What are collagen peptides?

Collagen is one of the most used words in the beauty category, and what it refers to chemically is fairly specific.

What is collagen?

Collagen is the most abundant structural protein in the body, present in skin, bone, tendon and cartilage. The body builds it from amino acids.

How do peptides differ from collagen?

Collagen in its native form is a large molecule. Manufacturing uses enzymatic hydrolysis to produce shorter chains, called peptides.

A dipeptide is a chain of two amino acids, a tripeptide three. These numbers describe the manufacturing process.

Where does it come from?

From sea fish, described as marine collagen, and from the hide or bone of land animals. Anyone with a dietary restriction should check this on the label.

Does eating it go straight to the skin?

Not in that direct a way. Protein that is eaten is broken into peptides and amino acids first, and the body then uses that material according to its own priorities.

What is collagen made of?

The body makes collagen from amino acids, with glycine, proline and hydroxyproline in unusually high proportions. That amino acid profile is what distinguishes collagen from other proteins.

Dietary supplements are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease.