The Food Medic - E9 Ask Dr Hazel: Should I supplement my diet with collagen?

Episode Date: August 29, 2022

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Ask Dr Hazel. In these 5 minute episodes we answer questions submitted by you. This weeks question is : “Dr Hazel, I have a question about collagen powder and supplements. They are all the rage at the moment and I was wondering if I should be including a collagen powder in my diet and if there has been enough research around it. It would be great to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much.”Find out more on www.thefoodmedic.co.uk Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions already and if you would like to submit a question to the podcast - on any topic related to health, fitness, nutrition, or mindset - please send your voice recorded question to [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, welcome back to another mini episode of Ask Dr Hazel. In these short 5 minute episodes, I answer questions submitted by you. So let's hear from this week's listener. Kia ora Dr Hazel, I have a question about collagen, powder and supplements. They are all the rage at the moment and I was wondering whether I should be including collagen powder in my diet and if there has been enough research around it. It would be great to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your question. I get asked this all the time so I'm really happy we get to

talk about it today but it will be a bit of a longer answer. So I think first of all let's just go through what collagen actually is. Collagen is a family of proteins and they make up the structural component of connective tissues like cartilage, tendons and skin. And there are at least 30 different types of collagen. But about 90% of collagen is type 1, which is found in the skin, tendons, ligaments, organs, teeth and bone. And then type 2 is found in cart skin, tendons, ligaments, organs, teeth and bone. And then type 2 is found in cartilage that cushions our joints and also the vitreous humor, which is the jelly-like substance in our eyeballs. You can find collagen in foods such as meat, poultry, fish, products containing gelatin

and bone broth. Many supplements and food products contain hydrolyzed collagen, which is a partially broken down version of collagen in order to help with absorption. But your question was, are supplements effective and evidence-based? Now you didn't ask about any particular thing like gut health or skin health or bone health, but most of the research on collagen supplements is related to joint and skin health. So I'll focus on that for this particular answer. So in terms of joint health some research has suggested that collagen supplements may help improve symptoms of osteoarthritis such as pain by reducing inflammation and helping to preserve the cartilage. Studies into the role of collagen in treating rheumatoid arthritis are less

compelling and have found mixed results. There's also some research looking at whether supplementation can prevent or treat musculoskeletal injuries and one study from 2016 found that taking 15 grams of vitamin C enriched collagen an hour before high intensity exercise actually increased collagen manufacture and as a note, vitamin C is vital for collagen production. So that might be why we saw that result. However, it's worth noting that this is a very small study with only eight participants. There's also some limited and weak evidence for the use of collagen in exercise related knee pain. And so in summary, there is promising research for the use of it in osteoarthritis, joint pain,

and potentially a role in recovery from joint injuries. But all of this is very limited and based on quite small studies. So we do need more research. Thinking about skin next, in terms of research, there are some positive findings, it's quite interesting and in general collagen is quite safe and well tolerated so a systematic review and meta-analysis from 2021 which is a big study pooling lots of studies in one field together and that included 19 studies actually and a total of over 1000 participants found that taking hydrolyzed collagen for 90 days was effective in reducing skin aging as it reduced skin wrinkles and improved elasticity and hydration. So that's great. However, there are some caveats I want you to think about. Most of the studies

are funded by companies producing or selling collagen. And so that kind of puts the study at potential bias. The studies are limited in sample sizes and have all produced variable results. Most of the research is based on animal derived collagen so not vegan versions of collagen. A reminder that supplements are also regulated as a food and not medicine so what that means is we don't always know how safe and the efficacy of these supplements they're also costly and I question whether topicals and a healthy lifestyle might be more effective there's also some very odd claims that they can be used to cure medical ailments and that's not currently backed by evidence so So just buyer beware in that realm.

So although there is some evidence that collagen supplements have benefits for skin health, this is much weaker to other areas of lifestyles like wearing daily sunscreen, not smoking, and following a balanced diet. So I guess in summary, if you do want to dabble in collagen, make sure that you're getting it from a reputable company that you trust. So I guess my takeaway is I think the research is interesting, but it's very limited. And there's a lot of bias and low quality studies in this space. So unless you've been advised to take collagen supplementation by a health professional like a registered dietitian or nutritionist, if you're just taking it for the sake of it because you've seen someone else do it on instagram i would advise you just save your

money also while collagen protein powders do contain protein it's not a complete protein unlike most other protein supplements which typically are not all though so this wouldn't be optimal for protein muscle building and repair, for example. So hopefully that's enough information for you to make your own informed decision about collagen. I think you can probably guess from my answer where I stand on this. Thank you again for your question. Thank you to everyone who's already submitted a question. And a gentle reminder, if you want to submit a question of your own,

just send us your audio recorded questions to lindsay at thefoodmedic.co.uk that's all from me see you again next time