Natural Marine Collagen Original

The original, and still the simplest

A single ingredient: 3g of hydrolysed marine collagen peptides per sachet, nothing else. Hydrolysis breaks the native collagen protein into short peptides the gut can absorb, which then circulate and signal fibroblasts in the skin to produce new collagen and hyaluronic acid. It is 95% protein by weight, with no sugar, fat or carbohydrate, and 11.5 calories a serve.

Why marine

Fish collagen is predominantly type I, the collagen that makes up most of the skin, and its peptides are smaller and absorbed more readily than bovine. Vida Glow's comes from the skin of open-water farmed fish in Europe, a by-product otherwise discarded, from suppliers certified for responsible aquaculture.

Flavourless, so it gets taken

Odourless and tasteless, stable in hot or cold drinks, and it dissolves in coffee without clumping. The product that built the brand, and the reason it works is that people keep taking it.

The fit

The daily baseline collagen. Pro Collagen+ is the step up, with tripeptides, hyaluronic acid and enzymes, for deeper lines or faster results.

Anyone starting collagen for skin, hair and nail support; people who want a clean single-ingredient powder with no flavour or sweetener; and long-term users who prefer the original to the newer, pricier formula.

Worth knowing

Contains fish: not for a fish or seafood allergy, and not vegetarian or vegan. Pregnant or breastfeeding, check with your practitioner before starting any supplement. Collagen works on a timescale of weeks: the research behind it uses daily doses over eight to twelve weeks, and a few sachets here and there will not show anything.

One 3g sachet a day, stirred into 250ml or more of water, coffee, tea, a smoothie or soft food, hot or cold. Any time of day; the same time each day is what matters.

Can be taken with Pro Collagen+ on alternate days, but one collagen a day is enough; choose rather than stack.

Use alongside

Liquid Peptides Advanced MP and a retinoid on the skin for the topical half of collagen support, C E Ferulic and daily SPF to protect it. No interaction with any topical active or other supplement.