NOW Foods Aquatic Beauty+

Collagen peptides (hydrolysed collagen)· evidence: Limited

Collagen peptides are collagen from cow hide, pig skin, fish skin or chicken broken down into small pieces so they dissolve easily. The body digests them into amino acids and small peptides; it does not move the collagen straight to your skin or joints. Branded peptides (such as Verisol, Fortigel, Fortibone, Tendoforte, Naticol or Peptan) are marketed for particular uses.

For skin, many trials report small improvements in skin moisture or elasticity at 2.5–10 g a day, but a 2023 review found that the positive results came mainly from studies funded by the industry, while independent studies tended to find no effect. For joints and tendons, the evidence is smaller still: a few trials, mostly in athletes or older adults, mostly industry-linked, at 5–10 g a day.

There is no authorised health claim for collagen itself, so we make no claims about skin, joints or tendons. Any claim on a collagen product comes from added vitamins such as vitamin C. As a protein source it is incomplete, so it is not a good choice for building muscle.

Typical dose: Studies mostly used 2.5–10 g a day; many capsule products give far less

Safety: Made from animal or fish sources, so not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Check the source if you have a fish allergy or avoid beef or pork. Generally well tolerated.

Research we looked at:
Pu SY et al. (2023). Effects of oral collagen for skin anti-aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients 15(9):2080.
de Miranda RB, Weimer P, Rossi RC (2021). Effects of hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Dermatol 60(12):1449–1461.
Khatri M et al. (2021). The effects of collagen peptide supplementation on body composition, collagen synthesis, and recovery from joint injury and exercise: a systematic review. Amino Acids 53:1493–1506.

Vitamin C· evidence: Moderate

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid, or mineral ascorbates such as sodium, calcium or magnesium ascorbate) is an essential vitamin found in fruit and vegetables. Adults need about 40 mg a day in the UK, and most people who eat fruit and vegetables get enough. The body cannot store much, and absorption falls off at higher doses, so the extra from a 1,000 mg tablet is largely passed in urine.

The best evidence on colds (a Cochrane review) found that taking vitamin C every day does not stop most people catching colds, but may shorten them slightly. People doing very heavy physical exercise are the exception, where regular vitamin C roughly halved the number of colds in trials.

A supplement makes sense if your diet is low in fruit and vegetables, if you smoke, or around periods of hard training. Most people do not need mega-doses, and fancy forms (liposomal, ester or buffered) have little evidence of meaningful benefit over plain ascorbic acid, though buffered forms can be gentler on the stomach.

Typical dose: The UK reference intake for adults is 40 mg a day (NRV on labels: 80 mg). Supplements commonly give 200 to 1,000 mg.

Safety: The FSA advises that 1,000 mg (1 g) a day or less from supplements is unlikely to cause harm. Higher doses can cause stomach pain, diarrhoea and wind. People with a history of kidney stones, haemochromatosis (iron overload) or kidney disease should speak to their GP before taking high doses. Chewable and powder forms are acidic and can affect tooth enamel.

Research we looked at:
NHS. Vitamin C. nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-c
Hemilä H, Chalker E. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2013;(1):CD000980.
EFSA NDA Panel. Scientific opinion on dietary reference values for vitamin C. EFSA Journal 2013;11(11):3418.
Carr AC, Vissers MCM. Synthetic or food-derived vitamin C: are they equally bioavailable? Nutrients 2013;5(11):4284-4304.

Cost per daily dose lets you compare packs of different sizes fairly.Worked out from our current prices.