If you’re a woman over 40 like me (ahem), then you’d have had to be living on another planet to not have heard of collagen and how we should all be taking it.
This is a collaborative post
I’m coming up to 47 and it feels like every time I look online I’m being bombarded by famous women trying to sell me the benefits of taking collagen supplements. I mean, if you’ve not done a collagen advert, are you even famous?? (Don’t worry, the irony of me writing about collagen right now is absolutely not lost on me, I’m just not famous).
There seems to be hundreds of different types, comes in endless different forms, and seemingly 101 ways we can take it. Okay, I’m exaggerating. But honestly by the look of my social media feeds, that’s what it genuinely feels like at the moment.
Then there’s the girls’ chat. Whether it’s my school mum’s friendship group, or my ex colleague girlfriends, the conversation always seems to get onto this sort of topic. Botox, diets, exercise, supplements, what everyone else is taking, what everyone else is doing. And then there’s me – I don’t do a thing. Unless you can count putting on weight on an all inclusive holiday, then calorie counting until I lose it again. Ready to put it on again at Christmas! I don’t take a single supplement and never have. I’d happily have Botox like my mates if I could afford it, but I can’t so end of.
Then there’s the collagen thing. It seems doable. I mean, anything that I can just add to my morning coffee isn’t going to be too much of a hassle, is it?
But what is it, what’s it meant to do, and will it make any difference?
So I’m taking Naked Collagen from Naked Nutrition. I’ve only just started so this blogpost won’t be giving you any life-changing results. But who knows what might happen in a few months? And before anyone asks, no it doesn’t contain boiled donkeys from a Chinese factory – if you watched The One Show, you know what I’m talking about.
Time to get a bit sciency, don’t you think?
What is collagen?
Let’s start with the obvious question. What actually is collagen? Because until very recently, my knowledge extended roughly as far as: collagen = something to do with skin and wrinkles.
Turns out it’s actually a protein. And quite an important one at that. Collagen is the most abundant protein in our bodies and basically acts as a sort of structural support. It’s found in our skin, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage and helps give them strength and structure. Don’t worry, I had to research this – I don’t actually have this type of knowledge hiding in the back of my brain. Otherwise I’d be way better at pub quizzes than I am. And even if I did, perimenopausal brain fog would definitely have other plans…
There are lots of different types of collagen, but Type I is the most common and is particularly important in our skin, bones and tendons.
Our bodies actually make collagen naturally, using amino acids from the protein in the food we eat. The problem, as with seemingly everything else once you get into your 40s, is that things start to change as we get older.
Collagen production naturally decreases with age, while things like UV exposure and smoking can also contribute to collagen breaking down. Luckily I’m a Factor 50 on my face 365 days a year kind of girl, and never smoked. I should technically still look 25.
This is why collagen has suddenly become such a massive topic of conversation among women my age.
What does collagen do?
This is where I realised collagen isn’t actually all about trying to get rid of your wrinkles. Although, let’s face it, that’s probably the bit that got my attention first. Collagen helps give our skin its structure, strength and elasticity. It’s also an important part of our bones, cartilage, tendons and ligaments.
So when you hear people talking about collagen supplements, you’ll often hear potential benefits mentioned in relation to skin hydration and elasticity, as well as joints and bones.
There has been quite a lot of research into taking hydrolysed collagen supplements, particularly when it comes to skin. Some studies and reviews have found improvements in things like skin hydration and elasticity after taking collagen regularly.
However, and this is important, the evidence isn’t completely clear-cut. Not every study has found the same benefits and some researchers have raised questions about the quality and funding of existing collagen research.
So I’m definitely not sitting here thinking a scoop in my coffee every morning is guaranteed to knock ten years off me. Which quite frankly, I’m a little bit gutted about.
So what exactly am I taking?
The one I’ve been sent to try is Naked Collagen from Naked Nutrition. And one of the things that immediately appealed to me is that I can actually understand what’s in it.
There’s one ingredient. That’s it!
Naked Collagen is made from bovine hide collagen peptides from pasture-raised cows. In Argentina in fact. It contains just that one ingredient and is also NSF certified and independently tested for purity. The collagen has been hydrolysed, which essentially means it has been broken down into smaller pieces called peptides.
Collagen is naturally rich in amino acids including glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, which are important structural components of the collagen found in our bodies. (Yes I may have found this on the internet – way too sciency for me to actually know this stuff).
