITA-linked research arm, and VERISOL is a GELITA product. PubMed indexes it as a Clinical Trial rather than a randomized one.