Collagen: What to Think About (It’s A Lot!) Before You Make That Next Smoothie
This is the most researched blog post I’ve done. And guys, I went down the “rabbit hole” of collagen powders and supplements. Grab a cup of tea and take some time with this post—there’s a lot to learn.
First, I didn’t know there was an actual rabbit hole to traverse. But the collagen industry is on the move and it’s BIG, BIG business. There are a lot of players—both companies who want you to buy their product (obviously), but also individuals who want you to believe their version of the collagen story. They too are trying to sell a product and an image of themselves as an *influencer*
From speaking to some of you, I know that you are ready for the real story. I admit, I was just as confused as you about the benefits (and potential drawbacks) of collagen before I started digging in.
Here’s what I wanted to help you understand: should you buy collagen powder, or that cool new collagen drink your friend just loves? It’s it really the magic elixir that we want it to be? Does it really help with aging skin and bones? Will it make our joints more flexible? I’ll get to an answer soon, but first, we need to learn a bit more about collagen.
What the heck is collagen?
Collagen is the structural protein found in skin and other connective tissue. And it has great tensile strength—which means it tends not to break as easily under tension. It’s the main component of cartilage, ligaments, tendons, bone, and teeth. It strengthens blood vessels and plays a role in tissue development.
According to the Healthline website and other sources, there are actually twenty or more different kinds of collagen. But four types of collagen, named Types I, II, III and IV, are the most important.
Type I. This is the most abundant and best studied collagen according to this study: Collagen Types
It’s made of dense fibers and provides structure to skin, bones, tendons, ligaments, eyes and teeth. It is not found in the brain.
Type II. This type is made of more loosely packed fibers and found in elastic cartilage, which cushions your joints.
Type III collagen is widely distributed in collagen type I containing tissues with the exception of bone. This type supports the structure of muscles, organs, and arteries.
Type IV. This type helps with filtration and is found in the layers of your skin.
Types will be important later as you choose which collagen type is best for you. Stay tuned.
Why should we be thinking about ingesting collagen?
Unfortunately, our bodies collagen levels decline for a few reasons. First, aging. As we age, we accumulate more oxidative stress in our bodies. Oxidative stress causes wrinkles (and greying hair) due to the fact that it destroys collagen and elastin. Oxidative stress also increases inflammation in all dermal tissue and zaps collagen there.
According to an article on Clevelandclinic.org a decline in collagen due to aging also contributes to:
• Wrinkles and crêpey skin
• Stiffer, less flexible tendons and ligaments
• Shrinking, weakening muscles
• Joint pain or osteoarthritis due to worn cartilage
• Gastrointestinal problems due to thinning of the lining in your digestive tract
Eating too much sugar and refined carbs can also interfere with your collagen levels. Sugar interferes with collagen's ability to repair itself.
Getting too much sun is also problematic for collagen. Ultraviolet radiation can reduce collagen production.
And there’s smoking. So don’t do that.
So it would make sense that if we could increase collagen production, that would be a good thing, right? I dug into the studies just to make sure. And yes, studies confirm that when we ADD collagen in the form of food/supplements to our bodies, we are preventing the decline of collagen stores in our body.
According to one study: “Clinical studies show that HC (hydrolyzed collagen) continual ingestion helps to reduce and prevent joint pain, bone density loss and skin ageing. These results as well as its high level of tolerance and safety make HC ingestion attractive for a long-term use in bone and joint degenerative diseases and in fight against skin ageing.”
For more science, see here: HC Study. And here: Another HC Study
Yay! Ingest collagen! Well, there’s more to the story….
First of all, what type of collagen is best? And then, what brand? Get your shovels out, it’s time to dig the rabbit hole.
There’s bovine collagen, marine collagen, chicken collagen, collagen made from eggs and others. The market for porcine collagen used to be larger, but given different religious restrictions on pork, it didn’t come up in my research.
The bovine collagen market is huge and getting bigger. After some digging, I found that most of the world’s collagen supplement industry is based in South America, primarily in Brazil and to some extent in Argentina. That would make sense as Brazil is one of the world’s largest producers of beef. And it seems to be the most prevalent form of collagen on the market today.
Pasture Raised and Grass Fed
That’s what it says on my can of bovine collagen from a decent source. It was a brand that was recommended to me by a former instructor who is incredibly careful about the kinds of products she consumes.
But Brazilian collagen, while marketed as a grass-fed source of beef, may not be what we think of in the U.S. as grass-fed and grass finished. In fact, some claim that the Brazilian cattle market more closely resembles the conventional beef market in the United States. I couldn’t confirm or deny this fact, but I would wager that if you were really particular about the source of your beef, you may want to do some investigation around your bovine collagen company. With so many products sourced in South America, you want to make sure that you understand how your collagen gets made. And what those cows really eat.
