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It’s very hard to know how to evaluate collagens and there’s a lot of misleading information on the internet around marine vs bovine. Many articles talk about marine collagen being for skin and bovine being for joints, but collagen supplements don’t actually segregate that way. In order to understand this question better, we need to know a bit more about how the body produces collagen, so let’s jump into it.
There are 3 types of collagen that are commonly talked about, but we actually have 28 varieties of collagen that our bodies produce. That means we actually have specialized cells in our body that manufacture all the different types of collagen that our body needs and uses. Let us give you one example. Your body’s soft tissues have special cells called “fibroblasts” and those cells have the function of producing collagen for use in soft tissues. Similarly, your bones have osteoblast cells that produce the collagen that is used to build bone tissue density. So actually, your body has cells that produce all of the different types of collagen that you need.
Marine collagen is considered type 1 collagen and it represents more than 90% of all the collagen in the body. Bovine collagen would be considered type 3. However, it’s very important to know that you don’t need to try to consume all the different collagen types – that would be nearly impossible.
Collagen supplements are actually collagen proteins that have been broken down into tiny pieces called peptides. The peptides in collagen supplements, are like a food for ALL of those collagen-producing cells and peptides help to increase the production of all 28 types of collagen. So, as long as you take a highly absorbable collagen peptide supplement, your body will produce the 28 different types of collagen that it needs.
So once you know that, then you really need to understand that molecule size makes all the difference in how effectively your body can absorb collagen supplements. There’s old adage that says, “you are what you eat” but it might be more accurate if it read “you are what you absorb”. There are many things that you might eat, but they’re not very absorbable or “bio-available”. Some foods are hard to absorb, and they may move through you before you can absorb them, while others move through you because the enzymes in the gut can’t break them down.
This is where bovine and marine collagens really differ. Bovine collagens tend to be very large molecules and much harder for the body to absorb effectively. Marine collagens are typically more than 4 times smaller than bovine so much more usable to your body. You can see this when you check out the recommended dose amounts. DeepMarine’s typical dose is 5g/day while most bovine collagens recommend much more - between 10-20g/day. You need a lot more bovine collagen to see any beneficial effect.
But the story doesn’t end there. Different marine collagens also vary quite significantly in terms of molecule size. With an average molecular size of 1500 Daltons, DeepMarine collagen has the smallest molecule size in the North American market and is 2-4 times smaller than other marine collagens. This is why many people say they tried other marine collagens brands, but DeepMarine works best.
Another important consideration is where your collagen is source from. Because collagen is something that you eat, you will want to know where it comes from and how it is produced. Some of the world’s largest collagen producers are in developing countries and they end up being a lower price in the market. When products are cheap it’s important to consider that they are unlikely to measure up to the health and safety standards that we are used to in Canada. DeepMarine Collagen is produced from start to finish locally in Canada. Furthermore, the raw materials are wild-caught, Atlantic deep-water fish. All processing is in Canada and meets the rules and regulations set out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada – these safety and quality standards rank among the highest in the world.
Marine collagen is also the #1 choice for people who don’t want to consume beef products for religious reasons or environmental reasons. Many people don’t eat any beef because their religion forbids it, while other people don’t eat beef because they are committed to lowering their impact on the environment.
Whatever your reasons, when choosing the best quality, most absorbable collagen, DeepMarine lands at the top of the choice list.
