One of my clients started taking collagen supplements because it was recommended to her by her chiropractor.
My client suffers from a bit of neck pain and I wanted to do some research on collagen.
The main ingredient in her supplement was hydrolyzed collagen.
Whenever I am looking up how good a supplement is I always check Examine.com.
It is by far the best website for searching up the pros and cons of a supplement, mineral, vitamin, etc… they combine all the best research done on each supplement.
If you are too lazy to read this post just scroll down to the summary section below.
So here we go. let’s see what Examine says about collagen:
Type II collagen (CII) is a peptide and component of joint cartilage. It’s oral ingestion appears to reduce autoimmunity to the body’s own CII, resulting in less inflammation in instances of osteoarthritis and rheumatism and benefits to joint health.
Hydrolyzed collagen is taken in doses of around 10g a day for skin health and some benefits to joints, and can be taken with meals.
In patients with osteoarthritis given 10g hydrolyzed collagen over six months appeared to reduce pain assessed by VAS and WOMAC, although no other parameter on WOMAC (stiffness, function, or total score) was affected by treatment relative to placebo.
Response was determined by at least a 30% reduction in joint soreness
40mg of undenatured CII daily for four months appeared to be able to increase joint mobility in subjects who reported non-pathological joint pain (no arthritic conditions) and both prolonged how long one could exercise before joint pain occurred while improving recovery speeds after exercise.
Low dose collagen appears to be effective for joint pain experienced during exercise despite not affecting whole-day joint pain scores relative to placebo.
As a general statement, the immunological effects of CII do not appear to apply much to bone health and the role of CII supplementation in bone density pertain to it simply being a protein source. It might be able to increase bone mass mildly when high doses (estimated 10g in a human) paired with a low protein diet, but when the overall protein intake is increased this benefit is lost and it performs equally to other protein sources.
Summary
– If you take collagen supplements a good dose is 10g per day (hydrolyzed collagen)
– Your joints will hurt less while you exercise
– Your skin might feel a bit better
– If you have osteoarthritis collagen at 10g per day for 4-6 months can help reduce joint pain
– Your bone density may go up mildly if you exercise and take collagen (at about the same rate as if you took protein and exercised)
I hope you found this blog helpful. If you have any questions please leave a comment below.
Take care,
Mike Bak