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This little tub of white powder has taken over the anti-aging world. It's in our coffees, smoothies, and our social media feeds. If you're in your late 30s or older, a friend or family member has one of these in their kitchen. Collagen peptides are supposed to be a magic bullet. If you just add a few scoops to your morning coffee, you'll get everything from 20-year-old skin to pain-free joints and better digestion.
But do they actually deliver? I'm Dr. Sarah Shu, a Stanford-trained dermatologist in the United States. I like to share my thoughts on skincare with a focus on clinical evidence and safety. And today, I'm sharing my updated thoughts on collagen peptides for anti-aging. Let's break down what they really do in your body. Hint: what you've been told about them just being building blocks is wrong.
Next, whether they can actually improve your skin's appearance and exactly what you need to look for in a collagen peptide before you spend a dime. I'll also share what I've personally noticed in my skin, nails, and joints since starting to take collagen peptides over one year ago, and my personal favorites.
First, let's get into the science in a way that's really easy to understand. Collagen is like the foundation and scaffolding to your skin. It gives structure and firmness to your skin. And it's also a critical building block of your bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.
So, what happens when we get older? You might already be seeing it and feeling it. As early as our late 20s, our bodies naturally start to make less collagen. And the collagen we have starts to break down more quickly. This is a normal part of the aging process. And you could see the results of these changes: wrinkles, dark circles, sagging jowls, and hollow cheeks. Not to mention, you might be feeling these changes in your joints, too. It's one of the main reasons we start looking in the mirror and wondering, "Where did that come from?" or end up with days of neck and back pain after a bad night of sleep.
Collagen peptides supposedly help with all of this, but what exactly are collagen peptides or hydrolyzed collagen? And why are they supposed to be helpful? Collagen peptides are collagen proteins, which are naturally huge molecules that have been broken down or digested into much smaller pieces. They're kind of similar to gelatin, which is something else you might have in your home or kitchen. I eat a ton of gelatin because I'm addicted to gummy candies, but the collagen in collagen peptides is broken down into much smaller pieces than you're going to find in gelatin. These fragments are small enough for your gut to absorb as single protein building blocks called amino acids or as tiny and adorable chains of two to three amino acids.
The collagen in these products comes from animal sources. Cow and fish are the most common, but sometimes they come from pig and chicken. Cow hides, fish scales, fish skin, and other animal parts are broken down, usually by enzymes or chemicals, many of which are naturally produced by our bodies like hydrochloric acid and trypsin. Then the collagen from these animal parts is broken down even more or hydrolyzed to give smaller protein pieces or peptides.
That brings us to the big question: Can taking collagen peptide supplements slow down the aging process? That's what a lot of collagen peptide products are promising. But why would taking them be helpful? When these supplements first became popular in the United States, I was pretty skeptical. Aren't collagen peptides just extra protein that you break down into amino acids in your gut? So, wouldn't any protein source have the same result? And when I looked into it, the simple explanation was that taking collagen peptides is like giving our bodies more of the exact building materials it needs to make more collagen. Kind of like making a tower out of Legos. Having more Legos means you can build more towers.
But the more sophisticated explanation is this: Collagen peptides are more than just building blocks. You can think of them as little messengers in the deeper layers of your skin. These messengers can interact with fibroblasts, which are the master builder cells of your skin. Peptides can give these master builder cells a useful message: "Start making more collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid." But that's not all. Collagen peptides also inhibit or block enzymes that break down the collagen you already have. So, they're not only stimulating your cells to make new collagen, they're also helping protect the collagen you already have from being broken down. Some messengers are better than others at sending these messages. And peptides that come from collagen, even if it's collagen from other species, are more effective than just any random protein.
Now that we've covered what we've learned from lab studies, what about real-world human results? I'm sorry to say that even in 2025, the data is still mixed. Many human studies have shown that consistent long-term use, meaning 12 weeks or more, can improve skin hydration and elasticity. But when you dig into the details, there are some serious weaknesses to these studies. Many studies are small, meaning that they didn't include very many people, short, and not placebo-controlled.
But here's where it gets really interesting. A new study published in May 2025 looked at data from 23 studies and included about 1,500 people total. When they combined the results of these studies, collagen peptides were shown to improve skin hydration, elasticity, and wrinkles. But then the investigators in the study did something really interesting. They split the studies into two groups: studies with industry funding versus studies without industry funding. And they found something kind of controversial. The independent studies, meaning the ones with no company money behind them, showed no effect at all on hydration, elasticity, or wrinkles.
So, where does this leave us? The best evidence right now is mixed. And we still need more research to say for sure. And I don't think we're going to have a clear answer anytime soon because it's too hard to pull results from different studies on collagen peptides. I'll explain more about why later.
In a second, I'll share my personal experience with taking collagen peptides for over a year. If you've learned anything so far, I'd appreciate if you could like or subscribe. It helps my channel a lot.
