When we consume collagen, usually in the form of food, the long chain proteins are broken down during digestion to their original amino acids. Only then can they be absorbed. Once absorbed, these amino acids are available as building blocks to support collagen synthesis throughout the body. So from a dietary perspective, your body doesn’t care (and can’t tell) if you ate a collagen supplement, cheese, quinoa, beef, or chick peas — they’re all sources of protein, and indistinguishable by the time they hit the bloodstream. The body doesn’t treat amino acids derived from collagen any differently than any other protein source. For this reason, the idea that collagen supplementation can be an effective treatment for joint pain, osteoarthritis, or any other condition, is highly implausible, if not impossible in principle.
True, in facts supplementing gelatin, which is a form of only slightly hydrolyzed collagen, does probably exactly that: ends up broken down to single aminoacids by digestion and is not much different than eating a piece of meat.
The lack of collagen when ageing is not due to lack of building material (aminoacids) but to a faulty reassembling of the building materials.
Hydrolized collagen, which is a form of highly hydrolyzed collagen, comes in short enough chains of aminoacids to pass the intact the digestion (actually they shouldn't trigger the digestion in the first place) and get in the bloodstream.
How long or short those aminoacids chains are is critical since too long (not hydrolyzed enough, high molecular weight) will trigger digestion which will break them down to single aminoacids and we are back to square one...too short (too much hydrolyzed, low molecular weight) and they are too close to single aminoacids, again back to square one.
The molecular weight (the degree of hydrolyzation) is therefore of great importance, a product that doesn't specify the molecular weight can be anything.
This at least is the theory behind collagen supplementation which is positively supported by research.
Dosage in research is usually 5g twice a day in a fasted state (1200mg is a joke).
Price for top quality hydrolyzed collagen at about 2KDa (which seems to be the ideal molecular weight for oral supplementation) is about 20$/kg.
I am taking it since 4-5 years now without skipping a single day, does it any good?
I don't know.
Nothing dramatic for sure, but is cheap enough to deserve a chance.
By the way HA gel has to be not too thick, actually a bit runny is better for absorption, HA molecular weight determines the best percentage in order to get the right consistency, low molecular weight yields a runnier gel while higher molecular weight tends to yield thicker gels therefore shifting the ideal percentage towards about 1% instead of the 1.5-2% of lower molecular weights.