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Hyaluronic acid
A molecule your body already makes, found in the fluid of your joints, in your skin and in the matrix between your cells. EFSA rejected the claims put forward for it on joints and on skin, whether it does anything when swallowed is still debated, and it sits in one formula, at 100 mg, on published work rather than on a claim.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
No authorised claim. EFSA turned down joints and skin.
There is no health claim for hyaluronic acid on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. EFSA assessed the claims put forward for it on joints and on skin, and rejected them for insufficient evidence (EFSA Journal 2009;7(9):1266 and 2012;10(7):2806). None of them made it into Regulation 432/2012.There is no health claim for hyaluronic acid on the EU register. EFSA assessed the ones put forward for it on joints and on skin and rejected them, so there is nothing for us to quote.
You will read that hyaluronic acid taken by mouth hydrates your skin or keeps your joints moving. Those are exactly the areas where EFSA said no. In Skin, hair & nails, the claims for hair, skin and nails come from the biotin, vitamin C and zinc next to it, not from the hyaluronic acid.
WHY LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT
No claim to protect. The size of the molecule is the question.
No form of hyaluronic acid carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our form file prefers low-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid, taken as sodium hyaluronate: it dissolves in water, stays stable in liquid and tastes neutral, which is what a liquid formula needs. Our composition table does not tie the formula to a form yet, so this is the form on file, not a locked specification.
Above 1 MDa. Our form file records these as less well absorbed than the smaller fragments, which is why it prefers the smaller ones.
LMW-HA, 50–300 kDa in our form file. Our notes record fragments of this size as better absorbed than the large chains, taken up by the cells lining your gut and broken down by your gut bacteria. It is sensitive to heat and oxygen.
Our ingredient notes put the preferred size under 50 kDa, not 50–300, and also point to patented complexes with trials of their own, such as Mobilee®, Oralvisc® and ExceptionHYAL®. The formula has not fixed which it uses, and we would rather write that down than leave it out.
Whether hyaluronic acid does anything when you swallow it is still debated. In your gut it is broken down into smaller fragments before it is absorbed; as an intact molecule, our notes say it is not absorbed at all. Our form file puts absorption of the low-molecular-weight form at around 8%, with no checked source behind the figure. Our notes list three proposed ways it might act, from building up in skin and joints to prompting your cells to make more of their own, and none of them is settled. They put any effect weeks away, 6 to 12 in one file and 8 to 12 in another, and grade our own confidence in it as C, with a note to keep expectations realistic.Whether it does anything when swallowed is still debated. As an intact molecule it is not absorbed; our form file puts absorption of the smaller form at around 8%, with no checked source behind it.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries hyaluronic acid.
It appears only in Skin, hair & nails, the CORE formula taken each morning with breakfast, next to biotin, vitamin C, zinc, silicon and hydrolysed collagen. Our notes say it works with or without food and at any time of day, so the window is the formula's, not its own. The skin trial our formula file cites used 120 mg a day for 12 weeks; we serve 100 mg. The formula is pending clinical validation and has its own exclusions, listed on its page.
THE CEILING
No upper limit set. We serve 100 mg.
EFSA has not established an upper intake level for hyaluronic acid, and no NRV is set either. Our dose file records an EFSA assessment of sodium hyaluronate as a novel food ingredient, with safety documented up to 200 mg a day, and our own notes regard 240 mg a day, added up across everything you take, as a reasonable ceiling. The engine has no rule written for hyaluronic acid yet: today, what keeps your total at 100 mg is that only one formula carries it.EFSA has not established an upper intake level for hyaluronic acid. Our notes regard 240 mg a day in total as reasonable; the one formula that carries it serves 100 mg.
Only Skin, hair & nails carries it, at 100 mg each morning. That sits inside the 80–240 mg a day used in the published work on file, and below the 200 mg up to which our dose file records safety. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything.
Our notes flag the risk of doubling up with hyaluronic acid added to functional drinks, joint powders and cartilage complexes. If you take one of those, it counts towards the same daily total, and the engine has no rule written for hyaluronic acid yet.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, take care: the data are limited, although the amounts found in food are considered safe. Under 18, there is not enough data for it as a supplement. If you have, or have had, cancer, ask first: hyaluronic acid in tumours is involved in how some cancers progress, through what is called the HA-CD44 axis, so there is a theoretical reason for caution, and the preclinical evidence on taking it by mouth is mixed. Our notes rate it very well tolerated, with mild nausea and bloating as the side effects recorded, and no label warning is mandatory for it. Skin, hair & nails is also ruled out if you take a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin, because of the vitamin C in it. Skin, hair & nails also carries biotin, which can interfere with blood tests such as TSH, troponin and hormones: tell the laboratory or stop it 72 hours before.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
Hyaluronic acid is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented four of them so far, out of the 443 pairs on file: two rated as working alongside it, and two that have to be kept apart from it.
Both are rated as synergies in our table. Vitamin C is a cofactor in building the matrix between your cells, your own hyaluronic acid included, and our rule asks for at least 80 mg of vitamin C when hyaluronic acid is in your plan. Hydrolysed collagen is its complementary partner in the matrix of skin and joints. Skin, hair & nails carries both, with vitamin C at exactly 80 mg.
Both can reduce how much of it you absorb, so the engine keeps them at least two hours away from it. Neither is in any VION formula today, so these pairs cannot come up in your plan yet.
Our drug table has no row for hyaluronic acid. Our notes record no major drug interaction, anticoagulants and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories included, rate it safe at usual doses with liver or kidney disease, and find no contraindication with heart conditions or psychiatric medication. Nothing documented is not the same as proven safe, so if you take regular medication, ask first.
443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.