Last year we published an article on how Hydrolysed collagen benefits hair strength and thickness. It remains extremely popular receiving thousands of hits. If you missed it, you can find it here 

Now, new research papers have been published which adds even more weight to the evidence that not all collagen powders are the same or can claim to have the same beneficial effects on hair health.

Until recently, research on hair growth therapies has mostly focused on direct topical treatments, whereas oral treatments have remained largely unexplored.

But now, Scientists, from the Department of Food and Nutrition, Chung-Ang University in Korea have found that collagen peptides (CPs) extracted from tilapia fish specifically act as a nutritional supplement for hair loss prevention and hair regrowth during hair loss.

The study, (link located at the bottom of this article),was published in the Journal of Molecular Science in October 2022, and sought to evaluate the effects of CP extracted from the Tilapia fish on hair growth using in vitro and in vivo models.

The researchers found that this unique CP significantly enhanced hair regrowth and the proliferation of human hair cells. In fact, they found that Tilapia collagen peptides outperformed the popular topical hair growth pharmaceutical, Finasteride (sold in Australia under the brand names Proscar and Propecia among others). Not only did it outperform Finasteride, but it showed none of Finasteride’s harmful side effects.

Compared to the finasteride group, the hair follicles of the CP group were located in the deeper dermis and the ratio of large and thick hair follicles was high confirming that CP from the Tilapia increased the number of hair follicles, as well as the ratio of hair follicles.

The CP group exhibited a 1.3 times higher expression of VEGF (a hair growth factor that has shown to increase follicle size and hair thickness), than the finasteride group. This included the increase in size and thickness of hair follicles through the improvement of blood circulation.

Cytokines, substances which trigger death of the hair follicles, was lower in the CP group than the finasteride group, and CP was confirmed to increase the expression level of the hair-growth-promoting factor and decreasing the expression level of the hair growth inhibitory factor.

Another reason Tilapia CP is so effective in the body is because of its small molecular weight. Low-molecular-weight collagen peptides supplementation has recently garnered increasing attention due to its potential health benefits including hair and skin health 

The collagen made from the Tilapia fish contain unique di and tri peptides which compose of polypeptides with different molecular weights of less than 5000 Daltons (A Dalton is a very small unit of mass, about the mass of a hydrogen atom).

Tilapia CP contains high levels of proline-hydroxyproline dipeptide, which enhances cell proliferation and hyaluronic acid synthesis in human dermal fibroblasts.

Additionally, in a separate study, scientists have found that CPs from the skin of tilapia could accelerate the wound healing process and improve the healing effect of skin primarily by reducing inflammation, promoting granulation tissue formation, and facilitating rapid proliferation of epithelial cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts.

These findings are encouraging for those with hair health problems however healthy hair results from a combination of good nutritional health and mindful health care practices.

Choosing CollagenX hydrolysed collagen is a great start.

CollagenX fish collagen is sourced from the Tilapia fish and is extremely bioavailable because of its extremely small particle size of only 2kDa.

 Study link here