Transcription
Well hey guys, it's time we revisit the topic of hydrolyzed collagen peptide dietary supplements. I have many videos on my channel about these supplements. Do they actually work to improve the skin? Do they actually work for the hair and the nails? I'm going to link some of those videos down below in the description box so you have more background information.
But in today's video, I'm actually going to be busting a handful of myths that I see perpetuated regarding hydrolyzed collagen peptide dietary supplements.
First of all, collagen is a very abundant protein found in various connective tissues in animals, and of course, it's super abundant in the skin. It provides structural support to the skin along with hyaluronic acid and elastin. But as we age, there is a decline in collagen quality and quantity in our skin, and this contributes to the appearance of aging skin in the form of wrinkles, increased laxity, and fragility.
So wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just ingest collagen and have it go back into our skin? Unfortunately, you can't just eat collagen and have it go into your skin because it's a very large protein and it's not digestible. Here comes the role for collagen peptides. These are actually small little tiny fragments of digested collagen. These are produced from collagen naturally sourced from animals, namely bone and ligaments.
There's a lot of interest and research out there looking at taking hydrolyzed collagen peptides, and a lot of the research really does show promise for these supplements improving moisture content in the skin, reducing wrinkles, improving skin elasticity, giving an overall improvement in brightness, and a decrease in pore size.
These studies, while compelling, do suffer many limitations, including small size and heterogeneity, meaning each study does things a lot different from another study.
So what are some myths that I hear around hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements?
Number one myth is just eat gelatin; it's the same thing. It is not. Gelatin is collagen that has been denatured and partially hydrolyzed, meaning it's not been broken into those tiny little digestible peptides. That's not to say that gelatin is bad or that it's useless, but if you are specifically seeking to achieve the outcomes demonstrated in the studies—and again, they have their limitations—you're going to actually be missing out if you just go with gelatin because gelatin is not those small little peptide fragments.
They're much larger fragments, so you're not going to be pursuing the same outcome. Gelatin, in contrast to hydrolyzed collagen peptides, has some properties that make it desirable, namely as a food additive in that it has the property of jelling. So yeah, that's an advantage of gelatin over hydrolyzed peptides.
The second myth is similar to the first, and that is just eat bone broth; it's the same thing as hydrolyzed collagen peptides. It's not. Bone broth is made basically by simmering bones in water with a little bit of added vinegar to liberate amino acids and nutrients like calcium and phosphorus.
The reason why bone broth is not going to yield the same outcomes or is unlikely to yield the same outcomes as hydrolyzed collagen peptides again boils down to the fact that it is not enriched in these collagen peptides. The constitution of bone broth, both commercially available bone broth preparations as well as a basic recipe for bone broth, and the mean concentration of key amino acids found in hydrolyzed collagen peptides—the proline, hydroxyproline, glycine—the ones that you want for the intended outcome, are very low in bone broth compared to hydrolyzed collagen peptides.
Bone broth is something you enjoy eating, by all means, but I do think that a lot of wellness accounts and influencers overhype bone broth when in reality the nutrient profile is not that great. To underscore what they are claiming, I will say the amino acid composition as well as the micronutrient composition of bone broth varies tremendously. It's going to vary depending on the animal, the age of the animal, and the preparation methods. Just keep that in mind because a lot of wellness accounts that sell bone broth supplements are going to oversell on the nutritional benefits of it.
Number three myth: just eat protein. Just eat more animal-based protein; surely you'll be getting enough of the amino acids that you find in these hydrolyzed collagen supplements. Just eat some tough cuts of meat like brisket or pot roast. Again, it all boils down to the fact—no pun intended—that this is not going to actually provide you with reliable levels of the hydrolyzed collagen peptides, those small, available, digestible, absorbable peptides that lead to the presumed benefits that you are seeking in terms of the skin.
