In this section
- Collagen Aids Fight Against Osteoarthritis - Go Healthy, Autumn, 2004
- My knee is so much better - Woman, August 16, 2004
- Take supplements - Woman's Weekly, July 6, 2004
- How a collagen pill can beat arthritis - Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 5, 2003
- Nutritional Intervention for Joint Health - Berlin, Germany, October 17, 2003
- Impact of Collagen Fragments on the Extracellular Matrix Metabolism - Steffen Oesser, PhD, Surgical Research Department of General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery, University of Kiel, Germany
- The Role of Nutrition In Joint Health - Kristine Clark, PhD, RD, FACSM, Director of Sports Nutrition, Penn State Orthopedics, The Pennsylvania State University
- Joint Health and Osteoarthritis: The Facts.
- New highlights from research on gelatine - Natural prevention of osteoarthritis possible - Eberbach, Germany, April 22, 2003.
- Champneys Magazine Ad - Summer 2004
New highlights from research on gelatine - Natural prevention of osteoarthritis possible
Eberbach, Germany, April 22, 2003. Scientific studies and clinical experience from past decades have demonstrated gelatine has a protective effect on articular cartilage. For the first time cell researchers have been able to prove in a laboratory study that gelatine stimulates collagen synthesis in cartilage cells. The results from this study confirm the importance of gelatine in the prevention and treatment of degenerative arthritic disease.
Scientists have been investigating the effect of gelatine on cartilage metabolism for many decades. In clinical studies based both in Germany and internationally, patients reported a significant reduction in pain following the intake of collagen hydrolysate, one of the types of gelatine suitable for therapeutic use. Further more, analgesics and anti-inflammatory agents were not taken as often and joint mobility increased.
Advances in collagen hydrolysate research
The physiologists Dr Oesser and Professor Seifert from The University of Kiel have been able to explain the physiological basis for these observations in their recently publicised laboratory study (Cell Tissue Res (March 2003) 311: 393-399) on freshly isolated chondrocytes from cartilage. The enrichment of the cell culture medium with collagen hydrolysate led to a significant stimulation of the synthesis of collagen in cartilage cells. In the experiment, mature bovine chondrocytes were preincubated in the basal cell medium for three days. Then the medium was replaced with a medium supplemented with collagen hydrolysate and the controls were replaced with a medium containing no collagen or a medium with collagen free protein hydrolysate and incubation was continued for eight days. The scientists measured the synthesis of collagen in the medium using immunocytochemical detection and by demonstrating the formation of istopically labelled amino acids. The results confired that the addition of collagen hydrolysate to the culture medium led to an up to 2.5 fold dose dependent increase in the secretion of collagen, which could not be demonstrated in the controls. The results reveal a possible mechanism for the complex regulation of collagen turnover in the joint. According to these results collagen degradation products stimulate collagen synthesis in a positive feedback mechanism and induce the formation of new cartilage tissue.
Prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis with collagen hydrolysate
The current observations made by the researchers are a further building block in the chain of evidence that specific intake of collagen hydrolysate in the daily diet makes good sense in the prevention and treatment of degenerative joint diseases such as osteoarthritis. “It is very plausible that collagen hydrolysate, when taken as a supplement to our normal diet, may activate the synthesis of collagen in cartilage. Paricularly in situations in which cartilage is under massive stress the intake of collagen hydrolysate could be highly significant medically and reduce degenerative changes,” concludes Dr Steffan Oesser.
The same conclusions have also been drawn by other leading researchers such as the American arthritis specialist Professor Roland Moskowitz and the Prague based rheumatologist Professor Milan Adam, who is considered to be the ‘father’ of collagen hydrolysate research. Professor Moskowitz and Adam also advocate the daily intake of collagen hydrolysate based on the results of their studies. Collagen hydrolysate is important as a dietary supplement particularly in patients with osteoarthritis or in people whose joints are put under heavy stress such as sportsment/women or people who are overweight. The recommended daily dose is 10 grams.
Collagen hydrolysate’s good safety profile – the FDA awarded collagen hydrolysate GRAS status (Generally Recognised as Safe) in 1975, - makes it particularly interesting as a long term treatment in the prevention and treatment of degenerative joint disease.
