Yesterday on my regular afternoon walk in our local park I met with a friend whom I haven’t seen in a while. She said she wasn’t walking as much lately as she used to. Her knees have been giving her pain the last few weeks, so she had to limit the amount of walking. She told me about various supplements she was thinking of taking, but her main question was: could collagen be one of the best ones out there to take for joint health? With an extra benefit for skin elasticity and wrinkles reduction?
Her question sent me on a search for the answer deep into scientific literature.
I have toyed with a collagen supplement about 10 years ago. It was more out of curiosity rather than for a specific health benefit, although, if I am totally honest, I was sold on to the description of its benefits: the brand advertised it as a “golden elixir" for the skin. I was hugely disappointed at the end of my time with that supplement. It was costly, it didn’t taste particularly good, but mainly I didn’t see any improvement in my skin. I further did a short stint of research on skin-related collagen benefits, but at the time the evidence was scarce and mixed.
Things have changed since then. Right now you will find a lot of research on collagen and its benefits. A bioactive form of collagen - bioactive collagen peptides (BCP) is being used in most studies and hence supplements. It is a better absorbed and metabolised type of hydrolysed collagen.
What is collagen? Collagen is a protein made from amino acids, specifically glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, and it is believed to make up close to 30% of the whole-body protein content. Our body naturally produces collagen, but as we age its production slows down, which could be one cause of joint stiffness and pain, and loss of skin elasticity. Depending on the tissues where collagen is found in our body, there are three main types of collagen, which are often referred to as type 1, type II and type III. Collagen is one of the primary structural proteins of connective tissues, it is also present in blood vessels, intervertebral discs, eye cornea, the blood-brain barrier and the intestinal wall.
The sources of collagen supplements vary: most brands claim to contain greater or 90% protein, which is made from beef, pork or fish sources. There is also a vegan type of collagen, which is made by using genetically modified yeast and bacteria. The manufacturing process seems complicated, and I failed to find any evidence-based backing to its benefits at the moment.
The standard BCP collagen supplements are said to be effective for joint pain, improved flexibility and mobility, bone and muscle structure, strength of ligaments and tendons and a wide range of skin and hair enhancements.
Since my research so many years ago didn’t give me significant results, I was eager to look into this with renewed enthusiasm. I didn’t have to dig in deep.
There is an ample amount of studies on the beneficial effects of collagen supplementation. Research has been carried out on people and animals, both in vitro and in vivo, on general public and athletes, young and elderly people. There doesn’t seem to be much ambiguity left out there. The benefits of collagen supplementation are well-established and wide-ranged.
I would classify all the health benefits into three main areas: joint and muscular health, skin, and gut /intestinal wall health.
Joint Health
Studies with the focus on collagen for cartilage and joint health have been the most impressive ones, in my opinion. These are double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical studies (the golden standard in studies) that show that collagen peptides have therapeutic properties, such as pain-relief and anti-inflammatory. They improve the conditions of people suffering from osteoarthritis and are a good aid in overall joint health. In most of the clinical trials, treatment duration was between 7 weeks to 6 months.
Studies on athletes taking collagen have been very impressive too. Athletes who suffer from sport-related knee or hip pain, stiffness and immobility were given a standard of 5g of bioactive collagen peptides. The results showed statistically significant reduction in pain intensity.
A few more words on the effects of collagen for muscles, joints and exercise-related areas. Several research papers are investigating how this supplement affects our muscle mass (improved), body composition (improved), bone structure (enhanced). But I think it will take me a whole new blog post to concentrate on those benefits alone.
Skin elasticity
Most studies in this field have been done on what is called ‘elderly skin’ - in the 35 to 55 years’ range (even though we all may argue that at 35 no one would dare to call a person ‘elderly’).
What is collagen demonstrated to be good for? Statistically significant reduction in skin wrinkles around the eye area. Read here
Skin elasticity, skin moisture, skin roughness and the amount of underskin water loss are notably improved (Research results). The interesting fact about the studies on the effects of collagen on facial skin is that women are given a what-is-considered small dose of collagen (between 2.5 and 5g); the length of the treatment is also quite short, between 6 weeks and 3 months, and yet there are statistically significant improvements in skin elasticity and an improvement of skin moisture and evaporation, even though the difference there is not statistically significant. Read
Gut health
In reference to the intestinal wall health, such as repair of inflammation and dysfunction, collagen supplements have been researched to give very promising results. Conducted both on mice and people, collagen peptides’ actions were observed from a variety of sources, both from food - casein and whey-derived foods, eggshell membranes, gliadin peptides (a protein of gluten), and supplemented collagen peptides. The intestinal mucosal barrier (in short, the protective structure of our intestinal wall) is strengthened with collagen peptides via a variety of “modulating intestinal immune reactions, diminishing oxidative stress…” and lowering the level of inflammation.
Since collagen is comprised of a variety of amino acids, some of these amino acids yield more benefits for the intestinal health than others. For example, arginine and glutamine are shown to be extremely important for the intestinal barrier function, especially in periods of stress (physical body stress and external). Leucine, another amino acid which is present in collagen, can help boost immune system defence mechanisms via improving immunoglobulin production.
Perhaps a most interesting outcome of my research was this: a report in the Journal “Nutrients” in 2019 found that most studies, which were done on collagen supplements had used the doses much smaller than could be included in our daily diet for health benefits. The authors of the review said that the collagen peptides derived from food and made by hydrolysis of the protein source (reaction with water), form the specific amino acids that often show MORE distinct health benefits than those individual amino acids do in their pure form.
If you are still not sold on the collagen supplements, you can of course rely on protein-rich foods, like beef, chicken, fish, pork, eggs and dairy. To make collagen from those foods, your body requires the help of vitamin C (the highest concentration of which you can find in berries, kiwi fruit, broccoli, greens).
I’m off to research the best brands of collagen supplements. Marine-source collagen comes at the top of scientific research. But having said that, there are companies that combine a variety of sources, which of course, means a wider amino acid representation. I’ll update you on what I’ve found soon.