The effect of fish collagen on skin hydration and roughness Original paper

This randomized controlled trial found that a fish collagen supplement increased skin hydration and reduced roughness, potentially due to increased skin levels of ceramides, amino acids, and amino acid derivatives.

This Study Summary was published on January 31, 2022.

Background

A few clinical trials have observed improvements in skin appearance and quality following supplementation with fish-derived collagen peptides.[1] It is unclear what potential mechanisms explain this effect. One possibility is that collagen supplementation increases factors in the skin that bind water and maintain skin hydration. These factors include ceramides and natural moisturizing factors (NMF), a complex mixture of peptides, amino acids, and amino acid derivatives. However, whether collagen supplementation increases these factors has not yet been tested in humans.

The study

This 12-week randomized controlled trial examined the effect of fish collagen peptides on skin. A total of 50 people (ages 35 to 60) with dry skin or crow’s feet (grade 3) were assigned to take either 1,000 milligrams of collagen or a placebo daily. The collagen was derived from fish scales using enzymes and contained more than 15% tripeptides.

The outcomes assessed included skin hydration/moisture, transepidermal water loss, skin texture (i.e., roughness and gloss), stratum corneum (SC; the outermost layer of skin) flexibility, SC amino acid (AA) content, SC amino acid derivatives (AAD) content, and SC ceramides.

The results

Compared with the placebo, the collagen supplement increased moisture and decreased roughness in the skin.

Compared with the placebo, the collagen supplement also increased the SC content of 13 out of 17 AAs, 3 out of 4 AADs and the sum of all 4 AADs, and 2 out of 4 ceramide subclasses, plus the sum of all 4 ceramide subclasses.

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This Study Summary was published on January 31, 2022.

References

  1. ^Patrícia Maria Berardo Gonçalves Maia Campos, Rodolfo Scarpino Barboza Franco, Letícia Kakuda, Gabriel Fernandes Cadioli, Gabriela Maria D'Angelo Costa, Elodie BouvretOral Supplementation with Hydrolyzed Fish Cartilage Improves the Morphological and Structural Characteristics of the Skin: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical StudyMolecules.(2021 Aug 12)