Now, for a quick personal note: One person's experience isn't the same as a large controlled study, but here's what I've noticed after taking collagen peptides for the past year. I work with my hands a lot, and in a typical clinic day seeing patients, I use hand sanitizer at least 60 times a day. I'm not the best at reapplying hand lotion throughout the day since it makes my clinic iPad screen kind of yucky. So, between all that hand sanitizer and not moisturizing frequently, my hands take a beating. And that would show in my nails. They'd break and split and generally just look kind of ratty. But since starting to take collagen peptides a year ago, I notice a clear difference in my nails. They grow faster and feel thicker and stronger. It's actually kind of annoying since I feel like I have to trim my nails more frequently now.
Also, my joints feel better. I just have normal age-related aches and pains of someone approaching 40. Nothing out of the ordinary. But feeling a little bit less achy has been a nice unexpected side effect since starting to take collagen peptides for anti-aging.
Now, let's talk about what I've noticed in my skin. Nothing. So, I had some unexpected benefits in my nails and joints, which I really liked, but I saw zero improvement in my skin. Even though the human data is mixed, I'm still taking collagen peptides daily for the nail and joint benefits that I've seen. Honestly, I'm pretty happy with this outcome, even though it wasn't what I was expecting. But of course, your mileage may vary.
So, if you want to give collagen a try, what should you look for? There are so many options that it can feel really overwhelming. I've identified six key factors based on many hours of research.
Number one, the animal source. Cow, fish, and pig are the most common. There are some studies to support each of these animal sources. Marine collagen, which comes from fish scale or fish skin, tends to have smaller peptide fragments, and there are some studies showing that they are easier to absorb. I don't think that the current evidence is strong enough to support only one type. The most important consideration here would be situations like if you don't eat cow products for religious reasons, you should stay away from bovine collagen peptides.
Second, and this is a big one, taste. If you can't stand the taste of your collagen peptide supplement, you're not going to take it consistently. And that is key for any potential benefits. I shared in my previous video that at least to me, some brands taste the way that a hamster cage smells. And I'm not really that picky when it comes to taste. Everyone in my office makes fun of me for drinking Taster's Choice coffee, which covers up the taste of the hamstery collagen peptides pretty well, actually. I guess most people think Taster's Choice is old-fashioned or I've been told that it's gross tasting, but I'm fine with it, which is why I ended up with six jars of it from my staff for my birthday. I share that to emphasize that I am not a taste snob. So, if I struggle with the taste of something like collagen peptides, I think a lot of other people will struggle, too. There are some brands like the ones I'll mention later that thankfully have a milder taste.
Third, I appreciate when brands have third-party certifications and testing. In the US, supplements aren't required to prove whether they're safe or whether they work before they hit the market. Supplements are regulated much more leniently than medications. And once in a while, we see news reports about supplements causing real harm to the people taking them. In the late 80s and early 90s, an L-tryptophan supplement that people were taking for insomnia was linked to a rare condition that made over a thousand people sick and caused 27 deaths. This isn't just a US problem either. In 2024, red yeast rice supplements were linked to 80 deaths in Japan and Taiwan. So, when people pay for third-party purity and heavy metal testing when it's not required, that to me is a sign that the company is going above and beyond.
Fourth and fifth are the size and type of peptides in a specific product. This is where it starts to get hard to compare brands because not all of this info is publicly available. You can start with the same starting material, for example, cowhides, and you can end up with very different collagen peptide products depending on how those cowhides are processed. Depending on how and how much the collagen is broken down, you end up with different sizes of peptides and different types of peptides. Meaning that 5g of collagen peptides from one company isn't necessarily the same product as 5g of collagen peptides from another company, even though on the surface they might seem like they are. I have seen mixed data on this, but some studies show better absorption of smaller peptides. So, if all other things like taste and price are similar, I prefer the lower molecular weight option.
I mentioned earlier that peptides aren't just building blocks, they're messengers. And certain collagen peptides like proline-hydroxyproline and glycine-proline-hydroxyproline are not only absorbed preferentially, they're also exceptionally good at telling your cells what to do. They are better than other peptides at telling your cells to start making more of its natural collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid. So, I like when brands can share their peptide breakdown process and end results, like how much glycine-proline-hydroxyproline is in their product.
Finally, in an ideal world, I want the most sustainable option. An investigative report from 2023 found that the market for collagen peptides from cowhides is directly contributing to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Huge regions of rainforest are now being replaced with more cow pasture to keep up with this demand. Before I read the report, I believed what I was reading in a lot of other sources that making collagen peptides from cowhide is a way to use waste products from the meat industry. This report made me challenge that idea and made me look into marine collagen as an option more closely. I'll put a link to that report in the description in case you're interested.
So, now that I've shared all the things that I'm looking for in a collagen peptide supplement, I wanted to share two collagen peptides that I've personally spent a lot of money on and enjoyed.
