How Products Were Evaluated in the Collagen Supplements Review - ConsumerLab.com

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How Products were Selected:

Selected products represent those commonly sold and/or available nationally in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers, or direct sales companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers. Testing Methods: Products containing collagen were tested in one or more independent laboratories for the following: Quantitative analysis of collagen calculated from hydroxyproline by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (AOAC 982.30, 990.26). Quantitative analyses of lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) for products containing whole herbs and/or 250 mg of minerals per daily serving. Disintegration of tablets (excluding chewable, sublingual, and time released formulations utilizing United States Pharmacopeia (USP) <2040> methodology for the disintegration of dietary supplements. Testing was performed by one or more independent laboratories. Any product that did not initially pass (below) was sent to another independent laboratory to repeat testing for the criterion on which it did not pass. ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations. Identities of the products were not disclosed to the laboratories performing the testing. Passing Score:* To be "Approved" by ConsumerLab.com, a product had to meet the following requirements: For products with a serving size of over 5 g: Contain the claimed amount of collagen within 1 gram/serving or +/- 15% of claim, whichever is greater. For products with a serving size of 1 g to 5 g: Contain at least 85% of the claimed amount of collagen and not to exceed the claimed amount by 1 gram/serving or 25% of claim, whichever is greater. For products with a serving size of under 1 g: Contain 80% - 150% of the claimed amount of collagen. Heavy Metals: Products containing whole herbs and/or more than 250 mg of minerals per daily serving must not exceed the following limits: Lead: Not exceed the following limits for elemental lead: Products marketed for use by children may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium. Products with single serving weights of less than 5 grams which are not marketed for use by children , may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving (based on the state of California's Prop 65 limit for lead in dietary supplements, above which a warning is required regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, or cancer risks) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250-999 mg/day of any combination of elemental calcium, magnesium and potassium or 0.8 mcg if containing more than 1,000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional allowance of 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) or 1.0 mcg if containing 1000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance will not exceed 2 mcg. Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more which are not marketed for children may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving. Cadmium: If marketed for use by children, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75 lbs.). If not marketed for use by children, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm). Arsenic: Contain less than 10 micrograms of total arsenic per daily serving (EPA limit and state of New Jersey limits- based on 1 liter of water Products found to exceed this amount are tested for inorganic arsenic and must contain no more than 2.1 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per daily serving ( Canada's limit in natural health products). Mercury: May not exceed 2 micrograms of mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water). If applicable to the product, it must meet recommended USP <2040> parameters for disintegration of dietary supplements (excluding capsule, enteric coated, chewable, sublingual and time-release products). Be in compliance with FDA labeling requirements. A "Pass" was based on meeting the above criteria in either the first or second rounds of testing. * Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation in quality, present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.

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