Collagen Peptides vs. Hydrolyzed Collagen – What’s The Difference

Need help distinguishing good collagen from bad? The louder the hype for the latest food supplement trend the harder it can be to work through the weeds of that smart marketing language.  And the supplement industry LOVES a beauty trend like nothing else. From goji berries, to Irish Moss – each of these fundamentally good sources of energy and nutrients has suffered from the subtle art of over selling, the world salad of pseudo-science.

 

Check this previous article to see why collagen actually DOES stack up to the hype, and read on below to learn how to choose quality over the hot air of the marketing hype train.

 

Collagen is a form of protein found in animal tissue. In us humans it makes up maybe one third of our bone structure, 80% of our skin structure, and half of all the protein in our connective tissue like ligaments, tendons etc, that fix together and wrap around our entire structure, supporting our bones, muscles and organs, keeping them all in place and keeping our biological show on the road.

 

The comparison you’re looking for is a pretty dry read…but stick with it and you’ll be a collagen nerd in no time at all.

Historical Consumption

It was thought for many years that collagen in our diet, or collagen put on our skin couldn’t actually make up collagen inside our bodies for a few reasons, mainly that the molecule was too large to fully digest and break down in the gut for useful assimilation, and that if/when we did absorb it, it was in the form of amino acids that make up the base material that our body makes EVERY cell, tissue, enzyme etc from, and so we could never hope to turn dietary collagen into bodily collagen.

 

Studies in the 2010’s started to demonstrate that collagen consumption could actually influence collagen synthesis in damaged joint tissue when stimulated to heal by putting strain on the affected area, and more recent studies have delved deeper into the mechanistic processes, establishing that collagen consumption really aids the body to repair, heal and regnerate, stimulating fibroblasts in the skin, osteoblasts in the bone, and chondrocytes in joint cartilage.

 

In our diet when we consume bone broths or as they do in Asia, consume fish head broths, we extract useful amounts of gelatin which contains partially hydrolysed (wait for it) collagen along with other molecules like glucosamine that naturally occur in the same tissues.  Gelatin is somewhat bioavailable but in order to make collagen really useful to us more technology needed to be brought to bear.

 

Enter Hydrolysis

The collagen industry really got going in the past 10 years or so, as the technique of hydrolysis emerged.  Hydrolysis is a technique that breaks down the whole collagen protein into peptide chains, smaller chains of amino acids that are then readily absorbed across the gut wall.  It’s the same technique that is used in the protein supplement industry to make whey protein more bioavailable.  In terms of absorption, our stomach acid has to work really hard to break down large boluses of protein rich foods, so when you eat a steak, or a  block of tofu, your body has to produce gallons of hydrochloric acid along with key protein digesting enzymes to unlock these key pillars of our diet to allow them to be converted into the structural components that scaffold our body, preventing injury and enhancing mobility and elasticity in our joints and limbs.

 

So the hydrolysed collagen becomes completely water soluble, well at least 90%, meaning that it doesn’t require stomach acid to make it soluble, and that’s one of the key differences you’ll notice with collagen vs gelatin – the gelatin only becomes soluble in hot liquid and starts to return to its gel form as the liquid cools, solidifying and becoming less absorbable as it comes out of solution.

 

Collagen Peptides vs Hydrolysed Collagen

We’ve kept you waiting this long only to tell you that…it’s the same thing!! HAHA sorry that’s a cruel joke but no really it’s the truth.  Your collagen peptides in order to be referred to as peptides and not just protein MUST have gone through the process of hydrolysis, rendering them bioavailable.  But wait! There’s one juicy secret we want to impart before we, um, part. It’s this:  the source of your collagen and the process of hydrolysis can radically alter the dalton (molecular) weight of your collagen.  Bovine collagen is often the highest dalton weight, 3-6,000 while marine collagen tends to be lower at around 1-3,000.  But why does this matter.

 

Molecular Weight of Collagens Compared

 

Well in order to get absorbed in the first place we need to get collagen that is lower than 10,000 daltons in weight, and to get through the finer capillaries up to the skin level, 1-3,000 molecular weight is ideal, meaning that marine collagen is more likely to assist in tissue regeneration, plumping and hydrating the skin than a bovine collagen.  Bovine collagen is much more likely to support joints and bones, so sports injuries and complaints such as osteoarthritis are best served by bovine collagen consumption.

 

The molecular weight of your collagen really does matter.  Bored yet?  Well good, cos we’re just about done haha!!

 

If after reading this you’ve decided to try supplementing collagen in your diet, but you’re unsure which ones to trust, what form is good, better, or best and how to sort out the collagen peptides from the collagen pretenders, well you’ll be happy to know that we’ve got the solutions for you, with unbiased information backed by real science, and a VAST array of different collagen forms (bovine collagen, marine collagen, chicken collagen and even eggshell membrane collagen!!) in store and online,, each with their various applications and benefits.