Help! Collagen - snake oil or worthwhile investment?

[EnjoythemoneyJane]

Being an auld gimmer, my insta is constantly flooded with glowy post-menopausal women banging on about collagen.

I know I’m very late to the party, but I finally clicked through on an Elavate ad this morning (because I quite trust Janet Street Porter) and it took me to a site that batters you with ‘facts’ and before & after photos which you have to scroll for pages before it reveals the price of the stuff. The whole thing looks and feels like some telemarketing scam, and that’s before you get to the ingredients blurb which vaguely mentions sources as being ‘European facilities’ (presumably abattoirs without uk regulations?!).

Been down a google rabbit hole and every other 40+ celeb seems to be endorsing a different brand of capsules or liquids or powders, the price range spans hundreds of pounds, and the science seems, at best, tentatively positive.

So please educate me, wise women of Style & Beauty! Is it worth it? Does it make any difference? Is there a brand that everyone swears by, or it all basically the same stuff? Is marine or bovine best, or a combination of both? TIA

I take the Ancient and brave true collagen for my joints and it does help with this. Haven’t noticed any style or beauty benefits. Though my hairdresser did comment that I had “lots of new hair growth”

I saw that one too - basically it has some benefits but didn’t reduce wrinkles. Have to say it convinced me to try it and I’m having marine collagen powder now. Will see how it goes after 3 months.

Oh gosh, that’s worrying. I e just started taking marine collagen for my joints but I had DCIS (minor breast cancer) last year. Not sure what to do now.

I had my photo taken for some work event today, and boy, I look terrible. Really tired and exhausted. Despite no wrinkles.
Maybe I need more protein.

i love beauty and science (and have an msc and a career in beauty marketing as well) and unfortunately... while collagen infused products feel great and definitely are moisturising, they are not doing anything to restore your collagen long term. you cannot absorb collagen from a sheet mask or cream, just through ingestion. so find foods that can supplement it and add them to your diet.

tldr: oral supplements over skincare products!

consult your doc for a personalised analysis. i wouldn't be too sure until a chat with your oncologist because different bodies and different tumours respond differently and have diff properties. again, im not an oncologist. all the best.

I must say I struggle to believe you'd have such a transformation in such a short window of time, sorry but I just don't

I know someone undertaking PhD research into collagen supplements. The evidence is currently inconclusive. Based on their research to date I have started taking a Type 2 (Ancient & Brave bovine). Too early to know whether it will make a difference.
At the very least I am hoping for some hair growth!

I believe that varied, healthy diet works better than any pill and the whole collagen craze is snake oil.
I often use bone broth for cooking and we also eat nose to tail - first of all I’m a big foodie, second the meat and bones in our kitchen come from a local organic farm with cows grazing all year round outside (with indoor access in winter, of course). I don’t trust that supplements would be produced to the same animal welfare standards.

I’m not sure if my skin is exceptionally youthful, I don’t have any problems with it. I use mineral sunscreen every day, moisturise, drink a lot of water and eat varied protein sources, do face yoga before getting out of bed, exercise regularly, and drink alcohol only 2-3 times a year.

I also don’t get enough sleep, I’m breastfeeding a baby who doesn’t sleep through the night yet.

I've been using collagen for about a year, I do a lot of exercise and read it was good for recovery.

It really helped general joint stiffness after hard sessions, I get no trouble with knees or hips now, stairs even after heavy weights or a long run are no problem. When I ran out, I really noticed it creeping back in.

I'm undecided on whether it helps skin/ hair etc. But it doesn't seem to have done my general appearance any harm.

I take nutrition geek collagen powder. I like it because it completely dissolves into my tea with no flavour or odour at all, and I was skeptical but I am over the moon with how much better my face looks. I totally thought it would just bw a fad or something but I am really impressed

Same. I’ve been taking it since Xmas and can’t see any difference whatsoever.
Going to switch to protein powder or and start lifting weights.

