Nutritional Support in Wound Healing (Epithrive): A Narrative Review of Amino Acid, Collagen Peptide, and Micronutrient Evidence

Wound healing is a systemic, substrate-dependent process, and impaired healing is closely associated with protein–energy malnutrition and with deficits of specific amino acids and micronutrients. This narrative review summarises published evidence on nutrients frequently combined in oral wound-nutrition formulations: the amino acids L-arginine and L-glutamine; collagen peptides; and micronutrients including vitamin C, vitamin A, zinc, copper, selenium and vitamin E. For several of these components, controlled trials and mechanistic studies describe biologically plausible roles across the inflammatory, proliferative and remodelling phases of repair, and combined amino-acid and micronutrient formulations have shown benefit in pressure-injury populations, although a large randomised trial in diabetic foot ulcers found no overall difference in its primary endpoint. The evidence base is heterogeneous, and ingredient-level findings cannot be extrapolated to any specific finished product without product-level study. We describe the composition of one such combination formulation, Epithrive®, and outline the limitations of the current evidence.