Each serving of Naked Collagen also provides 9 grams of protein. There are no artificial sweeteners, flavours or colours, which I like. Particularly as someone who doesn’t currently take any supplements and therefore finds the whole world of powders, pills and potions slightly baffling.
Naked Nutrition seems to put quite a big emphasis on simple formulations and being transparent about exactly what’s in its products, and in the case of this one it really couldn’t be much simpler.
How do you take collagen?
This was probably my biggest question. Because I’m realistic enough to know that if taking something involves an elaborate 14-step morning routine, I’m not going to keep doing it. I mean, hell, I can’t even be bothered to make a smoothie.
Luckily, this involves zero effort.
Naked Collagen is unflavoured and can be mixed into hot or cold drinks and food. So you can add it to things like coffee, smoothies (unless you’re me), yoghurt or porridge. I’ve been putting mine in my morning cappuccino. That’s literally it.
And considering coffee is something I never, ever forget to have, I’m thinking I’ve got a considerably better chance of remembering this than I would if it involved taking a handful of tablets every morning.
It doesn’t taste of anything either, which was something I was slightly worried about before I tried it. I’ve heard some are a bit fishy which would have been a hard no from me, if that was the case. But this is totally tasteless in my morning mug. It’s supposed to work better if you take it in the morning too, which again, isn’t a problem.
A scoop comes with the pot, and it’s 9 grams that you dissolve into 250ml of water. (Not that I’ve measured out the water). Easy peasy. The 600g pot should last me about 2 months, and it costs £31.99 if you sign up to a subscription or £39.99 as a one time purchase. (A quid cheaper on Amazon).
But does taking collagen actually work?
Surely that’s the 64 million-dollar question. And the answer isn’t quite as straightforward as some of the adverts appearing on my social media would have you believe.
When you eat collagen, it doesn’t simply travel straight to your face and start filling in your wrinkles. Which is frankly quite inconsiderate of it in my opinion, right?
Science alert! Like other proteins, collagen is broken down during digestion into smaller peptides and amino acids. Your body can then use those building blocks where they’re needed. Apparently.
There is research suggesting that taking hydrolysed collagen peptides regularly may have benefits for skin hydration and elasticity, and collagen supplements have also been studied for things like joint health.
But this isn’t an overnight thing and it certainly isn’t a miracle cure. Mores the bloody pity. Which brings me to the most important bit.
What changes should I expect to see?
At the time of writing this, I’ve been taking Naked Collagen for just six days. So absolutely no changes so far. And I think that’s quite important to say. My best mate messaged me this morning asking if I’d noticed anything, hopeful that I’d be unrecognisable the next time we met. Sadly this is not the case. (Yet?)
If I told you my skin was glowing, my wrinkles had vanished and my hair was suddenly swishing around like a L’Oréal advert after five days, you would quite rightly never believe another word I wrote.
The studies that have reported changes from collagen supplementation have generally looked at people taking it consistently for a period of weeks or months, rather than a few days.
Skin is probably the area I’m most interested in personally. I’m going to be looking at whether I notice any difference in things like how hydrated my skin feels, its general appearance and elasticity. I mean, something needs to start addressing those crows feet!
I’m also interested to see whether I notice any difference in my hair and nails, although the evidence for collagen supplements specifically improving hair and nails isn’t as strong as some of the marketing around them might suggest. Which is a bit of a shame really considering how much hair I lose when I wash it, and have done ever since the twins were born 9 years ago. It’s lucky I have thick hair or I’d be genuinely panicking.
And then there are joints.
I’m 47 in 3 months and, while I’m not exactly leaping out of bed every morning to run a 10K, I realise that at some point I should probably start looking after my body as I get older and that needs to involve slightly more than calorie counting every time I come back from an all inclusive holiday. Shame, because I hate exercise…
There is some research into collagen supplementation and joint health too, although again I’m not expecting miracles.
For now, I’m simply going to keep adding it to my coffee every morning and see what happens. Six days is nowhere near long enough for me to give you any sort of verdict, which is why I’m absolutely not calling this a review.
But give me a few months. I’ll report back. And if I suddenly look 27, I’ll bulk buy the stuff and suggest you all do the same.
Here’s hoping, eh?
How did I do?
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