The science on oral collagen peptides is genuinely more promising than most people expect, there is decent evidence that hydrolyzed collagen peptides with a low molecular weight can be absorbed and do stimulate fibroblast activity, but the marketing around it is so inflated and the quality varies so much between products that the ingredient itself gets unfairly lumped in with the snake oil around it, and the most practical thing to look for is a product that specifies hydrolyzed collagen with a molecular weight under 5000 daltons and has actual clinical studies behind that specific formulation rather than just generic collagen claims.

I believe the benefit is their for me for my skin, but it also certainly helps with my hair and nails. Even my hairdresser commented. As far as I'm aware it has to be marine collagen though, as the bovine stuff is poorly absorbed (but it's also cheaper)

I firmly believe this is why so many people say it has no benefit, because so much of what is sold in shops is an inferior product.

I use this collagen, best I've found that doesn't cripple me financially. 😂

I use this one as well, way better than the stuff from Boots.

Thanks to everyone who’s replied.

I does seem that - like a lot of these things - whether collagen works (or appears to) will largely depend on a variety of other lifestyle factors, and I do understand the basic biology of it behaving like any other form of protein intake.

But I’m quite encouraged by all the people here who’ve experienced improvements in joint pain/stiffness, and by @curiousbyprocess0614 and @FourForksSake’s comments re continuing research, which suggests there is possibly something more to this than everyone just drinking the Koolaid.

I’m specifically interested in effects on bone and joint health rather than external appearance. I’m kind of ok on the skin/nails/hair front (which is definitely down to genetic lottery rather than any discipline on my part!), but I have intermittent knee and back pain, which can be exacerbated when I exercise.

I already have a pretty healthy diet (including plenty of protein, occasional bone broths) and take glucosamine, chondroitin and cod liver oil for joint health, so I know what my baseline of discomfort is and what triggers the pain. I’m going to give the Ancient & Brave supplement a go for a few months to see if I notice any difference. Will report back, and be interested to hear how you get on, @Lovemycat2023 and @FourForksSake.

3 months + on Nutrition Geeks collagen and I can't say I've noticed a difference to skin / nails / hair (my sleep and hydration are still poor & I need to work on that!)

I see it as a useful low cal way to get another 12g protein into my diet for 50p a day. Will continue to 6 months and reassess.

Have started doing more bodyweight workouts and flexibility stuff so cant tell if collagen or this is helping my joints. May stop the collagen when I run out and see if it makes any negative difference.

If I miss a few days of my Willpowder’s collagen I really notice it. It’s bovine so better for joints etc. im
not too fussed about hair/nails. There’s a massive sale on TikTok today across all the suppliment companies btw

@EnjoythemoneyJaneyou may want to look at Creatine as well as collagen for supporting joints etc.

Exactly this! You are no better off eating collagen than you would be any other protein. The only benefit would be that your body definitely had all the individual blocks it needed to make collagen out of, but there’s no way to force it to do this. If you have a generally low protein diet it would be worth it in general terms, but there’s are far cheaper ways of raising your protein intake

I use a spoonful in my coffee in the morning and to be honest I do feel I look a bit better. When I run out of it I notice after a while that I start to look a bit worse.

But I am sceptical about all the marketing and all the celeb endorsements.

it’s a protein, and I need more protein, it’s effortless to take, I found a recommended place where I can buy in bulk much cheaper than the celeb endorsed ones, so I’m happy to use it as part of my (admittedly not very robust or fancy) routine.

There was a article on breakfast tv with a doctor saying how these supplements in powder pill forms do nothing you are wasting your money, I had to laugh because devena macoil, I think that's her name, was doing the interview, and she works for a company selling it.

I take the Healthspan marine collagen. The amount of hair shedding has reduced (been taking it about six months) and my eyelashes have regained some of their former glory. I thought I would give it a year then review.

Exactly this. The reply from@curiousbyprocess0614 is based on the current science. Everything else on this thread is just speculation and anecdote. It's not snake oil. The evidence is weak but promising. It's unlikely to change anyone's life but may well work a bit, basically.

@Whowhatwerewolf, yes, that’s pretty much where I’ve netted out based on some of the replies here and various other articles. I’m going to find the closest formulation to this that I can and give it a go for 6 months, but I’m not expecting miracles - particularly as I already have a pretty good protein intake. Interesting though!