Specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides in Osteopenia and Osteoporosis: Long-Term Observation in Postmenopausal Women

Zdzieblik D, Oesser S, König D · Journal of Bone Metabolism

Four-year open-label follow-up: spine bone mineral density rose 5.79% in the women who had been on the peptides throughout and 8.16% in those who crossed over from placebo, against 4.21% and 1.23% at the femoral neck. The paper sets 3% as the least clinically relevant change, which the femoral neck cleared in one group only, and the spine change reached within-group significance at four years (P = 0.049). Useful as the only long-duration data on collagen peptides for any structural endpoint.

Population

Postmenopausal women with reduced bone mineral density who continued from the 12-month randomized trial, to 4 years total

Intervention

Specific bioactive collagen peptides, all participants (open label)

Limitations

Open-label with no control group and every participant receiving the supplement, so nothing here is controlled — 31 of the original 131 completed, which invites survivorship bias. Same author group and commercial affiliation as the parent trial: the peptides (FORTIBONE) were provided by GELITA, and Oesser has given GELITA-supported lectures and is a co-inventor on collagen-peptide patents.