Dive deeper into the world of collagen and how hydrolyzed collagen reaches tissues and helps to improve your skin, joints, bones, and immune system. Read on our full blog post and discover the knowledge to optimize your health.
Collagen protein: role in human body and types of collagen
Collagen is a protein naturally present exclusively in animal tissues. It has a very voluminous and resistant fibrous structure, necessary to develop its structural functions, provide internal cohesion and facilitate the movement of animal species.
Collagen is the most abundant and widely distributed protein in our body. So far, 29 types of collagen have been detected in the human body, all made up of the same 18 amino acids (AAs, basic structural units of proteins) and in very similar proportions, differing only in the length, thickness and arrangement of their fibers. Several types of collagen coexist in each tissue. For example: in skin and bones, type I is predominant, associated with type III; in cartilages, type II is predominant, associated with type IX and XI; in the wall of blood vessels, type III is predominant, associated with type I and IV, etc.
Is hydrolyzed collagen of some type?
If we talk about hydrolyzed collagen, it makes no sense to mention its type, since the process of hydrolysis (fragmentation of the protein chains) removes the type. The hydrolysis is necessary to transform the collagen protein present in animal tissues (native collagen) into an assimilable protein nutrient formed by small peptides (associations of few AAs) that our gastrointestinal tract is capable of digesting and absorbing, allowing their incorporation into the bloodstream that distributes them in the tissues and organs where they develop their action at nutritional level (provision of AAs) and functional level (provision of bioactive peptides that promote beneficial health effects that go beyond nutritional ones).
Whatever the type of collagen from which the hydrolyzed collagen comes, after its ingestion, the same set of derived AAs and bioactive peptides, and in similar proportions, will reach organs and tissues. In any case, this set will depend largely on the degree of hydrolysis and the quality of the manufacturing process of hydrolyzed collagen, and not on the type of collagen or the animal species of origin, since collagen is a protein that has a universal composition in the animal kingdom.
For this reason, without being of any type and regardless of the type of collagen and the animal species in origin, hydrolyzed collagen stimulates and facilitates the synthesis of all types of collagen that make up our tissues and it makes no sense to emphasize the animal, tissue or collagen type in origin of hydrolyzed collagen.
Thus, what is important about hydrolyzed collagen is being pure and bioavailable protein ingredient. The type of collagen in origin will not make a significant difference of the final composition of the hydrolyzed collagen. Therefore, the argument that taking hydrolyzed collagen from type I collagen has beneficial effects focused on the skin, and bones, or if it comes from type II collagen, on the cartilage, is false and is only a marketing tool used to differentiate from the competition, confusing the consumer, thanks to the fact that it sounds apparently “logical”, although it is not true.
Colpropur®: a high-quality hydrolyzed collagen for daily health care
COLPROPUR D®, the main ingredient of Colpropur® range of supplements, is an optimum quality hydrolyzed collagen produced by PROTEIN SA, a specialist in collagen since 1985. Scientific studies have shown its good digestibility and bioavailability, but also its beneficial effects on joints, bones, skin and immune system. This is because it provides the basic structural elements (collagen-specific AAs and biopeptides) to synthesize all types of endogenous collagen in all body tissues.
This means that taking Colpropur® daily is an excellent food aid and a healthy habit easy to practice every day.