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

Claas Schulze, Michael Schunck, Denise Zdzieblik, Steffen Oesser
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2024 21(6):687

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 38928934
PubMed Central
PMC11203623
DOI
10.3390/ijerph21060687
Funding
The specific collagen peptides (product name FORTIGEL) were provided by GELITA GmbH, Eberbach, Germany. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. Biohack Blueprint assessment: FORTIGEL is a GELITA commercial collagen peptide product; co-author S.O. discloses giving scientific lectures partly supported by GELITA AG and being a co-inventor of patents concerning the use of collagen peptides.
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest. S.O. has given scientific lectures that were, in parts, supported by GELITA AG. He is also a co-inventor of patents concerning the use of collagen peptides. All procedures were conducted in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and comparable ethical standards. After the study was finished, C.S. started a role as a private specialist in general and vascular surgery in Bad Schwartau.

Study snapshot

DesignMonocentric, prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
ModelHealthy men and women over 18 years with functional knee and/or hip joint pain during daily activities (general adult population, wider age range than prior exercise-induced-pain trials)
Samplen=182 randomised (CP-G n=91; P-G n=91); n=154 per-protocol analysed (CP-G n=74; P-G n=80)
Intervention5 g/day specific collagen peptides (SCP; FORTIGEL, GELITA AG) plus 5 g maltodextrin vs 10 g maltodextrin placebo, daily for 12 weeks
Duration12 weeks
EndpointsPain at rest and pain during walking, physician-assessed (NRS) — co-primary; Pain during activities: sitting, standing, climbing stairs, getting up from a chair, kneeling down, carrying purchases (participant-assessed NRS); Joint stiffness (morning stiffness, stiffness getting up from a chair); Restriction during everyday activities (walking, climbing stairs, getting up from a chair, squatting)

What the study showed, in plain terms

Earlier collagen peptide trials for joint discomfort focused on physically active young adults with exercise-induced knee pain. This 2024 trial asked a different, more everyday question: does the same specific collagen peptide (5 g/day FORTIGEL) help a general adult population — a wider age range, both sexes, hip or knee pain — with pain during ordinary daily activities like walking, climbing stairs, or getting up from a chair?

Over 12 weeks, the physician's independent assessment found significantly greater reductions in pain at rest and pain during walking with collagen peptides compared with placebo. Participants themselves reported significantly less pain when climbing stairs and when kneeling down, and significantly less restriction when squatting, with collagen peptides versus placebo.

Joint stiffness did not differ significantly between groups, and the authors note that placebo-group participants also improved meaningfully, suggesting some of the overall benefit may reflect changed perception of a condition rather than a pure supplement effect — though the physician's more objective assessment still favoured collagen peptides specifically.

Key findings

  • Pain at rest (physician-assessed): significantly greater reduction with collagen peptides than placebo (ΔNRS 1.15 vs 0.55; p=0.018, Cohen's d=0.339).
  • Pain during walking (physician-assessed): significantly greater reduction with collagen peptides than placebo (ΔNRS 1.68 vs 1.14; p=0.032, Cohen's d=0.295).
  • Pain when climbing stairs (participant-assessed): significantly greater reduction with collagen peptides than placebo (p=0.040, Cohen's d=0.329).
  • Pain when kneeling down (participant-assessed): significantly greater reduction with collagen peptides than placebo (p<0.001, Cohen's d=0.466), the largest effect size in the trial.
  • Restriction when squatting: significantly lower with collagen peptides than placebo after 12 weeks (p=0.014, Cohen's d=0.320).
  • Pain after 10× climbing stairs (physician-assessed) showed a similar-sized effect (d=0.291) to pain during walking but did not reach statistical significance (p=0.056).
  • Joint stiffness (initial morning stiffness, stiffness getting up from a chair) did not differ significantly between groups; both groups improved similarly on this outcome.
  • Both study groups improved on most outcomes from baseline, which the authors attribute partly to changed perception of the condition in the placebo group, alongside a genuine collagen-peptide-specific effect on pain and functional restriction.

What this study can and cannot tell us

  • Fully funded and product-supplied by the manufacturer of the tested collagen peptide (GELITA GmbH); co-author S.O. discloses lecture support from GELITA AG and co-inventorship of related patents.
  • Improvements were observed in both study groups, including placebo, suggesting some of the overall change may reflect altered perception of joint condition rather than a pure pharmacological effect — though the physician's independent, more objective assessment still favoured collagen peptides for the co-primary endpoints.
  • Joint stiffness and several individual daily-activity outcomes did not reach statistical significance, in line with prior similar trials, and the numeric rating scale used cannot reliably distinguish pain recalled beyond about 48 hours or differentiate pain types.
  • As the authors note, findings from this specific collagen peptide product (FORTIGEL) should not be assumed to transfer to other collagen peptide preparations, since bioavailability and composition differ meaningfully between products.

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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