Guzen Development on next-gen salmon nasal cartilage extract for joint health
“While collagen has been widely produced and marketed for some time now, proteoglycans are new to the market and have shown efficacy for both joint and skin health, making SCP-II the next generation of joint and skin health supplementation,” said Vincent Hackel, CEO and president at Guzen Development, the exclusive distributor of SCP-II in the U.S.
Sourced and processed by Japanese supplier Linase Co. from the byproducts of wild-caught salmon in Hokkaido, SCP-II entered the U.S. market in 2017 with applications across joint health, sports nutrition, beauty from within and healthy aging categories.
What the science says
Guzen Development shared findings from the most recent Linase Co.-funded study, which showed that the undenatured type II and XI collagen used in SCP-II was effective in easing knee discomfort in healthy adults 50 years and over at a dose as low as 10 mg a day for 16 weeks.
In addition to the reduction of knee pain while walking, participants in the collagen group experienced substantial improvement during exercises that required bending or stretching the knees, such as using stairs and doing squats compared to placebo.
“A significant decrease in the ratio of the biomarkers CTX-II (a type II collagen degradation marker) and CP-II (a type II collagen synthesis marker) was also reported, suggesting the mechanism of action of undenatured type II collagen may be normalizing the synthesis and degradation of the joint cartilage by suppressing high levels of type II collagen degradation,” Hackel said.
The first part of this study, published in 2021, reported similar improvements to knee discomfort in response to 10 mg of undenatured proteoglycan, and previous research supports SCP-II’s role in relieving joint pain and improving mobility at a considerably lower dose than glucosamine – another popular joint health supplement.
Upcoming studies will administer a 90-day repeated dose, explore structural changes of proteoglycan during digestion, and evaluate the effects of a 25 mg/day dose of SCP-II on biomarkers of cartilage synthesis and degradation.
Next-generation joint support
SCP-II’s next-generation efficacy at low dosage is attributed to the combined effect of the undenatured type II collagen and proteoglycan, both building blocks of human joint cartilage. As they are maintained in their pure native form, structure and bioactives remain intact.
“SCP-II has a completely different mechanism of action than collagen peptides,” Hackel said. “Because the type II collagen in SCP-II is undenatured, it retains the active sites on the protein that are recognized by the body and initiate an immune response called ‘oral tolerance’.”
He explained that this response signals to the body to stop attacking itself at the joint cartilage, which protects it from inflammation and degradation, and noted that collagen peptides (which are taken in large doses from 2 to 10 g) do not have access to this same mechanism of action since they are broken up into fragments.
For Guzen Development, next-gen efficacy of smaller doses comes with added benefits including increased consumer compliance and easier applications in multi-ingredient formulas.
