NOW FoodsSupplements, UC-II Type II Collagen with Undenatured Type II Collagen, 120 Veg Capsules

I’ve been taking this supplement regularly and noticed a real difference in my joint comfort and flexibility. It’s easy to take—just one small capsule a day—and I appreciate the quality of NOW Foods products. Highly recommend for anyone looking for natural joint support.

i bought this for my dog, 14 y.o. basenji mix. i bought this to help her joints. after a lot of reading about collagen and other supplements, i chose this because it seems to have the best results. she has been on it for several weeks and has had no adverse reactions to it. whether it's helping or not, it's hard to say since i'm giving her many other supplements. i will continue to use this because of all i read about it, it can only help... i was worried about the calcium in this but her recent labs came back and everything looked great!

I read some of the existing Reviews and their Amazing Stories of Pain-Relief Benefit, so I decided to see if it could do the same thing for my knees.So, I decided to try a Double Dose (2 capsules), BID (twice a day) of this "NOW UC-II", Collagen, in combination with a Double Dose of Flaxseed Oil, Omega 3-6-9, also BID, and RESULT is by Day 4, the Pain in my Knee Joints are ALL GONE!!! Wow!!! I am going to continue this into the weekend, then temporarily Discontinue ALL, and see what happens. I shall UPDATE next week with further news.UPDATE: (Sunday, October 27, 2024) Amazingly, still NO PAIN in any of my joints at all... NONE!!! I cancelled my next Cortisone KNEE Shot, and going to try reducing dosage to 1 capsule of the UC-II, and one capsule of the Flaxseed Oil (1,400mg/each), to see whether this can be a Long Term Maintenance Dose, tbd.

I am almost through my 1st bottle and this seems to be helping a little. I did find it odd that there is such a wide range of results in the reviews though. So after giving it some thought I came up with a couple of possibilities. Feel free to add in your opinions as to whether these might have influence on the effectiveness of this supplement in helping out our joints.1. The directions say to take on an empty stomach. Well 1st thing is to know exactly when your stomach is empty. This varies person to person and for many supplements is more of a recommendation than a requirement. I know that if I eat a big dinner, my stomach still has food in it even 3 or 4 hours later when going to bed. Also, once I discovered why an empty stomach important for collagen I realized this could really influence its effectiveness. Collagen supposedly is destroyed by digestive enzymes. It needs to pass through your stomach intact into the small intestine. So having your stomach empty helps this happen. Also, for the same reason, you probably need to wait a while after taking the capsule before eating or drinking anything other than water in order to avoid digestive enzymes being stimulated. I have started taking mine if I wake up in the middle of the night. If I sleep through the night, I take it first thing in the morning and wait an hour or two before eating anything.2. Many of us with joint pain take a NSAID like Aleve or Ibuprofen. I just learned that NSAIDs are collagen inhibitors. This is from The National Institute of Health: Research Paper Title -"The effects of NSAID on the matrix of human articular cartilages." A quote from the paper - "When the relative metabolic (synthetic/repair activity) of these human cartilages was compared, it was demonstrated that in osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cartilages synthetic activity was diminished by approximately 50%".So all this time I have been taking the collagen, maybe by also taking one Aleve every morning, I have been lessening the effectiveness of the collagen? I am about to start my 2nd bottle and will stop with the Aleve. (I'll use Tylenol if needed) I will see if I notice even more improvement.I would be interested in hearing other ideas on these two points. I have looked into this enough to be pretty confident these are two important things to account for in taking the collagen. However I may have overlooked something and would certainly want to hear about it if I have. Thanks!I also found the following lengthy summary of another study on the same topic. I do wonder about this though since the number one doctor recommendation for arthritis seems to be NSAID. I guess the normal caveat applies: "Talk to your doctor before changing anything"?RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE USE OF NSAIDS IN OSTEOARTHRITISThe preponderance of scientific evidence shows that NSAIDs damage articular cartilage. Various scientific papers and consensus groups have stated that there is no convincing data to show that the widely used NSAIDs and recommended selective COX-2 inhibitors have favorable effects on cartilage.129-131 Even the main consensus paper from the International Cartilage Repair Society and Osteoarthritis Research Society International stated that NSAID use has to be limited to the short term. Specifically the recommendation was as follows: In patients with symptomatic hip or knee osteoarthritis, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) should be used at the lowest effective dose but their long-term use should be avoided if possible.132 They also noted that NSAIDs should not be first-line therapy for joint OA. Other groups have raised similar sentiments. The committees of the International League Against Rheumatism and the World Health Organization came up with guidelines for the testing of new drugs in osteoarthritis. The consensus from these meetings resulted in recommendations by The European Group for the Respect of Ethics and Excellence in Science (GREES) for governmental registration and approval of new drugs used in the treatment of OA and have added the requirement that the drug not have a deleterious effect on the diseased and non-diseased contra lateral joint; i.e., no deleterious effect on osteoarthritic or normal cartilage.133 If this latter recommendation were followed, the vast majority, if not all NSAIDs, would be immediately taken off the market and no new ones would get approved.While it is admirable for the various consensus and rheumatology organizations to educate doctors and the lay public about the necessity to limit NSAID use in OA, this author (RH) feels the warnings are not enough. Within the last year, for instance, the FDA has again implemented new rules requiring stronger and more extensive label warnings (in addition to the heart disease risks) regarding the risk of liver damage and stomach bleeding for people taking common over-the-counter pain relievers. As for NSAIDs, the new regulations require front labels to instruct users to see new warnings that say, “This product contains a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which may cause severe stomach bleeding. The chance is higher if you are age 60 or older, have had stomach ulcers or bleeding problems, take a blood thinning or steroid drug, take other drugs containing prescription or nonprescription NSAIDs, have three or more alcoholic drinks every day using this product, take more or for a longer time than directed.”134The lay public for whom NSAIDs are prescribed and recommended by both health care professionals and drug manufacturers should be aware that long-term NSAID use is detrimental to articular cartilage. Specifically, be informed that NSAIDs will likely worsen the OA disease for which it is prescribed. Physicians, allied health care professionals, and drug manufacturers should be required to inform the lay public that NSAID use can accelerate OA articular cartilage degeneration. A strict warning label on these medications should read as follows:The use of this nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication has been shown in scientific studies to accelerate the articular cartilage breakdown in osteoarthritis. Use of this product poses a significant risk in accelerating osteoarthritis joint breakdown. Anyone using this product for the the pain of osteoarthritis should be under a doctor’s care and use of this product should be with the very lowest dose and for the shortest possible duration of time.One of the basic tenants of medicine is stated in the Hippocratic oath, “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.”135 For doctors to uphold this statement in the treatment of their OA patients, it would necessitate the almost complete banning of the use of NSAIDs for this condition. If this does not occur, then most likely the exponential rise in degenerative arthritis and subsequent musculoskeletal surgeries, including knee and hip replacements, as well as spine surgeries, will continue for decades to come.- See more at: [...]

