FiE 2023: PB Leiner highlights scientific support for collagen in joint health and mental well-being

30 Nov 2023 --- PB Leiner is presenting Solugel, its brand of premium grade collagen peptides, at this year’s Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) in Frankfurt, Germany. At the show, Nutrition Insight meets with Yingying Wu, global marketing manager health and nutrition at PB Leiner, to discuss the company’s latest scientific findings on collagen.

“Continuously investing in clinical trials is very important for PB Leiner,” says Wu. “We have a pipeline of clinical studies, ranging from pre-clinical studies to in vivo clinical studies in humans.”

She adds that the company has published a new study, conducted by Florida State University, US, at the Institute of Sports Science and Medicine department. This study included healthy participants. 

“The study is unique because while previous studies have proven collagen’s benefits on joint pain reduction, this was mainly on participants with problematic issues such as osteoarthritis or joint instability. But there was never a study that evaluated long-term effective collagen on a healthy population.” 

Wu highlights that the company is also on the verge of publishing a paper indicating that Solugel collagen peptides are bioactive and help support tissue regeneration. 

Joint pain, activity and mental well-being 
Wu highlights that the uniqueness of PB Leiner’s latest collagen study lies in its inclusion of healthy participants.

“We recruited healthy, active adults, aged between 40 and 65, who have been working and doing a lot of exercise throughout their life. They do not have any disease, but they have some joint discomfort.” 

Yingying Wu, global marketing manager health and nutrition at PB Leiner.These volunteers took 10 g of collagen throughout six months, after which the researchers evaluated different effects. 

“We’ve seen fascinating outcomes,” she underscores. “Firstly, we prove that 10 g of collagen supplementation reduces joint pain statistically significant. Secondly, collagen improves daily activity and living scores. The third one is that collagen improves mental well-being.” 

Statistically significant findings 
Meanwhile, Wu explains that the Florida State University study used the Knee Outcome Survey activities of daily living scale to evaluate pain reduction and activity of daily living. 

“Throughout three months, we see a very positive trend toward reducing pain and improving daily activity score. In six months, we see a statistically significant result. The differentiation in joint pain between, for instance, the collagen and placebo groups is up to 10%.” 

“When we look into the studies, the mental well-being component results gets the earliest statistically significant result, in as early as three months we see positive results after consuming 10 g of collagen.”

PB Leiner also assessed the clinical importance of these improvements, noting that even the slightest improvement in clinical significance will ensure that people feel the release of pain.

“In the group consuming collagen, we see a 36% improvement in their clinical importance, while in the placebo group we see a 50% decrease,” she highlights.

“If you do not take collagen, you feel worse every day.” 

Assessing mental health 
The company used the VR-12 self-survey — the Veterans RAND 12 Item Health Survey --- to evaluate mental health. Wu explains that this survey is typically used to determine physical and mental well-being. 

She notes that the survey evaluates different dimensions of mental well-being: “In that mental well-being component, you have different aspects, such as role limitations. Do you feel you can accomplish more or less what you want, linked to your emotional issues?”

“Secondly, the survey assesses vitality — how energetic do you feel? Thirdly, it evaluates mental well-being — how peaceful do you feel? Lastly, it analyzes a social activities component, whether people can do social activities like visiting friends or families, to boost that energy.” 

At FiE 2023, PB Leiner demonstrates how its collagen supports joint health, active living and mental well-being.Collagen market developments 
Wu highlights that the collagen market is continuously growing, especially in Europe. 

“Collagen is mainly used in supplements, and in the past, consumer awareness primarily focused on its benefits in beauty. With more and more clinical studies coming out, consumer awareness is moving toward joint protection and sports nutrition.” 

She expects to see more movements in this direction from the industry. 

“We’ve also been talking to a lot of practitioners, coaches and dietitians, and they have also started to adopt the use of collagen in sports nutrition, mainly to return to play. After sports injuries, you can use collagen to recover from the injury or to prevent injuries.”

Protein bar applications 
Within sport nutrition Wu highlights several application possibilities: “Powder is a major application, but we also see an increased market for protein bars.”

“In protein bars, there are developments to boost protein content to the next level, and collagen is often used as an excellent protein source in protein bars.”

PB Leiner has designed Solugel Dynamica specifically for protein bar applications, where the company controls specific parameters to achieve a consistent result.

“Collagen provides a good soft texture throughout a product’s shelf life for bars with a high protein content. Without the addition of collagen, you will not be able to maintain this soft texture throughout the shelf life,” emphasizes Wu. 

By Jolanda van Hal, with live reporting by William Bradford Nichols at FiE 2023