– What is the difference between type I and type II collagens, and collagen peptides?
Collagen-containing products are among the most commonly used complementary feeds for managing joint issues in horses. Collagen is naturally present in the body, but its amount decreases, among other reasons, with age. Different collagens suit different purposes. What benefits can collagen offer a horse’s joints, and how do you choose the right product for your specific needs?
Collagen is one of the proteins that form the body’s connective and supporting tissues—especially the tissues of the skin, joints, and bones. About 25–30% of the body’s proteins are collagen.
The most abundant type in the body is type I collagen, which is found in bones, tendons, ligaments, skin, and intervertebral discs. Type II collagen, in contrast, is most abundant in cartilage, where collagen can account for as much as 50–70%. Type III collagen is found in internal organs and reticular connective tissue.
As a horse ages, the body’s ability to produce collagen decreases, and at the same time the joints, tendons, bones, and skin begin to lose collagen. Collagen production also starts to slow down in the cartilage tissue of joints, causing various joint-related problems such as cartilage degeneration, joint pain, and lameness. Articular cartilage does of course constantly maintain itself, but to remain functional it must receive enough of the right nutrients and building blocks from synovial fluid. The body’s own collagen formation requires amino acids, which come from proteins. From the diet, collagen comes from the same kinds of sources where it occurs in the body. Good dietary sources of collagen include meat, fish, and gelatin. There is no plant-based collagen.
In addition to amino acids, vitamin C is needed, because it participates in the process by helping form stable collagen chains. Vitamin C is an important ingredient in supporting normal collagen formation for the normal function of the skin, cartilage, skeleton, teeth, and blood vessels.
Many different collagens
There are several different collagen products available on the complementary feed market, and they contain different types of collagen. Mammals have 28 different types of collagen in the body. Products are marketed by dividing them into types: most commonly, type I collagen is offered “for skin” and type II collagen “for joints.” In practice, however, this is somewhat misleading, because collagen powders never contain only a single collagen type, but rather a mixture of several different collagens. This is because in manufacturing it is practically almost impossible to fully separate different collagen types from each other. The body then “allocates” different collagen types to the right places.
Instead, collagen peptide powders designed for specific target purposes differ from each other based on their different and distinct manufacturing methods. These collagen peptides are amino acid chains in which amino acids are linked together by peptide bonds. These peptides exist as chains of two or more amino acids. The best collagen peptide powders are produced through a precise hydrolysis (splitting) method, resulting in collagen peptide chains that are always exactly the same—short, and cut from the same specific points. These so-called precision-hydrolysed collagen peptide chains are very high quality. They differ completely from so-called “regular” type I or type II collagen powders in that they are designed to be absorbed from the stomach almost intact.
These specific precision-hydrolysed collagen peptides are carefully designed for a particular use: certain peptide lengths are intended for bone tissue, while other short-chain collagen peptides are hydrolysed to suit, for example, joints, and yet others are intended for skin. These precision-hydrolysed collagen peptide chains therefore provide ready-made building blocks for the body’s own collagen production—whether directed at the joint’s or the skin’s collagen production—always in a carefully targeted way.
The PETAGILE® collagen used by Chia de Gracia consists of selected bioactive collagen peptides that specifically support joint wellbeing. The collagen peptides have been split (hydrolysed) from whole collagen molecules. Because of this hydrolysis, they can be absorbed unchanged from the digestive tract and, via the bloodstream, move directly into articular cartilage. Collagen peptides that have accumulated in cartilage tissue have been observed to promote cartilage renewal. Researchers have shown that PETAGILE® collagen stimulates the cartilage cells of dogs and horses to increase the formation of cartilage structural components: the production of type II collagen and proteoglycans was reported to accelerate clearly under the influence of collagen peptides.¹ In the same study, collagen peptides were also found to reduce the activity of enzymes that break down cartilage, which decreases cartilage degradation.¹
If the problem is joint issues and you are looking for a collagen-based solution specifically for the joints, you should choose collagen peptides that have been precisely developed for joint support.
CdG Collagen + for horses and dogs from €36.00
Sources:
- Schunk M, Louton H, Oesser S. The Effectiveness of Specific Collagen Peptides on Osteoarthritis in Dogs—Impact on Metabolic Processes in Canine Chondrocytes. Open Journal of Animal Sciences 2017; 7:254–266.
- Weide N. Der Einsatz von Gelatinhydrolysat bei klinisch-orthopädisch gesunden Hunden und Hunden mit chronischen Erkrankungen des Bewegungsapparats. 2004
- Hesse K J F. Supplementation by Collagen Hydrolysate in Dogs Suffering from Osteoarthritis. Kleintiermedizin 2006; 1:17–22.