Number one is Great Lakes Wellness Unflavored Collagen Peptides. This product is made from cowhides, specifically cowhides from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows. The grass-fed part is important because grains that are used to feed grain-fed cows can be a source of heavy metal contamination, including lead. I emailed the company to learn more about their sourcing. And they responded that their collagen is sourced from Korea, and the average peptide size is 3,000 to 5,000 daltons. That is a pretty typical size for collagen peptides that come from cowhide.
Before I tried this product, I had only tried the brands on sale at Costco: Vital Proteins and Orgain, which are also cowhide products like this one is. I didn't like the taste of those, but I tolerated them by covering them up with the burnt taste of Taster's Choice. But with the Great Lakes brand of collagen peptides, I don't have to mask the flavor. The taste is neutral and it dissolves the most easily out of all the collagen peptides that I've tried. In fact, when I add it to my coffee, you can basically see that it dissolves into the coffee by itself. If you're not a coffee drinker, you could add it to smoothies or soup since the flavor isn't very overpowering. It is slightly more expensive than the Costco brands, but not by much. I bought a smaller canister on Amazon at first to try out at $29.95 for a one lb jar, which the company says is 22 servings. That means that each 20g serving is $1.36 US. But I'm about to save you some money. Many of the studies on anti-aging used very small doses, as low as two grams per day, which is 10 times less than the recommended 20 gram serving size on the bottle. That would bring your per serving cost down to just $0.14. Some studies looked at people taking 5g or 10g per day, but there weren't great studies showing that for the same product, taking 10g or 20g is better than taking just 5g specifically for the purpose of anti-aging. I have seen studies showing that taking a bigger dose leads to more being absorbed, but I haven't seen reliable studies showing that taking this means better results. So, I take only 2 1/2 to 5g, and that cuts down the cost per serving by a ton. The other way I save is buying directly through the website in bulk. I bought the four-pound bags for $99.99 and for my first order, I used the 15% off coupon by signing up for the newsletter and immediately unsubscribing.
I think this is a solid product, but because of the deforestation issue I mentioned earlier and the larger average size of cow-based collagen peptides, I have personally switched to taking marine collagen peptides. So my next pick is what I've been taking for the past couple of months: Seatl Marine Collagen.
I had never heard of this brand before, but I came across them while specifically looking for small or low molecular weight collagen peptides. They are a Korean supplement company that's already sold 20 million boxes of its collagen peptide products. It was really hard to find low molecular weight collagen peptides because the size isn't listed on most products. There were a handful that were advertised as low molecular weight, but they didn't say what the molecular weight was, and there are no rules for what can be called a low molecular weight peptide product. Seatl reports its molecular weight as 300 daltons, which is one of the smallest I've been able to find. The Great Lakes collagen peptides I mentioned are at least 10 times the size, 3,000 to 5,000 daltons. I found one other collagen peptide that's similarly sized, a capsule from a Korean supplement brand that's also about 300 daltons, but the cost per serving was much higher.
When I asked the company by email, they shared that these peptides come from the scale of tilapia caught in Russia and processed in Korea, and the size of their peptides is independently tested by the Swiss lab SGS. I bought a 16oz tub on Amazon for $42.95, which is 30 servings according to the product label. The cost per serving at the recommended serving size of 15g is $1.43, or about 7 cents more per day than the bovine collagen peptides I mentioned. But just like with that product, I take less than the recommended serving size. So my true cost per serving is much lower, and each canister is going to last me months.
This product also dissolves easily. It has the finest texture and consistency of any collagen product I've tried. It reminds me of powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar. The Great Lakes option dissolves more completely than this one, though. I usually have a few tiny clumps with this one, but not enough to bother me. The taste of this one is neutral, too. No hamster cage with this one, either. This was the first marine collagen product I've tried, and I'm not sure why, but I expected a fishy taste or a fishy smell, but thankfully, I didn't notice anything like that. This is my daily collagen peptide.
Now, I'm glad to find an alternative to bovine peptides because of the deforestation issue, and I like how these are truly low molecular weight. There are a couple of changes I hope they'll make in the future. The scoop the product comes with is really hard to store in the canister. It's great when you're getting low so that you can reach the bottom. But for the first half of the canister, I used a scoop that came from one of my old hamster cage tasting ones. I also noticed a typo on their packaging: "Tapia" instead of "tilapia." I hope they change that on future prints. I get it, they've sold a ton of their collagen peptides in Korea, but this is their first US market product. I emailed the company about this and they confirmed that this is from actual tilapia fish scale instead of whatever "timu" sounding fish "talapia" is.
So those are my honest takes on collagen peptides in 2025. I hope this gave you a clearer picture of what the most recent science says and what to look for. Of course, everything is "your mileage may vary." That's why I'd love to hear from you. What has your experience been like with collagen peptides? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.