And then there’s the rain forest. Some environmentalists are concerned that the Brazilian beef (and collagen) market is helping to ruin the ecosystem in Brazil by infringing on the rain forests. If this is an important issue for you, you’ll want to do some additional investigation.
And Then There’s Heavy Metals
I was going to call it a day with my research until I read an Instagram post from a young nutritionist I follow. She called out particular brands and simply said in her post that “brand a, b, c, and d” were “good” and “brands w, x, y, and z” were “bad.” Her reasoning: the “bad” brands were contaminated with heavy metals, specifically lead. I had not heard that claim before, so I carefully read her post again. And then I asked for her sources; she didn’t respond. So I went to find some of my own.
The closest thing I could find that would be helpful to you is this white paper: Organic collagen? It’s co-authored by the Organic Consumers Association and the Clean Label Project. Both seem to be legit non-profits, at least they have verifiable web sites. And the paper is well cited. It highlights a study the two organizations performed in 2020 on the top collagen powders sold by Amazon. (BTW, the list doesn’t overlap with the brands called out by the young insta-star, so there’s no way of knowing her source)
One of their biggest “beefs” is that the collagen industry is not organic (yes, the Organic Consumers Association is worried about that, I get it). So, if you are a person that relies on organic food for most of your diet, just realize that you will be looking for a while for a collagen that is truly organic. First of all, it appears that organic specifications are hard to regulate, especially outside of the United States. Second of all, what’s an organic cow?
But back to heavy metals. The study delved into four heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead. They measured the top Amazon sellers and ranked them based on the amount of these substances that came up on the test. Depending on the heavy metal, ranges from 36% of the products (arsenic) to 83% of the products (cadmium) produced non-detectable levels of the metal. Good news? Maybe. Definitely not if you want to avoid arsenic.
My review of this study and the provocative Instagram post brought me to this realization: heavy metals are everywhere, including in collagen. Cows will ingest them as readily as we do. So that’s a consideration. If you have health issues that lead you to believe that heavy metals may be an issue for you, you’ll want to do additional research before you choose that collagen powder. Start with the aforementioned study but dig in further.
You can look at the study and find their top-rated products. I’m not going to list them in this blog post because I don’t know anything about the companies that produce these powders and therefore, can’t endorse them. But I do have some product thoughts later.
There’s Collagen Made From Fish…What About That?
Marine collagen, as you might guess, is made from fish. It has some benefits compared to bovine collagen.
Marine collagen will help promote collagen types I (the most abundant form) and II (elastic cartilage). Marine collagen “had obvious protective effects on photoaging skin, including improving moisture retention ability, repairing the endogenous collagen and elastin protein fibers” according to three studies cited by this study: Marine Collagen Study. So it helps your skin. Great!
Marine collagen has other benefits. The collagen peptides from marine life are smaller and more bioavailable to you as you consume them. Compared to bovine collagen, it may be easier to extract collagen from marine life. Furthermore, fish don’t get mad cow disease. And we know that fish is an excellent source of antioxidants.
However, along with bovine collagen, the collagen from your fish can come from wild sources or from factory farms. Pay attention if you are concerned about the sourcing of your fish.
Digging Out of the Rabbit Hole: My Conclusions and More Advice
If you are concerned about your bone health and you want the benefits of reducing skin aging, it appears that bovine collagen is the way to go. Bovine collagen has more of the types of collagen that will support both your bones and your skin (along with your joints). If you really want the benefits of skin health and are interested in anti-aging, marine collagen might be your thing. The studies have shown that both types have benefits.
I have spent more time than usual on this blog post, much of it on the websites of at least 20 collagen products. I’ve run into some *big* names in collagen and I’ve perused their websites to see if they offer a valuable product for all the marketing hype. With the caveats I’ve listed, I believe you are relatively safe with these products. But please do your research!
I am a bit turned off by one company that has emailed me 3-5 times in the last week with offers—and no, I didn’t give them my email. They are also owned now by a big conglomerate that is not well liked by those in the nutrition industry. But in many things, marketing wins.
I Know You Are Waiting For My Recommendations for Collagen Products:
During my research, I’ve found companies that are carefully sourcing their products—marine collagen from New Zealand and bovine collagen from the United States (manufactured in Canada) are two companies that come to mind. Of course, their products are more expensive. Sometimes twice as expensive. But researching this blog post has convinced me that that may not be a bad thing for those of us with a regular collagen habit.
I’m not quite ready to endorse collagen products. I take that responsibility seriously and I want to take some time to research products before I suggest them to you. I promise, I’ll take that on this fall so look for part two on collagen soon.
Until then, I hope this premier on collagen supplements was helpful to you. Look on labels. Find the source of your product. Research heavy metal contents. Don’t just follow the advice of the latest Instagram star or a favorite actress.
I want to know what other questions around collagen come up for you. Email me at barwellness@comcast.net and let’s discuss!
To Your Health,
Bev
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