Is Collagen a Pharma Lie?

A new meta-analysis of nearly two dozen peer-reviewed studies published this month in the American Journal of Medicine has challenged what we think we know about collagen.

Collagen is an important protein that occurs naturally in the bodies of animals, including humans. It is a key component of supportive tissues like skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones.

As we age, our bodies produce less collagen, which may contribute to a lot of the things we hate about aging, like sagging skin and aching joints.

Collagen Supplements Don’t Have to Be Cruel

Some collagen supplements are made from the bones, skin, and connective tissues of animals like cows and pigs who have been raised in inhumane and crowded factories before being killed on an assembly line. Their existences are marked by boredom and fear, with their natural instincts to be social and loving and to explore their environment cruelly curtailed by farm operators in the interest of making money.

There are plenty of vegan collagen upgrades. Because proteins are broken down into their constituent amino acids in the stomach, the important thing is not the collagen, but the amino acids that make it up. These amino acids can easily be sourced from plants, allowing your body to make its own collagen rather than stealing someone else’s.

Lots of Interest, and Lots of Money

The collagen supplement market is worth more than five billion dollars annually, and more and more scientific studies about collagen come out every year.

But all that money means there are powerful interests motivated to show the benefits of collagen, something the new study was designed to investigate.

The researchers gathered data from 23 different randomized controlled trials of collagen for skin health. These kinds of studies are the gold standard in medicine because they compare the effects of a compound on people who are taking it with people who think they are taking it (the control group). Properly done, they are designed to reduce bias in both the researchers and the study participants so that the biochemical effects of the compound being studied can be isolated.

Then, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis of these trials. A meta-analysis combines data from all the different studies and allows researchers to study a larger population and investigate variations among the trials.

Are Collagen Supplements a Lie?

The new study found that collagen supplements were reported to improve skin hydration, elasticity, and wrinkles in human skin ONLY in studies funded by pharmaceutical companies.

Studies not funded by pharmaceutical companies showed no effects.

In other words, it might be that collagen supplements are a lie. The only studies showing it is effective are funded by the very companies making money from it (usually by being abominably cruel to animals in the process), and other well-designed studies show no effect. It’s a smoking gun that calls into question the whole point of taking collagen supplements.

The researchers don’t mince words in their conclusion:

“There is currently no clinical evidence to support the use of collagen supplements to prevent or treat skin aging.”

Just Be Vegan

So it’s up to you if you want to take collagen supplements, as long as they don’t contain animal parts. But simply going vegan has skin benefits all by itself.