HOME › FORMULAS › INGREDIENTS › HYDROLYSED COLLAGEN

BIOACTIVE
Collagen
type I + III peptides
IN 2 OF THE 29 FORMULAS NO AUTHORISED CLAIM

Hydrolysed collagen

The protein of the matrix in your skin and joints, broken down by enzymes into small peptides. It has no authorised EU claim of its own: the claim on collagen formation belongs to vitamin C. It sits in two formulas, at 10 g in each, on published work rather than on a claim, and it is animal-derived.

FORM WE USE Type I + III peptides (Verisol or equivalent), not fixed in the formulas yetType I + III peptides
NRV None set. It counts as proteinNone
OUR DOSE 10 g in each of two formulas10 g per formula
EFSA UPPER LIMIT Not establishedNone set
APPEARS IN 2 formulas
AUTHORISED CLAIMS None of its own

WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY

No authorised claim. The collagen claim belongs to vitamin C.

There is no health claim for hydrolysed collagen on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. Our dose file records that EFSA's nutrition panel rejected the claims put forward for it in 2011, because the methods behind the evidence fell short, and our notes say those were the claims on skin and joints. None of them made it into Regulation 432/2012. The claims on collagen formation you will see on our formulas belong to vitamin C, not to collagen.There is no health claim for hydrolysed collagen on the EU register. EFSA rejected the ones put forward for it, on skin and joints, so there is nothing for us to quote.

AND WHAT WE ARE NOT

You will read that collagen taken by mouth firms your skin, strengthens your nails or rebuilds your joints. The claims put to EFSA on skin and joints were rejected, and there is no authorised claim on nails either. In Skin, hair & nails, the claims for hair, skin and nails come from the biotin, vitamin C and zinc next to it. In Daily athletic, the claims on muscle function and protein metabolism come from vitamin D3, magnesium and vitamin B6. None of them comes from the collagen.

WHY TYPE I + III PEPTIDES

No claim to protect. Only the size of the pieces.

No form of collagen carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our form file prefers hydrolysed type I + III collagen, Verisol or an equivalent: it dissolves in water, tastes neutral and keeps best between pH 5 and 7. The same file marks it as sensitive to heat and not stable in liquid, which matters in a liquid system, and our composition table does not tie either formula to a form yet. So this is the form on file, not a locked specification.

TYPE II, UNDENATUREDA different ingredient

Collagen from cartilage, used intact at around 40 mg a day rather than in grams. Our notes list it as the other preferred option (UC-II®). It is a separate ingredient in our library, and neither of these two formulas carries it.

TYPE I + III PEPTIDESWhat we use

Collagen broken down by enzymes into peptides of about 2 to 5 kDa, from bovine or marine sources. Our form file prefers them because they dissolve in water and taste neutral. They are sensitive to heat.

THE SMALLEST PIECESWhat reaches your blood

Our notes record short pieces such as Pro-Hyp and Hyp-Gly being absorbed intact, through a gut transporter called PEPT-1. A 2005 study on file identified collagen peptides in human blood after people swallowed gelatin hydrolysates.

THE HONEST VERSION

What happens after you swallow it is only partly mapped. Our notes say the peptides circulate, build up in skin and cartilage, and act both as raw material for new collagen and as signals to the cells that make it, through pathways that are not yet fully characterised. There is no absorption percentage on file, the peptides are detectable in your blood for about 1 to 2 hours, and our files put any visible change weeks away, 4 to 12 in one and 8 to 12 in another. They grade our own confidence in it as B, on modest but positive reviews of mixed quality, with a note to keep expectations realistic.There is no absorption percentage on file. The peptides are detectable in your blood for 1 to 2 hours, and any change is weeks away: 4 to 12 in one file, 8 to 12 in another. Our confidence grade is B.

WHERE IT APPEARS

Two of the twenty-nine carry hydrolysed collagen.

Both serve 10 g in the morning, preferably with breakfast. Our notes say collagen works with or without food and has no strong timing rule, so the window is the formulas', not its own. Skin, hair & nails is a CORE formula, taken for at least 90 days, and carries the 80 mg of vitamin C our table asks for alongside collagen. Daily athletic is a BOOST, run in 8-week cycles with a 4-week break and no more than three a year, and it carries no vitamin C. Both are pending clinical validation. Skin, hair & nails is not for you if you take a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin or acenocoumarol. Daily athletic is not for you if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, have liver or heart disease, a thyroid disorder or hyperandrogenism, or take CNS sedatives or a vitamin K antagonist.

FORMULATYPEDOSEWINDOWWHY IT IS IN THERE
Skin, hair & nails CORE 10 g
10 g Morning Morning · Skin support on published reviews. No EU claim of its own
Daily athletic BOOST 10 g
10 g Morning Morning · Inside the 10–15 g a day studied for recovery. No EU claim of its own

THE CEILING

No upper limit set. Our notes stop at 15 g a day.

