Four nutrients
Biotin, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin B6 — the printed amounts, and what each nutrient is understood to do.
The panel on this jar declares thirteen nutrients. Four of them are set out at length below — the ones carrying the biggest figures, and the ones whose printed form changes how the figure should be read.
Amounts are transcribed from the Supplement Facts panel exactly as printed, per serving of two gummies.
Biotin
5000 mcg per serving
Vitamin B7, and the largest figure on this panel by a wide margin — 5000 micrograms against a daily value of 30.
It works as a cofactor, which means certain enzymes cannot function without it. Five carboxylases depend on biotin, and they handle parts of fat, glucose and amino acid metabolism. Amino acids are what keratin is assembled from, and keratin is the protein in hair shafts and nail plates.
Egg yolk, nuts, seeds and liver are ordinary dietary sources, and outright shortfall is uncommon on a normal diet.
Vitamin B12
6 mcg per serving
Six micrograms, given as methylcobalamin — 250 per cent of the daily value.
B12 is the only vitamin that needs a dedicated carrier protein to be absorbed, which is why the amounts on supplement labels sit so far above the daily requirement. The liver also stores it, so status changes slowly in either direction.
Its established roles are in DNA synthesis, red blood cell formation and nerve function. Plant foods contain essentially none, which is why it is one of the nutrients most often added to a formula.
Folate
442 mcg DFE per serving
The line reads 442 mcg DFE, with 260 mcg of folic acid noted beneath it. Those three letters carry weight: dietary folate equivalents is a unit built to account for folic acid being taken up more completely than the folate that comes in food.
Folate supplies single carbon units to the building of DNA, so the tissues that feel a shortfall first are the ones that divide fastest. The basal layer of the skin is one of them, which is how a nutrient named after foliage ends up on a label about complexion.
It also works in tandem with B12, which appears a line above it on this panel.
Vitamin B6
2 mg per serving
Two milligrams as pyridoxine hydrochloride, or 118 per cent of the daily value. The hydrochloride part is simply the salt form used to keep the vitamin stable in manufacturing.
In its active form, B6 is a cofactor in well over a hundred enzyme reactions, most of them in amino acid metabolism — the same chemistry that supplies material for structural proteins.
It also takes part in haemoglobin production and in the synthesis of several neurotransmitters, which is a reminder that a nutrient on a beauty label is rarely there for one reason alone.
The other nine
Vitamins A, C, D and E, pantothenic acid, choline, iodine, zinc and inositol complete the panel. Every figure is in the table on the homepage.
What this page does not say
No study has been published on Gelagen itself. Research on a nutrient describes that nutrient, and nothing above is a claim that this product treats or prevents anything.