Effects of a nutritional supplement containing collagen peptides on skin elasticity, hydration and wrinkles

Byline: Maryam. Borumand, Sara. Sibilla

Context: Many people around the world strive to achieve younger-looking skin. This is often promised by topical treatments. Oral treatments for skin ageing have been unsuccessful due to their constituents being broken down by acid and enzymes in the gut; however several studies have shown that hydrolyzed collagen is absorbed in the gut and then delivered to skin and joints through the blood stream. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine whether an oral nutritional supplement drink containing hydrolyzed collagen and other specific ingredients reported to have antiageing properties, would have a positive effect on skin wrinkling, elasticity and hydration. Materials and Methods: A double-blind, randomized, placebo controlled clinical trial was conducted on healthy subjects to assess whether this oral supplement could improve certain specific skin properties of post-menopausal women, namely depth of facial wrinkles, skin elasticity and hydration. Results: The evidence provided here proves that the combination of specific ingredients present in this nutritional drink acts to significantly reduce the depth of facial wrinkles and increase skin elasticity and hydration. Conclusions: This study shows that the oral nutritional supplement consisting of hydrolyzed collagen, hyaluronic acid, and essential vitamins and minerals, leads to a significant improvement in wrinkle depth. It is also able to induce noticeable improvement in elasticity and hydration of the skin.

Introduction

Skin is the largest organ in the body and like other organs, it changes with time. The alterations due to the ageing process include elastosis, leathery aspect or roughness, pigmentation, and the appearance of fine lines. As well as changes due to natural ageing process (known as intrinsic ageing), skin is subject to deterioration caused by dermatological disorders or environmental conditions (wind, air conditioning, heating). The intrinsic ageing process may also be accelerated by exposure to the sun (photo-ageing) [sup][1],[2] or other lifestyle issues (extrinsic ageing: smoking, alcohol, stress, lack of sleep). [sup][3],[4]

There are many fundamental processes that lead to the changes observed in aged skin, such as alterations in the turnover of the extracellular matrix proteins within the dermal layer of the skin, a rise in the inflammatory markers, and reduced blood flow. Fine lines begin to appear when the breakdown of collagen within the dermis exceeds its synthesis. In fact, as the main component of skin, together with elastin and hyaluronic acid, collagen has a key role in providing integrity and elasticity to this organ.

Collagen represents a family of 28 different proteins, [sup][5] which account for 30% of the total protein mass in the human body and play a pivotal role in the structure of several tissues, such as skin and bones, providing rigidity and integrity. [sup][6] All members of this family share a triple-helical structure composed of a-chains; [sup][7] multiple triple-helices form a collagen fibril. In general, collagen fibrils are made of different collagen types: collagen I and III in the skin; collagen II and III in cartilage. [sup][8]

The first evidence that collagen peptides may have a chemotactic activity on fibroblasts was...