Eating more meat is not the same thing as pursuing hydrolyzed collagen peptides. Another myth that I hear is, "Well, this is all BS because surely you're just going to consume these peptides and they're just going to get broken down in your digestive tract, digested just like any other protein, and absorbed in the body." They're not going to have any—it’s not any different than just making sure that you have enough protein in your diet, and that's not true either.
When you eat peptides and proteins, they are broken down into amino acids which are absorbed into the circulation. Yes, that is true, but also your body can absorb peptides intact as they are across the small intestine into the circulation. That has actually been demonstrated with hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements that they can, in fact, lead to an increase in hydroxyproline and proline peptide levels in the plasma.
So they definitely can be absorbed. I think where people get lost is they really laser focus in on hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements as a protein. Yes, but at the same time, they're actually a functional ingredient.
Given the tone of this video up to this point, you're probably suspicious, thinking that I'm here to sell you on some kind of collagen peptide, especially if you're new here. If you're new here, I am not a huge proponent of collagen peptides; I'm actually kind of neutral on them. I'll get into more of the myths and hopefully that will explain that to you in a moment.
I have no financial ties to the collagen peptide industry.
All right, so this next myth is for people who are more gung-ho about them. A lot of people are under the impression that hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements are good for you. They are good for you; they are a good supplement for your overall nutrition, for your overall health. I would strongly encourage you to rethink that because hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements are just that—they are dietary supplements.
Dietary supplements are not regulated like medications are. They are not required to disclose to you potential risks, adverse effects, or any potential interactions that it might have with medications. If you go through the dietary collagen supplements, there are a lot of them that are not super transparent about where the peptides are coming from. Is it fish? Is it pork? Is it cow-derived? This is really important because some people have severe allergies to, say, fish, for example. They're going to want to avoid dietary supplements from fish.
Hydrolyzed collagen peptide supplements, while generally well tolerated, can and do have side effects. I already alluded to the fact that allergic reactions are a major concern. There have been cases of severe allergic reactions to collagen supplements. Also, common adverse effects are headache, digestive upset, bloating, and gastrointestinal reflux.
There's also the pressing concern regarding dietary supplements as a whole and contamination or inclusion of things not disclosed on the label. This is why I recommend if you're going to use a dietary supplement, choose one that has some sort of third-party testing associated with it, like NSF certified for sport, for example.
But many dietary supplements have been found to be adulterated with contaminants, and with regards to collagen peptides, there's concern for heavy metal contamination.
But I want to draw your attention to this: in the fall of 2023, this tennis player—I just recently came across this because I don't follow tennis—Simona Halep, she failed a drug test for WADA. In professional sports, athletes have to be tested to make sure that they're not using banned substances or performance-enhancing drugs. She came up positive for roxadustat, which is a banned substance because what it does is it makes your body essentially make more red blood cells.
So it gives you a competitive advantage; you have more oxygen-carrying capacity, you know, you're faster. But it can also cause serious health effects, like strokes. She had been taking a collagen supplement, and they found out that the collagen supplement she was taking contained undisclosed roxadustat, you know, this banned substance.
The fact that this was found in the collagen supplement should give everyone pause with regards to dietary supplements because that can cause serious adverse health effects. I pointed this out before too in some of my videos on supplements that cause acne. Certain muscle-building supplements marketed as protein supplements have been found to be adulterated with anabolic steroids, giving people acne and, of course, failing these drug tests if you're in professional sports.
So, you know, be aware of that when it comes to dietary supplements.
The other myth that I hear is that this is a good source of protein. Hydrolyzed collagen peptides are primarily skewed to having proline, hydroxyproline, and glycine. They don't actually contain tryptophan and they're very low in branched-chain amino acids. Specifically, if you are looking to include more protein in your diet for athletic reasons or for muscle building, hydrolyzed collagen peptides are not the source that you want because they're incomplete. They lack the branched-chain amino acids and no tryptophan, which is an essential amino acid.
So they're really not—you really shouldn't, if you're somebody who just wants to get a little bit more protein in your diet, you struggle to get protein in your diet, and you want to turn to a protein powder or a protein supplement, I would steer you away from collagen peptides because that's really not—you’re really selling yourself short there. You're not getting a good amino acid profile.
