If you search “drinkable collagen” on any social media or shopping site, you’ll get thousands of hits. It’s the latest product that health nuts and people with a lot of power can’t live without. They put it in everything from their morning coffee to their smoothies after working out.

Many products not only have confidence claims from the seller that they can make skin more elastic and firmer, but also have appealing reviews from people who say that, as far as they can tell, their collagen supplements did exactly that. The powders and liquids look like an appealing, easy, and sometimes even tasty way to improve the effects of your skin care routine. But can you really get better skin by putting what seems like magic collagen fairy dust in your coffee?

What is collagen?

Collagen is one of the most important building proteins in our bodies. Skin, hair, nails, muscles, cartilage, and bones all have it. Collagen works with things like hyaluronic acid and collagen to keep the skin flexible, plump, and moist. It also helps make proteins like keratin, which is a part of skin, hair, and nails. The amino acids in protein- or collagen-rich foods, like bone soup, meat, and fish, help our bodies make collagen. But collagen production goes down with age, sun damage, smoking, and drinking booze.

Collagen is a protein that is found in many different animals, including fish, cattle, pigs, and chicken. Most of the time, they have peptides, which are short groups of amino acids that help make collagen and keratin, two important proteins in the body.

What does science say about drinks and pills with collagen?

Skin research includes:

A few randomized, controlled studies show that drinking collagen supplements with high amounts of the peptides prolyl hydroxyproline and hydroxyprolylglycine can improve the skin’s moisture, elasticity, wrinkles, and roughness. But big, high-quality studies are needed to find out if products on the market are helpful and safe to use for a long time.

Collagen is used to improve hair and nails, but there isn’t much proof that it works. In a small study of 25 people with weak nails, taking 2.5 grams of collagen every day for 24 weeks made the nails stronger and helped them grow. 

But there was no control group in this small study that took a fake vitamin to compare with the group that got collagen supplements. No research has been done on the benefits of collagen supplements for hair in people. At the moment, there is no medical proof to back up claims that collagen supplements or drinks can help hair grow, shine, get thicker, or have more volume.

Should you take collagen pills or drink collagen-based drinks?

At the moment, there isn’t enough proof that taking collagen pills or drinking collagen drinks will help your skin, hair, or nails. When collagen is in its whole form, our bodies can’t take it in. It needs to be broken up into peptides so that it can be taken by the gut and get into the bloodstream.

These peptides can be broken down further into the building blocks that make proteins like keratin, which helps make skin, hair, and nails. Or, the peptides may combine to make collagen, which then gets stored in places like cartilage, bone, muscles, or tendons. So far, no human studies have shown for sure that taking collagen by mouth will make your skin, hair, or nails stronger.

What does it do to your skin?

If you want to improve the smoothness and elasticity of your skin and reduce wrinkles, it’s best to protect it from the sun and use topical retinoids. Researchers have already done a lot of work to show that these steps work.

If you decide to try collagen supplements or drinks, look at the list of chemicals and the protein profile. Avoid pills that have too many fillers or extra ingredients. Products with a lot of prolyl hydroxyproline and hydroxy prolylglycine are better at getting rid of lines and making skin more moist.

Before taking any new supplements, you should talk to your doctor. People with gout or other health problems that require them to reduce protein shouldn’t take collagen supplements or drink collagen drinks.

Are collagen pills safe?

Collagen supplements are probably safe, but if you want to see effects, it’s better to use treatments that you put on your skin than to take collagen supplements. But that doesn’t mean you should put collagen on your skin, even though it’s an ingredient in a lot of skin care items. Instead, look for items that have ingredients that are known to help your body make more collagen.

Remember: 

It’s usually safe to eat collagen, but we don’t know if it can strengthen and help the skin yet because we don’t have enough solid clinical proof. In the meantime, talk to your dermatologist to find out if you should start using retinol products as part of your face care routine. After all, it’s been shown that retinoids can help smooth out fine lines and get rid of acne.

But instead of collagen pills, you can try these things to help your body and skin:

• Follow a healthy way of life and eat a balanced diet with foods that are high in protein.
• If you smoke, quit.
• Try to not drink more than two drinks a day if you’re a man, and women shouldn’t drink more than one drink a day.
• Every day, put on sunscreen and remember to put it on again every two hours.
• When you spend a lot of time in the sun, wear hats and clothes with big brims or that block UV rays.

 

Replace collagen pills with natural sources.

To help our bodies make collagen, we also need to get enough copper, zinc, and protein. Sesame seeds, cocoa powder, peanuts, and lentils are all good sources of copper. Zinc can be found in oatmeal, tofu, legumes, nuts and seeds. Beans, lentils, peas and tofu are all good sources of protein.

 

Takeaway

Instead of taking collagen supplements, focus on what you eat and how you live. It’s important to take care of your body, and when you do, your face and body will show it and have a beautiful glow, just like the one you wanted from collagen supplements.