Maxi Hyaluronic Acid Collagen Plus Super Fruits Mix

Two very different people reach for this, one for skin and one for joints, and the evidence treats them differently. These are the questions our naturopaths ask in store to make sure you choose the right thing.

A good fit if

• Skin hydration and elasticity are what you're after. That's where the trial evidence is.
• You'll choose on the milligrams rather than the marketing, because dose made the difference between a good result and a modest one
• You'll take it as a three-month course and then reassess, which is what the label requires anyway
• You're an adult who isn't pregnant or breastfeeding

Check with us first if

• You take any prescription medicine. We found no interaction data and no side effect information beyond the label warnings, so we can't tell you there's nothing to find.
• Joint comfort is your main reason for buying. We haven't found a trial that tests oral hyaluronic acid on its own for joints.
• You want to keep taking it past three months, which is longer than the label recommends.
• You avoid poultry or animal-derived ingredients. Some raw material comes from rooster or chicken comb rather than a microbial ferment.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.

• Sodium hyaluronate, oral. Best known for: The salt, and the only form Australian rules allow as an active ingredient by mouth. Absorption: Not sourced. Oral uptake of a molecule this large isn't obvious, and this register holds no sourced explanation of it, so none is offered. Typical use: Skin hydration and elasticity, where the trial evidence sits. Molecular weight has to fall between 600 and 1600 kilodaltons for active use.
• Hyaluronic acid, the free acid. Best known for: Texture and moisture in topical products, where it's permitted only as an excipient. Absorption: Not applicable. It's a formulation ingredient, not the active. Typical use: It can't legally be the thing an Australian listed medicine says is doing the work, which is why oral labels read sodium hyaluronate.
• Topical sodium hyaluronate. Best known for: Serums and creams, capped at 2.0 per cent in a listed medicine for dermal use. Absorption: Not sourced in this register. Typical use: Surface hydration. It's a different route from the oral trials above, so don't read one as evidence for the other.
• Low versus high molecular weight. Best known for: A formulation variable that gets sold as a selling point more often than it earns. Absorption: Not sourced for either band. Typical use: Worth knowing: the strongest skin trial used 1.8 megadalton material, above the band Australian rules permit for an active, so it doesn't validate an in-band product.
• Animal-derived versus fermented. Best known for: Where the raw material came from. Rooster or chicken comb, or a microbial ferment. Absorption: No comparison sourced. Typical use: A sourcing and vegan question rather than a regulatory one. Check the SKU if poultry matters to you.

Reference values. There aren't any. Hyaluronic acid isn't an essential nutrient, so the NHMRC Nutrient Reference Values don't include it. Your body makes its own.

Typical supplemental range. We haven't surveyed doses on Australian labels, so we can't give you a typical shelf range. From the trials: 120 mg a day of sodium hyaluronate for 12 weeks worked best on skin, while 60 mg a day did much less. A small joint study used 80 mg a day of a chicken comb extract for eight weeks and didn't reach its main goal of reducing pain.

Upper level. There's no NHMRC upper level, because there's no reference intake to set one against. The limit that matters is the regulatory one: a listed medicine's maximum recommended daily dose can't provide more than 200 milligrams of sodium hyaluronate, and use is limited to three months.

Worth knowing. The 120 mg that worked best is under the 200 mg limit, so an Australian product can be dosed at the level that worked, as long as it actually contains that much. Check the milligrams, not the front of the pack. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Pregnancy. Mandatory label warning: not recommended for pregnant women.
• Breastfeeding. The same mandatory label warning covers lactating women.
• Children and under-18s. Mandatory adults-only warning on oral active-ingredient products.
• Anyone on prescription medicine. No interaction data was found in this register, which isn't the same as none existing.
• Continuous use. Recommended duration of use is capped at three months.
• Dose. A listed medicine can't provide more than 200 mg of sodium hyaluronate daily.
• Topical listed medicines. Sodium hyaluronate must not exceed 2.0 per cent.
• Anyone avoiding poultry or animal-derived material. Some is extracted from rooster comb.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.