Journal of Advances in Medicine and Medical Research

The increasing commercial necessity to valorise commodities such as gelatine has led to significant developments in its processing and the outcome of these refinements has resulted in new applications in fields such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, food and nutraceuticals. This in turn has led to the investigation of alternative sources of compounds with collagen-like properties, other than the conventionally used raw materials from mammalian species. Moreover, the current desire to seek natural, rather than synthetic compounds-especially regarding oral consumption and/or topical application-combined with the ability of gelatine derived products to form gels with varying degrees of flexibility and hydroplasticity has also accelerated research into previously unexplored applications. In the food sector, these include:- use of gelatine derivatives as an encapsulating agent (including the development of micro-beads as carriers of active compounds) foaming agents, emulsifiers, biodegradable films, colloid stabilizers and as nutraceuticals. The latter sector has especially benefitted from developments in enzymatic hydrolysis processes, where specific and highly characterised bioactive peptides often containing the amino acid hydroxyproline are end-products which have been identified to be orally bioavailable and metabolised and hence likely to deliver potential clinical benefits. This review examines manufacturing processes employed to typically produce hydrolysed collagen, evaluates studies examining bioavailability, metabolism and likely health benefits as well as potential clinical applications as a nutraceutical.