Collagen Powder Is Just an Expensive Protein Powder
Healthy skin contains a lot of tough, elastic collagen, so it is tempting to think that any product that has the word collagen in its name will be good for your skin. But even though you can buy collagen powder to add to your drinks, there is little to no evidence that your skin benefits directly.
The contents of this powder will take a long journey from the mouth through the intestines to possibly end up on your skin. I asked nutritional professor Rachel Poednik if we could rely on collagen in smoothies to make this journey safely. “A very short answer: it’s difficult and we don’t know yet,” she said. But “the data is SO weak and the claims are totally exaggerated … besides, what they charge is obscene.”
When we eat protein, enzymes in our stomach and intestines break it down. Protein – such as collagen – did not disappear at this point; it’s just small pieces. All proteins are made up of amino acids, including the proteins that we eat (in meat, tofu, whey, etc.), as well as the proteins that our body makes. In this way, we break down what is in our food and use parts of it to create muscles, skin, and more. This is the same kind of recycling as kids when they break their brother or sister’s Lego castle to build their own.
Almost. We only need to get half of the 20 different types of amino acids (Lego blocks) from our diet. Everything else our body can produce on its own. To build muscle, we need a lot of leucine, an amino acid that we must get from our diet. But for building collagen, the main ingredients are amino acids, which we can produce ourselves, so it seems unlikely that collagen supplementation will do much good.
Why is the evidence so sketchy
There is some evidence that collagen is not completely destroyed by digestion – which is why Poednik says it is difficult. Maybe some pieces of collagen are not digested and end up on our skin. But then, will our skin cells decide to put more collagen into our skin just because some collagen peptides are floating there? There is no single answer to this question, and there is plenty of room to be skeptical about it.
There have been several studies in which people were given collagen supplements and concluded that they ultimately improved the condition of their skin – for example, here is one 2014 study that measured the increase in skin elasticity. But would they get the same results from a cheaper protein powder? The study does not prove that collagen supplements actually caused subjects’ skin to produce more collagen. To do this, you will need research that includes non-collagen protein supplementation and in-depth tests on blood and tissue samples. Until this research is done, we will not know for sure, says Poednik, “what makes the current claims pure speculation and hype.”
Collagen powder is nice to drink though
If you’ve already bought a jug of collagen powder, it’s not useless; it was probably just overpriced, that’s all. (A quick look at Amazon shows collagen powders priced between $ 1.50 and $ 2.15 an ounce; other protein powders have a much wider price range, including many under $ 1 an ounce.)
Collagen is made from gelatin, which in turn is obtained from animals, usually from the skin of cows and pigs. If you’ve ever done Jell-O, you know that gelatin dissolves in hot water and turns liquids into gel as it cools. But collagen doesn’t have these properties. You can dissolve it at any temperature and the liquid remains liquid.
This means you can add collagen to your coffee, iced tea, or whatever else you like. Add a scoop to chicken soup for more protein. At the Goop Summit, I got a can of collagen powder and it had a collagen martini recipe in it. (In short: make a martini and add collagen to it.) I don’t like martinis, so I made myself a classic daiquiri and bee knees with collagen powder; they tasted great and I didn’t notice collagen at all. It’s 99 percent tasteless, so the only thing I don’t recommend is mixing it with water.
So if you’re looking to boost your protein levels, collagen powder is a great way to get it. Paying extra for a protein powder that dissolves in a drink is not the worst thing in the world. Just don’t expect it to do wonders for your skin.