Impact of Specific Bioactive Collagen Peptides on Joint Discomforts in the Lower Extremity during Daily Activities: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Schulze C, Schunck M, Zdzieblik D, Oesser S · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Extends the FORTIGEL knee-pain result out of the young-athlete population it was built on, and it clears its own prespecified bar. Both primary endpoints — physician-rated pain at rest and during walking — separated from placebo (p=0.018, d=0.34 and p=0.032, d=0.30) and survived the Bonferroni-Holm correction the protocol set for the pair. Among the secondary items participants reported less pain climbing stairs (p=0.040, d=0.33) and kneeling (p<0.001, d=0.47) and fewer restrictions squatting (p=0.014, d=0.32). Pain fell significantly in the placebo group too on nearly every measure, joint stiffness did not change in either group, and the physician's own rating of stair pain did not separate (p=0.056) where the participants' did.

Population

Healthy men and women over 18 across a wide age range with functional knee and hip pain during daily activities — not athletes, and not diagnosed osteoarthritis

Intervention

5 g specific collagen peptides (FORTIGEL) with 5 g maltodextrin daily for 12 weeks

Comparator

10 g maltodextrin

Limitations

Analysed per protocol on 154 of 182 randomised, with the two arms differing at baseline on restrictions when walking. Beyond the two primary endpoints, roughly a dozen further items were tested without correction, and every between-group effect size is small, from 0.29 to 0.47. Participants had joint discomfort rather than diagnosed osteoarthritis. The methods describe the rating scale as running from 1 to 100 where the abstract calls it a 10-point scale. Oesser is at the Collagen Research Institute, acquired the funding, has given lectures supported by GELITA, and is a co-inventor on collagen-peptide patents; the funder is not named.