To be irritated by celebrities flogging collagen supplements?!

[Charlock]

I feel like the boy from the Emperor's New Clothes - why are so many right thinking people jumping on the collagen bandwagon? There is only a small amount of evidence that collagen may improve skin elasticity and hydration, but it is unclear if the same benefits can be obtained from dietary sources of protein. Other than that the evidence for other uses is either weak or non-existent. Can anyone disavow me of this belief? What's particularly vexing are menopause activists who are promoting this when HRT is the safe, evidence-based treatment for menopause symptoms and available on prescription. Is it not just another big meno-washing con?

I’ve been taking collagen powder for about a year now. My hair is longer and thicker than it has been in years and my joints feel 15 years younger. I don’t think this can all be the placebo effect so I will be continuing to take it for the foreseeable 🤷🏻‍♀️

@MatchaTea1 powerful testimony. Definitely no other interventions in the past year that could account for these changes?

Am on the fence, but would take anything if it worked. Have been taking a brand which has no celebs and no fake comments on their FB posts, so I really hope it works, it'd be good to support the underdogs.

Not that I can think of - I suppose I am doing more exercise now as my joints are not as painful afterwards as they were before and I seem to have more energy since I started taking the collagen powder.. So it was about 3 months after starting it daily that I started to feel the difference. I think it’s important which brand you take though as some are higher quality than others. I use Ancient and Brave which is also tasteless unlike some other brands I tried - I just stir it into my morning coffee :)

If you dont like it dont buy it or watch it simple.

I’ve done a trial with a sample size of one (myself) and supplements of niacinamide and collagen help with my joint pain while the general multivitamin did not help.

it’s not strictly scientific as it wasn’t double blind etc but I started taking it purely for skin improvements which I didn’t get and wasn’t expecting the improvement to hip pain that I’ve had for years. Unfortunately the pain returned within a couple of week of stopping the collagen and starting the multivitamin again I wasn’t expecting this as I thought I’d been ‘healed’. And then after 3 months I switched back from multivitamin to collagen and niacinamide and again the hip pain eased in a couple of weeks.

no changes to exercise / diet / etc but I will now continue to take it I reckon. Although it clearly doesn’t give long term benefit and I reckon is just delaying it inevitably getting worse

What's particularly vexing are menopause activists who are promoting this when HRT is the safe, evidence-based treatment for menopause symptoms and available on prescription HRT isn’t an option for all of us, so if someone finds that collagen supplements gives them an ounce of ease, then bloody good luck to them.

I don’t care what they sell. They’ve got bills to pay, same as the rest of us. And they can’t all sell pics of their feet on Only Fans like Lily Whatshername. I might roll my eyes if someone who has had lots of surgery is promoting weight loss tea etc, because that sort of thing tends to influence teenagers who believe that celebs always tell the truth. But if a product doesn’t interest me then I pay no attention.

It's true that HRT isn't an option for a minority of people and so other options are good. My objection is how 'science' is used to say these things work when the science isn't there. It's unethical. And when folk like Davina and Lisa Snowdon are promoting them and vulnerable, desperate women who aren't getting the health care they deserve during menopause or have been frightened off HRT by ignorant medics or ill informed friends buy it, that's wrong. I don't mind how celebrities make their money either and I will be eternally grateful to Davina and the meno documentary, but it's a problem for me when folk co-opt 'science' to sell stuff which just doesn't warrant it.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that.