# UC-II (undenatured type II collagen)

40 mg/day chicken-cartilage collagen for knee arthritis pain via oral tolerance; slow, modest.

- Page: https://peprank.xyz/peptides/uc-ii
- Category: Recovery, joints & healing (Supplement)
- Also known as: undenatured type 2 collagen; native type II collagen; chicken sternum collagen (undenatured); in Move Free Ultra / Kirkland Triple Action Joint Health
- Routes: Oral
- Safety tier: Strict: Clean · Balanced: Clean · Evidence only: Clean
- Risk axes (0 none to 3 severe): Seen harm 0, Mechanism 0, Data gap 1, Silent harm 0, Product 0
- Positive: 60% of 12 graded reports glowing or positive, shrunk toward the 49% all-report average by 8 reports' weight
- Rank: #1 of 23 supplements
- Graded reports: 12 (Glowing 1, Positive 7, Mixed 1, Negative 3)
- Evidence: Human RCTs — several RCTs at 40 mg/day (knee OA and activity-related knee pain), all funded by the ingredient owner (InterHealth/Lonza); the mechanism, oral tolerance via gut Peyer's patches, is mainly shown in animals
- Access: Supplement
- Onset: Trials and users judge it at 8-12 weeks; a few report a difference in 3 weeks.
- Lasts: Benefit fades within days to weeks of stopping, by user reports.
- Cost per month: ≈ €11 (at 40 mg/day, iHerb at €9.25/g)
- Updated: 2026-10-30

## What users report

Users with knee or hip arthritis, sacroiliac or ankylosing-spondylitis pain mostly report fewer flare-ups and less daily ache after 1-3 months. One Move Free user says her hip pain returns whenever she misses a dose. Positive reports run about two in three. The standout negative pattern is a paradox: about a quarter say joints or the whole body ached more on it, including one person with rheumatoid arthritis and a Kirkland user whose elbow pain stopped within days of quitting. Strictly, it is a native protein rather than a peptide hydrolysate. Felt nothing: none of 12 reports said it did nothing, but 3 of 12 got worse; most reports come from arthritis forums.

**Effects:** less knee or hip arthritis pain; fewer flare-ups; less morning stiffness; small gains in knee range of motion (trials)

**Downsides:** joint or whole-body aches in a minority; slow: judged after 8-12 weeks; often sold inside multi-ingredient blends, so the dose and effect are harder to judge

**Caveat:** The efficacy trials were sponsored by the ingredient's owner, and effects are modest. Labels mix the 40 mg ingredient weight with the ~10 mg of native collagen it supplies, which confuses dosing. A chicken-derived protein: avoid with chicken or egg allergy. In autoimmune arthritis a minority report more pain, so stop if joints worsen.

**Typical use:** 40 mg/day (providing ~10 mg native type II collagen), traditionally on an empty stomach at bedtime; 3 months before judging.

**Getting it:** UC-II is a Lonza trademark sold as 40 mg capsules (NOW, Doctor's Best and others) and inside joint blends with hyaluronic acid and boron, such as Schiff Move Free Ultra Triple Action and Kirkland Triple Action Joint Health. Labels state either the 40 mg ingredient weight or the ~10 mg of native collagen it supplies.

**Stacked with:** hydrolysed collagen peptides (different mechanism (building blocks vs immune tolerance); users often take both); boswellia (5-Loxin/ApresFlex) (sold pre-combined for knee OA); omega-3 (common pairing for inflammatory joint pain)

## Risk profile

- **Seen harm 0/3:** A 191-person RCT found safety no different from placebo; first-hand reports of worse joint pain, mostly in rheumatoid arthritis, resolved on stopping and are not serious.
- **Mechanism 0/3:** Works, if at all, by oral tolerance to type II collagen through gut lymphoid tissue; no pathway to serious harm is known.
- **Data gap 1/3:** Self-affirmed GRAS (2009) with a clean toxicology package and RCTs of about 400 people in total, all funded by the ingredient owner.
- **Silent harm 0/3:** Joint aches, the only reported effect, are noticed within weeks and fade on stopping.
- **Product 0/3:** An OTC capsule supplement or ingredient in joint blends from mainstream brands.
- **Never if:** Chicken or egg allergy

## Top reports

- Glowing, recovery: “type 2 collagen, and UC 2 has been the only thing that took my sacroiliac joint paint away.” — [r/rheumatoidarthritis](https://www.reddit.com/r/rheumatoidarthritis/comments/sc0npz/collagen_supplement/l8g5p7y/)
- Positive, recovery: “I am currently taking collagen UCII with boron and HA and I find it helps reduce flare ups and some of the daily chronic knee pain I have” — [r/Supplements](https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/1whzcip/anyone_try_nem_eggshell_membrane_for_joint/)
- Positive, recovery: “I take UCII daily, but be careful to get the actual chicken origin and not marine. I also take high dose EPA and DHEA Omegas. This combo seems to help with the joint pain.” — [r/ankylosingspondylitis](https://www.reddit.com/r/ankylosingspondylitis/comments/1sd2uc2/undenatured_type_ii_collagen/oemejb0/)
- Positive, recovery: “I take the Move Free Ultra every morning and if I miss it my hip starts hurting and I can hardly walk. It has collagen II in it.” — [r/Menopause](https://www.reddit.com/r/Menopause/comments/1kvhziw/do_collagen_supplements_work/mu9x7us/)
- Positive, recovery, 20 mg twice daily: “I take 20mg twice a day, and it really seemed to help what is highly likely arthritis in my knees. It's expensive tho” — [r/Thritis](https://www.reddit.com/r/Thritis/comments/oatk23/best_worst_treatment_for_osteoarthritis/lvgbkvm/)

## Cheapest in Europe

- [Supersmart](https://www.supersmart.com/fr/boutique/os-muscles-articulations/uc-ii-complement-0415) (LU): UC-II 40 mg, 60 veg capsules, €64, €0.027/mg

## Studies

- [Lugo et al., UC-II vs glucosamine-chondroitin vs placebo in knee osteoarthritis, multicenter RCT (Nutr J 2016)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26822714/) (rct, n=191, 2016): After 180 days, 40 mg/day lowered the total WOMAC score more than placebo (p=0.002) and glucosamine-chondroitin (p=0.04); adverse events no different.
- [Lugo et al., UC-II for joint support in healthy volunteers with exercise knee pain (JISSN 2013)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24153020/) (rct, n=55, 2013): After 120 days knee extension improved vs placebo, and subjects exercised longer before joint discomfort; no product-related adverse events.
- [Schön et al., UC-II for knee joint flexibility, multicenter RCT (J Integr Complement Med 2022)](https://europepmc.org/article/MED/35377244) (rct, n=96, 2022): 24 weeks of 40 mg/day increased knee flexion by 3.2 degrees vs 0.2 on placebo in healthy people with activity-related discomfort.
- [Crowley et al., Safety and efficacy of undenatured type II collagen in knee osteoarthritis (Int J Med Sci 2009)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19847319/) (controlled, n=52, 2009): Over 90 days, UC-II reduced WOMAC, VAS and Lequesne scores more than glucosamine plus chondroitin (no placebo arm).
- [García-Coronado et al., Collagen supplementation and osteoarthritis symptoms, meta-analysis (Int Orthop 2019)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30368550/) (meta-analysis, 2019): Pooling undenatured and hydrolysed collagen trials: total WOMAC fell by 8 points and VAS pain by 17; the WOMAC pain and function subscores did not change significantly.

## Sources

- [Lugo et al. 2016, full text (PMC)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4731911/)
- [Schön et al. 2022, full text (PMC)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9232232/)