Enteric capsule – the Ingenious difference?

What makes Ingenious Beauty’s Ultimate Collagen+ so special? The key is the incredible, bespoke designed enteric capsule. Well, what does that have to with collagen? You may ask.

The pivotal point is knowing what happens to collagen when it is ingested and throughout its digestive journey. Collagen is one of the most important proteins in our bodies. It essentially forms the meshwork that all our cells and tissue are attached to and is extremely important in maintaining skin health and integrity. As we age, we are not able to maintain forming collagen at the same rate and hence we see the signs of ageing, such as wrinkles, less hydrated skin and so on.

If we ingest collagen in any form (be it a steak, tablet, capsule or liquid supplement) the digestive action of the stomach will break down the collagen protein into amino acids. These amino acids will then travel down the digestive tract to the small intestine, where they will be absorbed and enter the blood stream. Beyond the age of 25 years, our bodies find it more difficult to utilise these amino acids to produce collagen. Therefore, taking any collagen supplement that is not somehow protected from the action of the stomach will result in that collagen being broken down into amino acids that the body just cannot utilise like it used to, in order to make more collagen.

If you can protect the collagen, then there is a chance it will reach the small intestine and be properly absorbed. The small intestine is the body’s site of maximum nutrient absorption, so if you have any protein arriving here, it is much more likely to be absorbed.

Even then, this is not the complete picture. Collagen itself is a huge molecule and cannot be absorbed as is. Ingenious Collagen+ uses the very finest hydrolysed collagen peptides of the lowest dalton weight (below 2,000 daltons).  These are essentially small pieces of the complete collagen molecule that are the right molecular size to be absorbed almost instantly. The industry standard size of a collagen peptide is 5,000 daltons or higher, so much less easy for the body to absorb.

By enveloping our highest quality marine collagen peptide in a completely natural (vegetable cellulose), hand-filled, enteric capsule shell, we have developed a way of delivering collagen peptide to the small intestine intact and therefore providing the highest chance of absorption to take place. There is no other collagen supplement or liquid in the World that uses this patented technique.

Our capsule shell is designed to be acid resistant, so it remains intact in the stomach. As it travels down the digestive tract, the pH levels increase, and this triggers a reaction that causes the capsule to break down very quickly and release the collagen peptide payload to the small intestine. A simply ingenious solution to a complex problem.

Once the collagen peptide reaches the blood stream, the body senses these fragments and stimulates cells called chondrocytes to produce more collagen, which leads to the incredible effects seen on your skin, hair and nails.

You can clearly see; the collagen peptide must be able to bypass the stomach and reach the small intestine to give the greatest results. Otherwise, you may as well just eat a nice steak and enjoy a glass of wine.