Can collagen peptides, taken as a food supplement, really help people with osteoarthritis? An international team of researchers ran a clinical trial testing VitaBright Collagen Peptides, to find out.
Independent research into VitaBright Collagen Peptides for Osteoarthritis
Knee osteoarthritis affects daily comfort and mobility for millions of people worldwide. While conventional treatments such as anti-inflammatory medications and physical therapy can help, they’re not a cure. As a result, many people are exploring alternative options to improve joint function. Collagen peptides have emerged as a promising treatment, and recent research suggests that these compounds may be effective at reducing pain and stiffness while enhancing joint health in people with mild knee osteoarthritis.
What type of clinical study was it?
To investigate this potential, a team of researchers conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial—the gold standard in clinical research—to understand how collagen peptides might reduce osteoarthritis symptoms. Put simply, this means that neither the patients, nor the people giving them supplements, knew if they were taking real VitaBright Collagen Peptides or a placebo. This is the best way to make sure there’s no bias in the results that might come from people’s personal assumptions.
Collagen peptides improve knee osteoarthritis in elderly women: A 6-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, Jian-Xin Jiang, Shen Yu, Qi-Ren Huang, Xian-Long Zhang, Chang-Qing Zhang, Jian-Lie Zhou, Janne Prawitt
Who were the patients in the study?
The people in the research were 94 women in China, aged 40 to 70, within a fairly narrow weight and height range. They all had osteoarthritis diagnosed by x-ray and quantified using the Kellgren-Lawrence x-ray classification (a standard grading system for osteoarthritis severity), all scoring within a narrow range of arthritis severity. Researchers made sure they didn’t have other medical conditions, and hadn’t used other treatments and medicines before or during the study.
Why was it important that the study volunteers were all quite similar in this way? Studies in the past have used much more varied groups of people, with different severities of arthritis, ages, body weight and so on. Some of them didn’t even control what other medications their volunteers were taking. Hardly surprisingly, they got results that were all over the place and very difficult to interpret.
What was the dosage of VitaBright Collagen?
The study lasted 6 months.
- 46 women in the collagen group received a daily dose of 8 grammes of VitaBright collagen peptides, a level chosen based on previous studies showing efficacy in similar contexts.
- 48 women in the placebo group received no collagen.
How were the effects of VitaBright Collagen Peptides measured?
To measure pain levels and joint mobility, researchers used two different systems of asking people about their pain. These are carefully designed and widely used to obtain consistent and objective reports of pain, joint movement and other activities that can be affected by arthritis.
- The WOMAC (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index) score evaluates 24 parameters for pain, stiffness and physical function of the joint, with a high score indicating more severe symptoms of osteoarthritis.
- The Lysholm score is a specialised scoring system that evaluates knee function through a range of daily movement tasks. This includes the ability to climb stairs, perform squats, and maintain knee stability during activities—essential factors for quality of life in individuals with osteoarthritis. A high score is associated with better knee function.
What were the results?
The results were striking. By the end of the study, women who had taken collagen peptides reported a significant reduction in joint pain and stiffness, coupled with a marked improvement in joint function compared to those in the placebo group. Participants in the collagen peptide group showed a marked improvement in their Lysholm scores over the study period, indicating better knee function.
Even more impressively, these improvements already became evident as early as the three-month mark, suggesting that collagen peptides may offer relatively fast-acting benefits.
Have other clinical studies shown the same results?
The study’s positive findings regarding pain reduction align with similar clinical research. For example, a previous study by Benito-Ruiz et al. found that a gender-mixed group with mild knee osteoarthritis experienced notable pain relief after taking collagen peptides, as measured by both the VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) and the WOMAC score.
Another comparative study even showed that collagen peptides outperformed glucosamine, a well-known supplement for joint health, in reducing osteoarthritis pain within the same three-month timeframe. These studies support the notion that collagen peptides can be an effective option for managing knee osteoarthritis symptoms, offering a potential alternative to glucosamine and other popular supplements.
What do these results mean for people with osteoarthritis?
This carefully controlled clinical trial offers strong evidence that VitaBright Collagen Peptides can reduce pain, improve function, and potentially support cartilage health in elderly women with mild knee osteoarthritis.
Collagen peptides offer a simple and affordable food-based therapy with no known side-effects. More importantly, they seem to deliver results fairly fast, in just 3 to 6 months. This makes them an attractive alternative to pharmaceuticals, which often carry risks of side effects when used long-term.
For those looking to maintain mobility, reduce discomfort, and support long-term joint health, collagen peptides could be a valuable tool in the quest for healthy ageing.