EFSA has not established an upper intake level for collagen, and no NRV is set: as a protein, it counts as protein. Our notes regard 15 g a day, added up across everything you take, as reasonable, not because of a formal limit but because of the protein load. Each of our two formulas carries 10 g, so together they come to 20 g, above that line. The engine has no rule written for collagen yet, and we would rather tell you that than imply a check that is not there.EFSA has not set an upper limit for collagen. Our notes regard 15 g a day in total as reasonable, because of the protein load. Both formulas together come to 20 g, and the engine has no collagen rule yet.

HOW WE DOSE10 g, near the top of the range

The trials in our dose file used 2.5 to 15 g a day: 2.5 g for skin and nails, 5 g for joints, and 10 to 15 g for muscle loss with age and for recovery. Our notes mark both formulas as raised to that therapeutic range. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything.

WATCH FOR DOUBLING UPOther collagen you take

Our notes flag the risk of doubling up with gelatin, fish or poultry hydrolysates and anything sold as marine collagen. If you take one of those, it counts towards the same daily total, and on both of our formulas you are already at 20 g.

WHO SHOULD ASK FIRSTNot for everyone

It is animal-derived, from bovine, porcine, marine or avian sources, and the source has to be declared on the label. Avoid it if you are allergic to the source: fish allergy for marine collagen, egg allergy for avian type II. Until our supplier's specification confirms the source, we treat it as containing fish. It is not vegan or vegetarian, and halal or kosher only with specific certification. Ask first if you have advanced chronic kidney disease, because of the protein and amino acid load, or severe liver disease on a protein-restricted diet. Our notes rate it very well tolerated, with a feeling of fullness, an unpleasant taste and burping as the side effects recorded, and consider it safe in pregnancy and breastfeeding, as a hydrolysed protein, and in food amounts under 18. The formulas that carry it set stricter rules: Daily athletic is excluded outright if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, have liver or heart disease, a thyroid disorder or hyperandrogenism, or take CNS sedatives or a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin or acenocoumarol, and Skin, hair & nails is excluded with a vitamin K antagonist, because of the vitamin C in it.

WHAT IT REACTS WITH

Documented pairs, not hunches.

Hydrolysed collagen is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented six of them so far, out of the 443 pairs on file: two rated as working alongside it, and four that have to be kept apart from it.

WORKS ALONGSIDEVitamin C and hyaluronic acid

Both are rated as synergies in our table. Vitamin C is a cofactor your body needs to build its own collagen, and without it that process is limited, so our table asks for at least 80 mg of vitamin C a day whenever collagen is in your plan, citing a 2017 study of vitamin C-enriched gelatin. Skin, hair & nails carries exactly 80 mg; Daily athletic carries none, so there the pairing depends on the rest of your plan. Hyaluronic acid is its complementary partner in the matrix of skin and joints, and Skin, hair & nails carries both.

KEEP 2 HOURS APARTKaolin, activated charcoal, konjac glucomannan and psyllium husk

Our table records that each of them can reduce how much you absorb, and says to keep them at least two hours apart from it. None of the four is in any VION formula today, so these pairs cannot come up in your plan yet.

TALK TO A DOCTOR FIRSTMedication

Our drug table has no row for hydrolysed collagen. Our notes record no relevant drug interaction, citing Drugs.com, and none with anticoagulants or psychiatric medication. They do note one theoretical case: a large protein dose taken at the same time as levothyroxine may reduce how much of it you absorb, so do not take the two together. Nothing documented is not the same as proven safe, so if you take regular medication, ask first. Both formulas that carry it are ruled out with a vitamin K antagonist, and Daily athletic with CNS sedatives, for reasons that have nothing to do with the collagen.

WHAT WE HAVE NOT CHECKED YET

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.

REGULATION Regulation (EU) 432/2012 — EU register of permitted health claims no claim for hydrolysed collagen
EFSA EFSA NDA Panel, 2011 — claims for collagen on skin and joints, as recorded in our dose file claims rejected
EFSA EFSA NDA Panel — no tolerable upper intake level set for collagen no upper limit
REVIEW Choi FD et al. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology 2019 — oral collagen supplementation: a systematic review of dermatological applications PMID 30681787
REVIEW Khatri et al. 2021 — meta-analysis of 15 trials, as cited in our dose file 5 g a day, joint pain
TRIAL Lugo J, Saiyed Z, Lane N. Nutrition Journal 2016 — undenatured type II collagen and knee osteoarthritis symptoms: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study DOI 10.1186/s12937-016-0130-8 · type II, not hydrolysed
STUDY Shaw G et al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2017 — vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis DOI 10.3945/ajcn.116.138594
STUDY Iwai K et al. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2005 — food-derived collagen peptides in human blood after oral ingestion of gelatin hydrolysates DOI 10.1021/jf050206p
MONOGRAPH Examine.com — collagen profile general profile
MONOGRAPH Drugs.com — as cited in our notes no relevant drug interactions documented

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.