Does Type 3 Collagen help with Joint support as much as Type 2?Updated 5 months ago
The most studied type of collagen for joint support is native type 2 collagen. This mainly stems from the fact that type 2 collagen is a major component of joint cartilage so the most obvious solution to supporting these areas of the body is to put a similar substrate in.
What’s important to note, is that it has largely been native collagen that has been studied in this context - not hydrolysed. A common source of native type two collagen would be from a chicken / chicken broth. A 2009 study suggested that this native type 2 collagen elicits an immune-mediated response called oral tolerance which could reduce autoimmune reactions against endogenous collagen at articular cartilage level - aka in Rheumatoid Arthritis. The process involves dendritic cells (DCs) in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) taking up the type 2 collagen and then presenting it to T cells to generate regulatory T cells, which induce systemic immune tolerance to type 2 collagen made by the body itself which may help to prevent the breakdown of the joints.
However, hydrolysed collagen has not been shown to demonstrate this mechanism of action. If you want to look to achieve this mechanism of action, we would recommend making and consuming regular meat stocks with gelatinous parts of a chicken, such as chicken feet.
The reason why type 3 collagen is also considered to be potentially beneficial for joints is due to the fact that it is also expressed by osteoblasts in mature bone. Type 1 collagen is also found in bones and tendons, which is why we suggest the use of bovine collagen peptides that contain type 1 and 3 if you are looking to support bones and joints.
We do not offer a type 2 collagen product at present but may do so in the future.