Australian consumers are relatively well protected. We have lots of laws and regulations governing industry. Our Fair Trading laws are arguably some of the best in the world. Food safety is no exception but there's a few grey areas where consumers can get tripped up by selling conventions presented as standards. "Suggested serving" is one such example.The serving size (suggested or recommended) on a product label has nothing to do with the standard serves in the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. The serving size on the label is not a recommendation on how much you should eat – it is decided by the manufacturer. It’s based on how much they expect a person to typically eat, or the unit size the product is eaten in. Some bovine products only focus on the suggested serving and completely neglect to mention or make minor mention of how many servings per day are recommended to achieve maximum benefit. By focusing of serving size, they can make a collagen supplement look more affordable. If you have to take multiple servings, however, a cheap collagen product can quickly become expensive. "Recommended daily dose" (RDD) has quite a different meaning. Importantly, this measurement is not required to be included on a product's Nutritional Information Panel (NIP) like servings. This information is the amount a consumer must ingest each day in order to achieve maximum benefit of a supplement product. Collagen, for example, has vastly different recommended daily dosages for the different collagen forms. Marine collagen is typically 6g per day while bovine collagen is 20-30g per day. Wild marine collagen has the highest efficacy of all collagen forms. It's full daily recommended dose can be as low as 5g per day as with Collagen Stickz. One Aussie-based collagen company I know of sells their collagen powder in jars as well as in sachets. The suggested serving size for the jars is measured in "teaspoons" (typically equivalent to 4.2g) while the sachets contain just 2g. The sachets come in packs of 14. As a bovine collagen product, a consumer would have to consume almost the whole box of sachets in a single day to achieve the recommended daily dose. It's inconsistencies like this amongst brands (and even amongst products within a brand) that leads to confusion. Reputable collagen companies will clearly state on the product packaging what the suggested serving is, what the recommended daily dose for their collagen form is and define their servings in grams rather than imprecise "teaspoons" or "scoops". If you want to know more about collagen, read our free eBook: Beginner's Guide To Collagen. Our guide explains what collagen is, where it comes from and what different kinds there are. It offers advice on how to maximise the benefits of taking a collagen supplement as well as some helpful tips and tricks. An easy read designed to be layman friendly so you can make an informed choice about your collagen supplement.
