BioCell II Safety Confirmed

PUYALLUP, Wash.AIBMR Life Sciences Inc. researchers, led by Alexander Schauss, Ph.D., reported two oral tests of chicken sternal cartilage collagen (as BioCell Collagen II®, from BioCell Technologies) showed the joint health ingredient is safe, even at levels well above recommended dosage. The investigation involved both acute and subchronic tests on BioCell Collagen II, which contains a minimum 60 percent hydrolyzed collagen type II, 20 percent chondroitin sulfate, and 10 percent hyaluronic acid. In the acute study, five male and five female rats administered a single 5,000 mg dose of BioCell Collagen II per kg of body weight and observed for 14 days. All animals survived and exhibited normal body weight gain throughout the study. Macroscopic necropsy examination conducted on day 15 revealed no gross pathological lesions in any of the animals.

In the subchronic test, 40 male and 40 female rats were divided into four same-sex groups. Animals in each group were administered 0 mg, 30 mg, 300 mg or 1,000 mg of collagen per kg of body weight daily for more than 90 days. All subjects survived and showed no significant changes in body weight or histopathology. Overall, subjects exhibited no toxicity, even at 33 times the recommended dose, as observed by a review of a variety of biomarkers and histopathological examinations.

Researchers concluded results from the two oral toxicity studies indicated BioCell Collagen II (www.biocelltechnology.com) was well tolerated at all four doses tested. Results were published in Food and Chemical Toxicology (45, 2:315-21, 2007).