The final collagen myth is that collagen creams are completely useless. You know, you're not going to get collagen from a cream. Useless? Depends on how you're looking at things.
So collagen in creams, moisturizers, and serums works to improve moisture retention in the skin's outermost layer. So it's definitely not useless. I mean, if you think collagen is useless in creams, you also have to say glycerin is useless. You also have to say hyaluronic acid is useless. You have to say that—I mean, name your favorite humectant and call it useless, and that's not true because these ingredients help with moisture retention.
Honestly, at the end of the day, that's actually one of the most important ways in which skincare products work to your advantage—by improving moisture content in the skin's outermost layer. So collagen in products definitely can be helpful for moisturizing the skin.
Now, it's way too large to ever have a fighting chance of getting into your skin and aiding in the replenishment of collagen. So, you know, don't look at it that way, but it's definitely not completely useless. In fact, it's even included in a newer prescription formulation of tranexamic acid lotion for its moisturizing properties to help cut down on dryness and irritation that people often experience with tretinoin.
All right, so those are some myths regarding collagen, collagen supplements specifically. But I will end by giving you some of my thoughts regarding the landscape of literature regarding dietary collagen supplements and skin.
Like I said at the beginning of the video, there are research studies and trials showing an improvement in hydration, in wrinkles, in smoothness, elasticity, and a decrease in pore size. As far as the mechanism, a few things—yes, you're getting some amino acids that are detected in the plasma after you ingest these supplements and make their way to the skin to serve as the building blocks of collagen. That's part of how they may work.
But the other part is that the peptide that is absorbed in the small intestine makes its way into circulation and then to the dermis. It's thought that the little peptide, once it gets there, binds to receptors on those fibroblast cells and encourages them to make new healthy collagen.
Now, this hasn't really been rigorously proven, but that is the current working theory as to how these work and why it is so specific to the hydrolyzed collagen peptide. Because again, if you go back to the other things that people might want to try, like gelatin, bone broth, or meats, you're not actually going to get significant levels of those peptides.
Now, I will point this out: there is a lot of heterogeneity. I said this at the beginning; there's a lot of heterogeneity in these studies. Yes, there was recently, a few years ago, a big meta-analysis looking at all of the studies that concluded that these supplements can have some benefit for the skin.
But critiques of that meta-analysis really hone in on the fact that there's so much heterogeneity in the different studies. They're all using different types of collagen peptides from different sources, they're reporting on different things, and they're using different measures. So the overall meta-analysis is actually really poor quality, and even though the meta-analysis says, "Oh, this is what these studies show," the meta-analysis itself has some problems with it.
The other thing we don't know is to what extent everyone benefits from taking these. It may be the kind of thing that really only more mature skin types benefit from due to, you know, lack of collagen. Or is there, you know, some tipping point? Does the dose vary by age? There are a lot of unknowns.
People often ask me what's the best type of collagen: liquid, capsule, gummy? Who knows? Who knows? These are questions for which research has not tested or provided answers. Again, there's a lot of variability out there, so keep all that in mind.
So when I say I'm neutral on the collagen supplements, I understand people taking them. They're not complete BS; there's definitely research supporting that they have the potential to work. But I'm not going to push you guys to use them.
Again, I decline any sponsorship opportunities for these because I don't use them myself, and I'm on the fence. So I'm not going to promote something that I don't 100% believe in.
Let me know in the comments, though. Do you take these? I know a lot of you guys do, and a lot of you have said that you appreciate the benefits, but some of you have also reported that you've experienced horrible side effects. Share your stories in the comments.
If you guys enjoyed this video, on the end I'm going to put one of my last collagen supplement videos. You can check that out if you want more on the research behind these. But if you guys like this video, give it a thumbs up, share it with your friends, and as always, don't forget sunscreen and subscribe. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow.
[Music] Bye!
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