For those asking for the collagen - here you go.
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Is your morning coffee in need of an upgrade? If adding a heap of powder to your espresso promised youthful elasticity for your skin, fewer wrinkles and luscious hair, then the answer would probably be yes. So it’s no wonder everyone’s talking about collagen. There are even claims that it is good for painful muscles and the answer to aching joints. Yet experts are sceptical as to whether it’s worth spending any money on collagen powders.
Collagen coffee recipes abound on TikTok and Instagram. A-listers including Jennifer Aniston have popularised the trend. On Instagram, in a video that has been liked more than a million times, Aniston can be seen adding a scoop of collagen peptide powder from Vital Proteins (she’s also the brand’s chief creative officer), plus a sprinkle of cinnamon into a mug, before pouring her Nespresso coffee over it and adding frothed milk. The Aniston-approved powder is £29.99 per tub.
She’s not alone. Khloé Kardashian has been the “global face and brand partner” for the collagen company Dose & Co since 2020. Dose & Co’s Pure Collagen powder costs £26.99 per tub. Kate Hudson’s wellness company InBloom sells a powder called Beauty Aura. The key ingredient? Marine collagen, sourced from the skin of “100 per cent wild-caught fish”. And in an interview where she discussed her daily routine a couple of years ago, Victoria Beckham said: “I really like Puori — it’s a clean Danish brand from Copenhagen. I add its CP1 Pure Collagen Peptides powder to coffee or water.”
Jennifer Aniston
STEPHANE CARDINALE/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES
It’s not just celebrities proselytising about it. Bryan Johnson, the controversial tech millionaire who wants to live for ever, says he takes 25g (0.9oz) of collagen peptides every day.
Online searches for collagen coffee are surging and have reportedly doubled in the past month. At Joe & the Juice, the upmarket chain with more than 70 locations across the UK, you can pay £9.20 for collagen-infused protein shakes with names like the Nutty. Last year Paris Hilton partnered with the chain to launch her Iconic Tonic, a blend of strawberries, pineapple, apple, pitaya powder, olive oil and, of course, collagen.
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Should we all be adding collagen powder to our weekly shop or does the science not live up to the hype?
What is collagen?
Collagen is the primary building block of your body’s skin, muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and other connective tissues. It’s also found in your organs, blood vessels and intestinal lining. Collagen is involved in essential processes such as wound healing and blood clotting. Nearly a third of the proteins in humans and other mammals are composed of 28 types of collagen, from the type I collagen found in skin, to type II collagen in cartilage. Type I starts to break down faster than your body can replace it from your mid-twenties onwards.
Kate Hudson
KATE HUDSON/INSTAGRAM
How do we produce collagen — and how do we lose it?
Our bodies produce collagen using the amino acids from protein-rich or collagen-rich foods such as fish, eggs and meat. But as well as ageing, overexposure to the sun, smoking and alcohol consumption all decrease collagen production.
I’ve seen collagen supplements all over social media. Should I buy them?
“There is a big delta between the science and social media in terms of evidence and benefit,” says John McGrath, professor of molecular dermatology at King’s College London and head of the genetic skin disease group. “To most clinicians and scientists it would seem counterintuitive that you could take a complex collagen protein by mouth, have your digestive system chomp it into individual amino acids and small peptides, and then expect there to be some sort of consciousness to rebuild the collagen, and then to have this occur where it’s needed in the aged or damaged skin.”
If I’m going to take a collagen supplement, what type is best absorbed by my body?
Hydrolysed collagen (also known as collagen peptides) is collagen that has been broken down into short chains of amino acids. It is derived from type I collagen and tends to be better absorbed by the body. While the scientific evidence supporting the effectiveness of collagen powders or supplements remains limited, according to the consultant dermatologist Anjali Mahto some research suggests that marine collagen derived from fish, particularly from their skin and scales, may be more beneficial than other forms, possibly due to better bioavailability and absorption.
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Do the beauty claims stack up?
“Large-scale trials evaluating the benefits of oral collagen supplements for skin and hair health are not available,” Dr Payal Patel, a dermatology research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr Maryanne Makredes Senna, a dermatologist, wrote recently on Harvard Medical School’s health blog.
One 2017 study of 25 people with brittle nails found that taking 2.5g of collagen daily for 24 weeks improved brittleness and nail growth, they note. However, this study had no control group taking a placebo to compare with the group receiving collagen supplements.
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In many studies evaluating the effects of taking collagen supplements, it’s also difficult to isolate the impact of the collagen itself because the products contain other ingredients. Patel and Senna point to a review and analysis of 19 studies, published in the International Journal of Dermatology, that had a total of 1,125 participants. Those who used the hydrolysed collagen supplements saw improvements in skin hydration, elasticity and wrinkles compared with a placebo, they explain. Ingestion of collagen for 90 days was sufficient to see these results. Still, it’s unclear whether these skin improvements were actually due to collagen: the supplements also contained other ingredients such as hyaluronic acid.
Leng Heng, a senior scientific officer for human nutrition at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has said that in the EU “no health claims for collagen supplements have got the green light”.
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Is it good for my muscles and joints?
“Case not proven,” McGrath says. A recent meta-analysis found that collagen supplements appeared to improve osteoarthritis-related symptoms but the research has since been challenged. All five articles in the meta-analysis were either funded by a collagen company or included some authors who were being paid by a collagen company, either as employees or consultants, according to Paul von Hippel, a professor of public policy, sociology, statistics and data science at the University of Texas in Austin.
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There has been some research, however, suggesting that collagen supplements can aid recovery after exercise. Taking a 20g collagen supplement for nine days improved recovery following strenuous exercise in healthy young men, according to a study published in the journal Amino Acids.
How much is a regular collagen supplement setting you back financially?
A review article published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology cited a statistic that taking a specific collagen supplement every day for a year would cost you about $600 (£463). “Even if collagen supplementation can benefit the skin for some patients, topicals such as retinoids may be more cost-effective,” the authors concluded