Tier 2 — strong

Ingestion of Bioactive Collagen Hydrolysates Enhance Facial Skin Moisture and Elasticity and Reduce Facial Ageing Signs in a Randomised Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Clinical Study

Naoki Inoue, Fumihito Sugihara, Xuemin Wang
Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 2016 96(12):4077-4081

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 26840887
DOI
10.1002/jsfa.7606
Funding
No formal funding statement is presented in the article. Biohack Blueprint assessment: two of the three authors (Inoue, Sugihara) are employees of Nitta Gelatin Inc.'s Peptide Division, the manufacturer of the collagen hydrolysate test products (marketed under the Wellnex brand).
Competing interests
Not presented as a separate formal declaration in the article.

Study snapshot

DesignRandomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial
ModelChinese female subjects aged 35–55 years, self-conscious of dry and rough skin
Samplen=85 randomised (Placebo n=28; L-CP n=29; H-CP n=28); n=80 completed (Placebo n=26; L-CP n=28; H-CP n=26)
Intervention5 g/day oral collagen hydrolysate from fish gelatin, either lower bioactive-dipeptide content (L-CP, ~0.1 g/kg Pro-Hyp + Hyp-Gly) or higher bioactive-dipeptide content (H-CP, >2 g/kg Pro-Hyp + Hyp-Gly), vs maltodextrin placebo, for 8 weeks
Duration8 weeks
EndpointsSkin moisture (Corneometer CM820) at cheek and canthus; Skin elasticity R2 (Cutomater SEM575) at cheek and canthus; Number of wrinkles, wrinkle area, wrinkle depth, roughness (VisioFace SSA); Blood safety panel

What the study showed, in plain terms

This trial compared two versions of the same fish-derived collagen hydrolysate that differed only in how much of two specific bioactive dipeptides (Pro-Hyp and Hyp-Gly) they contained, alongside a placebo, in Chinese women with self-reported dry, rough skin.

Both the higher-dipeptide (H-CP) and lower-dipeptide (L-CP) products improved facial skin moisture and roughness versus placebo over 8 weeks, but the higher-dipeptide product produced significantly bigger improvements in skin elasticity, wrinkle number and wrinkle depth than the lower-dipeptide version.

The practical takeaway is that not all collagen hydrolysates are equal even at the same 5 g daily dose: the concentration of bioactive dipeptides released during manufacturing appears to matter for how much benefit reaches the skin, which is a useful nuance for readers comparing commercial products.

Key findings

  • Skin moisture (cheek): H-CP group's changing rate from baseline reached +30.99% by week 8 vs +18.79% for L-CP and −0.43% for placebo (H-CP significantly greater than both placebo and L-CP, p<0.05).
  • Skin moisture (canthus): H-CP changing rate reached +20.87% by week 8 vs +10.60% for L-CP and −2.31% for placebo (H-CP significantly greater than both, p<0.05).
  • Skin elasticity (R2): H-CP group showed significant within-group improvement at both cheek and canthus by week 8 (p<0.05 vs baseline and vs placebo); L-CP showed no significant elasticity improvement over placebo.
  • Skin surface analysis (VisioFace SSA): H-CP significantly reduced number of wrinkles, wrinkle area, wrinkle depth and roughness by week 8 versus baseline and versus placebo; L-CP significantly improved wrinkle area and roughness but not wrinkle depth or number of wrinkles.
  • H-CP outperformed L-CP significantly on several outcomes (skin moisture changing rate, elasticity changing rate, wrinkle depth, roughness), despite both products being tested at the same 5 g/day dose.
  • Blood safety panel: all values remained within normal reference ranges at baseline and week 8 in all three groups, with no adverse events reported.

What this study can and cannot tell us

  • Two of three authors are employees of the manufacturer of the tested collagen hydrolysate products, a disclosed but unformalised commercial affiliation.
  • Single-site trial (Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital) in Chinese women aged 35–55 only; five subjects (of 85) dropped out, mainly due to difficulty attending follow-up visits.
  • The precise dipeptide content of the two test products (L-CP ~0.1 g/kg, H-CP >2 g/kg) is proprietary to the manufacturing process; results are specific to these two Nitta Gelatin products and should not be assumed to generalise to collagen hydrolysates from other manufacturers without independent bioactive-dipeptide quantification.
  • As the authors note, the effect of co-ingesting the powder with different beverages (tea, coffee, milk, soup) on absorption was not systematically tested, though this reflects real-world use.

Related papers in the corpus

Tier 1
Effects of Hydrolyzed Collagen Supplementation on Skin Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Roseane B. de Miranda et al. · International Journal of Dermatology · 2021
Tier 1
Effects of Oral Collagen for Skin Anti-Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Szu-Yu Pu et al. · Nutrients · 2023
Tier 1
Exploring the Impact of Hydrolyzed Collagen Oral Supplementation on Skin Rejuvenation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Dian Andriani Ratna Dewi et al. · Cureus · 2023

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology