Ever wonder what makes marine collagen so special?
Maybe you’ve heard about it but assumed it was just another health trend — like kale smoothies or running barefoot on gravel.
Spoiler alert: it’s actually legit. Marine collagen is packed with benefits for your skin, joints, and overall health, and it’s sourced straight from the sea. It’s why we add fish as 1 of the 4 sources to our multi collagen powders!
So, let’s jump in (pun intended) and break it all down!
What is Marine Collagen?
Marine collagen is a type of collagen protein derived from fish and other marine sources.
It is primarily composed of Type I collagen, the most abundant type found in the human body, and sometimes a small amount of Type III. Learn more about the 5 types of collagen.
Type I collagen plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and elasticity of skin, hair, nails, joints, and bones. Since marine collagen is hydrolyzed, it is broken down into smaller peptides, making it highly bioavailable and easy for the body to absorb.
What is Marine Collagen Good For?
Marine collagen is well-known for its benefits, including:
- Skin Health: Supports hydration, elasticity, and reduces signs of aging such as wrinkles.
- Hair & Nails: Promotes stronger, healthier hair and nails by providing essential proteins.
- Joint & Bone Support: Helps maintain joint flexibility and bone strength.
- Gut Health: Contributes to the integrity of the gut lining and overall digestive health.
- Sustainability: Often sourced from fish skin and scales, marine collagen is an environmentally friendly option as it utilizes parts of the fish that would otherwise go to waste.
3 years of benefits!
"Been using this multi collagen peptides for 3 years and continue to experience positive benefits!"
- Michael (Winter Park, FL)
✔
Purity Tested
✔
M.D. Approved
✔
Delicious Flavors
What Type of Collagen is Marine Collagen?
Like I mentioned above, marine collagen primarily consists of Type I collagen, which makes up 90% of our hair, skin, nails, organs, bones, and ligaments. It’s everywhere.
Type I collagen is responsible for our body’s:
- Connective tissue. Strengthening connective tissues such as tendons, ligaments, and skin.
- Healing. Supporting wound healing and tissue repair.
- Skin. Promoting skin elasticity and hydration.
What is Marine Collagen Made Of?
Marine collagen is sourced from fish, with the collagen extracted mainly from:
- Fish skin
- Fish bones
- Fish scales
To manufacture collagen peptides, these parts of a fish undergoes hydrolysis to break down into smaller peptides, which enhances absorption and effectiveness. The result is a fine and easily mixable collagen powder that can be added to a variety of drinks and foods.
There are more vehicles than just powder to take marine collagen peptides.
How to Take Marine Collagen
Marine collagen is available in a few different forms, making it easy to incorporate into your daily routine:
- Powder
- Liquid (see: Liquid Collagen vs Powder)
- Pills/Capsules
- Gummies (see: Collagen Gummies vs Powder)
- Serums/Shots
Is Liquid Marine Collagen better than powders, pills, gummies?
Time to debunk.
Liquid marine collagen claims it’s digested faster, absorbed quicker, more bioavailable, and generally better than powders and pills/capsules. Some supplement brands even suggest that “liquid marine collagen has an absorption rate of 90-95% compared to 40-45% for collagen pills.” Is that true? Where’s that data coming from?
The scientific study these products typically reference is here. However, this study (and many other studies liquid collagen supplements reference) has nothing to do with collagen protein. This study tests the various ways you can administer an immune suppressant drug called apixaban comparing IV to pills and testing how stable it is when stirred in water.
Dr. Cate gives it to us straight:
This has nothing whatsoever to do with collagen nor contains anything that says liquid is better than powder. Fake reference.
— Dr. Cate, M.D.
If you’re looking to buy liquid marine collagen, buy because it contains type III collagen thanks to the fish skin used for sourcing. Ensure it’s wild-caught fish and non-GMO and ignore the rest of the marketing hype.
What is Marine Collagen missing?
Are you missing out other collagen types by consuming a marine-only collagen supplement? And if so, is that something you should worry about?
Let’s start with this. We think all collagen types are awesome. Consume this critical protein, however you can.
With that said, yes, marine collagen lacks multiple collagen types found in other collagen supplements such as:
- Type II collagen (helps with tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage)
- Type III collagen (Supports skin, organs, blood vessels, structure of muscles)
- Type V collagen (Eyes, placenta of an expecting mother)
- Type X collagen (Supports joints, bones)
Differences Between Marine Collagen and Bovine Collagen
Let’s put marine collagen in perspective here and stack it up against the wildly popular, bovine collagen.
| Marine Collagen | Bovine Collagen | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Fish (skin, scales, bones) | Cows (hides, bones) |
| Primary Type | Type I | Type I & Type III |
| Best For | Skin, hair, nails, gut health | Joints, skin, overall wellness |
The Power of a Multi Collagen
Why not have your cake and eat it too?
Why choose marine over bovine? Or, bovine over marine? Take ’em both, at the same time, with 1 scoop!
A multi collagen supplement (like what CB Supplements offers) is sourced from 2+ animals (cows, fish, chickens) and offers all 5 types of collagen (I, II, III, V, & X). This benefit is at the heart of our products.
Learn more about the benefits of multi collagen protein!
What Kind of Marine Collagen does CB Supplements use?
At CB Supplements, we use wild-caught fish in our multi collagen products. Sourcing matters when it comes to quality and sustainability, which is why we only use responsibly sourced fish.
- NSF certified multi collagen peptides: our NSF certified for Sport® unflavored multi collagen contains marine collagen sourced from wild-caught tilapia. This decision was driven by the rigorous requirements of NSF certification, ensuring that our product is of the highest quality and meets the safety standards required by professional athletes and Olympians.
- “Every Day” multi collagen peptides: uses wild-caught cod as their fish source. While both tilapia and cod provide premium marine collagen, the choice to use tilapia in our NSF Certified products ensures compliance with strict regulatory standards.
Why We Chose Wild-Caught Tilapia for NSF Certification
Being the first and only multi collagen to be NSF Certified for Sport® means there’s no existing prototype here for us to follow.
The NSF certification process mandates that every ingredient meets stringent safety and quality criteria. To achieve this, we had to switch to tilapia for our NSF-certified product due to manufacturing constraints. This ensures that our marine collagen meets the highest standards and remains free of contaminants.
Advocating for Tilapia
Tilapia suffers from a bad reputation because 73% of tilapia imported to the United States from China is farm-raised and fed absolute SLOP (we’re talking animal feces here people!) As you probably assumed, that is not the type of Tilapia we use in our multi collagen.
For all your Tilapia haters, here are some quick facts you may not know:
- Yes, tilapia is a real fish — it has scales and bones. We get our collagen from the bones and skin.
- Tilapia is a freshwater fish that lives in natural habitats.
- Tilapia is a high-quality fish low in metals and high in protein content.
- Tilapia has more omega-3 fats than red snapper (which doesn’t mean anything to our supplement, but an interesting fact!)
Final Thoughts
Marine collagen is an excellent source of Type I collagen, offering numerous benefits for skin, hair, nails, and overall health.
Whether sourced from tilapia or cod, marine collagen is a premium ingredient that supports a healthy lifestyle. With NSF Certification, CB Supplements continues to lead the way in providing the cleanest and highest-quality multi collagen powder on the market.
