BioCell Collagen® Hydrolyzed Type II

What Is BioCell Collagen®?

Cartilage, taken apart. BioCell Collagen® is an extract of chicken sternal cartilage, hydrolyzed into short pieces, and it arrives carrying the three things that tissue is built from: type II collagen, chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid.

How It Works in the Body

Cartilage is a mesh. Type II collagen is the fiber, and it is the collagen of cartilage specifically, where skin and bone are built mostly on type I. Packed between the fibers sit chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid, long sugar chains carrying a dense negative charge.

Like charges push apart, and that pulls water into the mesh and holds it there. The water is what lets cartilage carry a load. Hydrolysis cuts the collagen into short peptides, so it is taken up as peptides and amino acids rather than as whole protein.

What It Supports

• Joint structure: Type II collagen is the fiber cartilage is built on, so it supports normal joint structure.
• Water in the matrix: Chondroitin sulfate's charged sugar chains hold water where cartilage needs it.
• Skin hydration: Hyaluronic acid is a main water-binding molecule of the dermis, and it supports skin hydration.
• One matrix, not a blend: All three are drawn from the same cartilage extract rather than combined from separate sources.

Who It May Suit

Adults who think of skin and joints as one connective-tissue question, which structurally they are. It is made from chicken cartilage, so it is neither vegetarian nor vegan.

Good To Know

Two capsules make a serving. There is 1 g of BioCell Collagen® per serving, providing 570 mg of hydrolyzed type II collagen, 190 mg of chondroitin sulfate and 95 mg of hyaluronic acid. Talk with your healthcare provider before use if you are pregnant or nursing, if you are allergic to chicken, or if you take a blood thinner, since chondroitin is a sulfated sugar chain structurally akin to heparin.