If you rank tendon options by evidence, progressive loading under a clinician's guidance comes first, a legal gelatin or collagen-plus-vitamin-C routine comes a distant second, and BPC-157 comes last. Gelatin with vitamin C has a small human study showing a rise in a blood marker of collagen production. BPC-157 has mostly animal data and one uncontrolled report of 12 patients. Neither has strong proof that it heals injured tendons in people, but only one of them is a legal food product you can buy at the grocery store.
The ranking
| Rank | Option | Best human evidence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Progressive loading / rehab | The mainstay of tendon rehabilitation in clinical practice | Free or covered by therapy |
| 2 | Gelatin or collagen + vitamin C | Small crossover trial: higher collagen-synthesis marker in blood | Legal food and supplement products |
| 3 | BPC-157 | One uncontrolled retrospective report of 12 knee-pain patients | Not FDA-approved; research-use only; banned by WADA |
Why loading comes first
Tendons adapt to the loads you put on them, and they adapt slowly. Rehab for tendon pain is built around progressively loading the tendon, adjusted by symptoms, under the guidance of a physical therapist or sports medicine clinician. Nothing in a bottle or a vial replaces that. Our ACL, meniscus and tendon repair overview covers the bigger injury picture.
A supplement makes sense only as something you add to a loading program, never as a substitute for one.
Gelatin + vitamin C: what the study actually did
The study everyone cites is Shaw and colleagues, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2017. Here's what it involved:
- Participants: eight healthy men, in a randomized, double-blind, crossover design.
- Intervention: vitamin C-enriched gelatin (5 g or 15 g) or placebo, taken an hour before six minutes of rope skipping. The session was repeated three times a day, at least six hours apart, for three days.
- Blood findings: gelatin raised blood levels of the amino acids that make up collagen (glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, hydroxylysine), peaking about an hour after intake. With the 15 g dose, the collagen synthesis marker PINP roughly doubled.
- Lab findings: engineered ligaments treated with the participants' serum showed more collagen and better mechanical properties.
The authors suggested that adding gelatin to an intermittent exercise program could improve collagen synthesis and might help injury prevention and tissue repair.
Eight men, three days, a blood marker and lab-grown ligaments. It didn't measure an injured human tendon, pain, function or return to training. It's a plausible mechanism with a small, well-designed human signal, not proof that collagen heals tendinopathy.
Why vitamin C is in the mix
Vitamin C is a required cofactor for the enzymes that stabilize collagen, which is why the study paired it with gelatin. If your diet already includes fruit and vegetables, you probably aren't short on it. The study's design simply made sure it wasn't a limiting factor.
Gelatin vs collagen peptides
Gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen peptides come from the same protein and carry similar amino acids. The Shaw study used gelatin. Collagen peptides dissolve more easily and are what most supplements sell. We don't have a head-to-head human comparison to tell you one is better for tendons.
If you want to try it, plain unflavored gelatin powder matches what was studied, and collagen peptides are the easier-mixing alternative. Pick products with third-party testing, especially if you're a tested athlete.
BPC-157: what the human evidence looks like
A 2025 systematic review in HSS Journal looked at BPC-157 in orthopaedic sports medicine and included 36 studies. Thirty-five were preclinical, meaning animal or cell work. The one clinical study was retrospective: 12 patients with unspecified chronic knee pain received a single injection into the knee, and 7 reported improvement lasting more than six months. There was no control group and the outcome was self-reported.
The reviewers rated the evidence at levels IV and V, said in-human safety "remains unknown," and said the lack of clinical outcome and safety data "prevents us from proposing evidence-based practice use guidelines." The animal results are genuinely interesting; our preclinical research review goes through them. But animal tendon healing is a long way from your elbow.
BPC-157 also isn't FDA-approved, research-grade product isn't sold for human use and has no approved human dose, and it's named on the WADA Prohibited List. See the BPC-157 profile for the full picture.
Side-by-side
| Gelatin / collagen + vitamin C | BPC-157 | |
|---|---|---|
| Human evidence | Small randomized crossover trial (8 men), surrogate marker | One uncontrolled retrospective report (12 patients) |
| Animal / lab evidence | Engineered ligament model | Extensive animal and cell literature |
| Legal status | Food and supplement products | Not FDA-approved; research-use only |
| Quality control | Food and supplement manufacturing rules; third-party certification available | Varies by vendor; COA quality varies |
| Drug testing | Not prohibited (check for contamination) | Prohibited at all times (WADA S0) |
| Known human safety data | Common food protein | The 2025 review calls human safety unknown |
Questions to bring to your physio or sports doctor
- Is this tendinopathy, a partial tear, or something else entirely?
- What load can I keep training with, and which movements should I modify for now?
- What does progression look like week to week, and what pain level is acceptable during and after sessions?
- When should we expect improvement, and when would imaging or a specialist referral make sense?
- Is there any reason I shouldn't add a gelatin or collagen supplement?
If you compete in a tested sport, add one more: is this supplement third-party certified? Contamination is a real risk across the supplement market, and "it was in my collagen" won't help you under the strict liability rules covered in our WADA list breakdown.
A sensible order of operations
- Get the diagnosis right. Tendon pain, a partial tear and joint pain from another source are treated differently. See a sports medicine clinician or physical therapist if pain persists or gets worse.
- Adjust training load rather than stopping completely, unless you're told otherwise.
- Start a progressive loading program and give it weeks to months.
- Cover the nutrition basics: enough total protein and calories, and a diet with fruit and vegetables.
- Optionally, add gelatin or collagen with vitamin C alongside the rehab program, as an inexpensive add-on with modest evidence.
- Treat BPC-157 as unproven in humans. It's research-use only, and it's a doping violation in tested sport.
For more on recovery in general, see our recovery stack overview, and for the bigger list of claims lifters repeat, 10 peptide claims checked.
You felt or heard a pop, you can't bear weight or use the limb normally, there's a visible gap or deformity in the tendon, or there's significant swelling, warmth or fever. Those point to a possible rupture or infection, not a supplement question.
Research-use-only peptides are not sold for human use and have no approved human dose. See our medical disclaimer.
Sources
- Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross M, Wang B, Baar K. Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr 2017;105(1):136–143, doi:10.3945/ajcn.116.138594 (abstract record).
- Vasireddi N et al., Emerging use of BPC-157 in orthopaedic sports medicine: a systematic review, HSS J 2025;21(4):485–495 (PMC12313605).
- World Anti-Doping Agency, 2026 Prohibited List (BPC-157 under S0).
Frequently Asked
The evidence is promising but limited. A small 2017 crossover study in eight healthy men found that 15 grams of vitamin C-enriched gelatin taken before brief exercise roughly doubled a blood marker of collagen production. It did not measure injured tendons, pain or function, so it supports a mechanism rather than proving healing.
There is no human evidence that it is. A 2025 systematic review found 35 of 36 BPC-157 orthopaedic studies were preclinical, and the only clinical report was an uncontrolled study of 12 knee-pain patients. BPC-157 is also not FDA-approved and is banned in tested sport.
Vitamin C is a cofactor for the enzymes that stabilize collagen, which is why the Shaw study used vitamin C-enriched gelatin. People eating fruit and vegetables are unlikely to be short on it.
They come from the same protein and supply similar amino acids. The key human study used gelatin, and there is no head-to-head human comparison showing one is better for tendons.
A correct diagnosis and a progressive loading program guided by a physical therapist or sports medicine clinician. Supplements are at most an add-on.