Tier 2 — strong

Collagen peptide supplementation in combination with resistance training improves body composition and increases muscle strength in elderly sarcopenic men: a randomised controlled trial

Denise Zdzieblik, Steffen Oesser, Manfred W. Baumstark, Albert Gollhofer, Daniel König

British Journal of Nutrition 2015 114(8):1237–1245

Bibliography

DOI: 10.1017/S0007114515002810
PubMed: PMID 26353786
PubMed Central: PMC4594048
Funding: Funding statement (per 2025 corrigendum, verbatim): "Part of the costs were paid by Gelita AG, Uferstraße 7, Eberbach, Germany. D. K. was the principal investigator of the study. S. O. and M. W. B. were involved in the design and execution of the study and performed the statistical analysis. The planning, organisation, monitoring and analysis of the study were performed independently by the investigators."
Competing interests: Conflict of interest statement (per 2025 corrigendum, verbatim): "The author Dr. Steffen Oesser is named as a co-inventor of a patent application which has been filed on May 13, 2013 relating to the active substance mentioned in the publication. Dr. Oesser receives no royalty-payments or other remunerations in connection with the exploitation of the patent application." Original 2015 publication omitted these disclosures and was corrected by formal corrigendum published August 2025. Co-author Steffen Oesser affiliated with CRI Collagen Research Institute GmbH (Kiel, Germany) — a Gelita-linked research entity. Substantial commercial conflict of interest — Gelita AG (manufacturer of Verisol) partially funded the trial and Oesser holds a patent related to the active substance.

Study snapshot

Design	Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel-group trial
Model	Elderly male subjects (72.2 ± 4.68 years) with class I or II sarcopenia (EWGSOP criteria)
Sample	53 male subjects completed (originally more randomised; completers analysis)
Intervention	15 g/day collagen peptides (Gelita Verisol, post-exercise) versus 15 g/day silica placebo, once daily, plus 12-week guided resistance training programme (3 sessions per week on fitness devices), for 12 weeks
Duration	12 weeks
Endpoints	Fat-free mass by DXA; Fat mass by DXA; Bone mass by DXA; Isokinetic quadriceps strength of right leg; Sensory motor control by standardised one-leg stabilisation test

What the study showed, in plain terms

Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that affects a large fraction of adults over 70. It's not just a cosmetic issue — sarcopenic older adults are more likely to fall, more likely to fracture a bone if they do fall, and more likely to lose their functional independence. The best-established intervention for sarcopenia is resistance training combined with additional dietary protein — typically whey. This 2015 trial tested whether collagen peptides, which are technically an "incomplete" protein source with lower branched-chain amino acid content than whey, could nonetheless produce meaningful benefit when combined with structured resistance training in this vulnerable population.

Fifty-three elderly men diagnosed with sarcopenia — average age 72 — completed a 12-week programme of three-times-weekly guided resistance training on gym equipment. After each workout, half of them drank 15 grams of Verisol collagen peptides; the other half drank 15 grams of silica placebo. Neither the men nor their trainers knew who was getting what. At the start and end of the 12 weeks, a DXA scan measured how much muscle, fat, and bone they had, and standardised tests measured how strong their quadriceps were and how well their nervous system controlled balance.

All the men gained muscle and strength — resistance training works, as expected. But the men taking collagen gained significantly more muscle mass (+4.2 kg vs +2.9 kg), significantly more quadriceps strength (+16.5 vs +7.3 Nm), and lost significantly more fat (−5.4 kg vs −3.5 kg) than the placebo group. The trial established collagen peptides as a defensible protein choice for older adults building muscle through resistance training — despite collagen's amino acid profile being theoretically inferior to whey. Follow-up work by the same group in middle-aged untrained men (Zdzieblik 2021) and in premenopausal women (Jendricke 2019) has extended this finding to other populations.

Key findings

Fat-free mass increased more in the collagen group than placebo: +4.2 ± 2.31 kg vs +2.9 ± 1.84 kg, p < 0.05.
Isokinetic quadriceps strength increased more in the collagen group: +16.5 ± 12.9 Nm vs +7.3 ± 13.2 Nm, p < 0.05.
Fat mass decreased more in the collagen group: −5.4 ± 3.17 kg vs −3.5 ± 2.16 kg, p < 0.05.
All subjects (both arms) showed significantly higher fat-free mass, bone mass, quadriceps strength, and sensory motor control after the 12-week resistance training programme (p < 0.01 within-group changes) — resistance training itself is the primary driver, with collagen amplifying the effect.
Bone mass increased in both groups — collagen effect on bone was directionally positive but not the primary outcome of this trial.
No treatment-related adverse events reported. Compliance was high across both arms.
Establishes 15 g/day post-workout as an effective collagen dose for muscle gain in combination with resistance training.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Male-only sample — findings do not directly generalise to elderly women, who represent a larger proportion of sarcopenic patients.
Elderly age range (mean 72 years) — findings may not directly extend to middle-aged or younger populations, though follow-up trials (Zdzieblik 2021 middle-aged, Jendricke 2019 premenopausal women) address this partially.
Modest sample size (n = 53 completers, ~25 per arm) — effect sizes are directional but replication has been slow.
Placebo (silica, 15 g) does not control for amino acid load of the collagen supplement. A whey protein placebo would test whether the effect is specifically collagen or is a generic protein-supplementation effect. This limitation was addressed in the follow-up Zdzieblik 2021 trial.
Substantial commercial conflict of interest — Gelita AG partially funded the trial, and co-author Oesser holds a patent related to the active substance. These disclosures were omitted from the original 2015 publication and only added in a 2025 corrigendum.
Single dose (15 g/day) tested — no dose-response established.
Post-exercise timing was fixed — no comparison to other timings (pre-exercise, morning, bedtime).
Duration was 12 weeks — longer-term effects on sarcopenia progression not addressed.

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