NOW UC II has been a "miracle" product for me! Here is my story; I hope it's helpful:History: To find a cure for my knee, hip, and shoulder pain, I've been to MANY ortho, pain, and arthritis doctors over many years (some of whom are world-renowned.) I haven't taken any pain medications for 20 years. (I am middle-aged). Additional MRI's, x-rays, and extensive blood tests within the past 8 months confirmed a slight reduction in my knee cartilage, but did not reveal any specific cause of my overall joint pain. In February 2012, I was (again) diagnosed with fibromyalgia and arthritis. Over the years, I've tried many different vitamins and supplements. For example, I'd taken 1,000mg/day of fish oil (including the LEF Omega 3 brand) for years, and a top ortho surgeon told me in December 2011 to take 3,000mg total EPA/DHA/day, so I started taking 5 capsules/day of LEF Super Omega 3 (I prefer the enteric-coated version.)I started using NOW UC II in December 2011 (around the time I started taking 3,000mg/day of LEF Super Omega 3.) I noticed a reduction in pain after approximately 2 months. My last visit with any doctors regarding my pain was on February 17, 2012: my rheumatologist recommended that I start taking prescription meds for fibromyalgia, but I told him I was feeling much better and wanted to hold off until my next appointment. However, I cancelled my next appointment a couple of months later, because I was feeling so much better!Here's why I give so much credit to NOW UC II: because I thought my pain reduction was due to the LEF Super Omega 3 product, I stopped taking NOW UC-II on April 22, 2012. By May 25, my old pain and creaking/popping had started up again! (E.g., by the evening, I felt as if I had knives twisting in my knees!) I started taking UC-II again on May 27, and one month later, I was almost pain-free again! I made no other changes to my diet or supplements or exercise routine. I can't think of anything but NOW UC II that could have caused this recovery.BTW, I've continued using the 3,000mg/day of LEF Super Omega 3, because I think it has a lot of overall health benefits, and maybe it's synergistic with NOW UC II (because it only took a month to accomplish what had taken several months before.)I recently gave a bottle of NOW UC II to a friend who has shoulder pain. If it works for her, I'll try to update this post in a month or two.

is an excellent product