Algenist Vegan Collagen Products Offer No Anti-Aging Benefits, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action alleges a number of topical Algenist vegan collagen products that purportedly provide anti-aging benefits are “worthless” given it is impossible for plants to produce collagen in any manner.

The 21-page complaint against Algenist LLC alleges the vegan collagen products at issue are simply unable to penetrate the top layer of skin to provide the firming, anti-aging benefits touted by the company. The case claims Algenist has engaged in “widespread false and deceptive advertising” with regard to the following products claimed to contain vegan collagen:

• Algenist Genius Collagen Calming Relief;
• Algenist Genius Liquid Collagen; and
• Algenist Genius Sleeping Collagen.

 The lawsuit states that collagen has become a massive marketing tool used to draw consumers in a market rife with products with purported anti-aging or healthy-aging properties. Although the human body naturally makes collagen, the main structural protein in connective tissues, production begins to decrease with age, typically in a person’s 20s or 30s, triggering wrinkles, the case says. Consumers, therefore, desire collagen skin products, including powders, capsules and liquids, that companies advertise as able to replace natural collagen, the suit relays.

Some companies, such as Algenist, offer products they say contain “vegan collagen” made of genetically engineered microorganisms such as yeasts and bacteria, the lawsuit continues. According to the complaint, vegan collagen is derived from the addition of the human genes that code for collagen to the genetic structure of bacteria or modified yeasts, which then start to produce the building blocks of human collagen.

The suit contends, however, that because collagen is a natural animal byproduct, it is impossible for “vegan collagen” to exist as a variant. 

More broadly, though, the complaint says that the topical application of collagen products, vegan or not, “does not improve skin texture” given collagen molecules cannot penetrate the outer layer of the epidermis. 

“This is because collagen molecules, which have a high molecular weight of 300 kDa (kilodaltons), are too large to be absorbed into the skin when applied in a cream,” the case states.

According to the suit, consumers would not have purchased the above-listed Algenist vegan collagen supplements, or would have paid less for them, had they known the products were unable to produce anti-aging benefits. 

The lawsuit looks to represent all consumers who’ve bought Algenist products advertised as containing “vegan collagen” and able to provide “advance anti-aging” benefits within the applicable statute of limitations period. 

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