Our skin loses its youthfulness with age, and joint stiffness may develop. This is because our body produces less collagen, a protein that keeps skin firm and joints healthy.
Collagen supplements can help with this by providing the essential protein that our skin tissue lacks, making our skin smoother and our joints stronger.
In this article, we’ve gathered all the necessary information for you to make a well-informed decision. From explaining what collagen is and how it works to its benefits and side effects, you will find all the answers to your questions here.
So, let’s find out!
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a protein everywhere in your body, most notably in the skin, the bones, and connective tissues. It’s the same as the glue that holds everything together, stabilizing skin and making joints work properly. With increasing age, your body generates less and less collagen, forming wrinkles and less elastic skin. Many people use collagen supplements because they want the same youthful skin and joint health. The supplements known as collagen are taken from animals and can be found in pills, beverages, or food.
How Long Does Collagen Take For Work?
The time it takes for the Collagen supplements to show results can vary depending on factors such as the purpose of supplementation, the dosage, and the specific area of improvement.
Skin Health
Enhanced skin elasticity, hydration, and firmness are commonly seen after 6 to 12 weeks of taking a collagen supplement.
Joint and Tendon Relief
The time it takes for patients with joint issues to experience relief can range from 12 weeks to 6 months on average. However, this timeframe is influenced by the specific treatment goal, such as quick recovery or comprehensive joint health.
Bone Health
The bone turnover process is a physiological process. Thus, it requires a longer period to detect changes after a year or more of daily intake of collagen. This gradual process underscores the different lifespan of bone cells, which can be as long as 50 years.
Hair and Nail Strength
Collagen usually shows quicker results and contributes to improving hair and nail health, particularly within 2 to 4 weeks, by strengthening the nails and providing healthier hair.
What Results to Expect With Collagen Intake?
Collagen supplements act as health support for your body. While our bodies do produce collagen to keep things going smoothly, sometimes we do not produce enough, especially when we are sick or getting older. This causes problems such as brittle bones, achy joints, and prematurely aged skin.
For instance, certain health problems, such as scurvy or arthritis, may lead to reduced collagen levels. That is why collagen supplements are quite beneficial. They complement the healthy diet to bridge the gaps, making your skin appear young, supporting your joints, and making your nails stronger.
Benefits of Collagen Supplements for the Skin Health
Collagen makes your skin appear firm, smooth, and youthful. It promotes the production of new skin cells, giving you a new look. However, with age, collagen production diminishes, and its quality decreases. This is what wrinkles and lines are all about. The use of collagen supplements is a quick manner to keep your skin moist and glowing.
Benefits of Collagen Supplements for Hair Health
Your hair can also be improved by collagen. It is catabolized in your system into amino acids, the structural units of proteins. These specific amino acids are components of collagen, a protein used to make keratin, your hair’s protein. This implies that collagen intake can help your hair grow and stay healthy. With age, the scalp loses its elasticity, so the hair falls. However, collagen can make your scalp more elastic and support hair growth. It may as well retard the graying of hair by preventing the damage caused by stress and pollution.
Benefits of Collagen Supplements for Nail Growth
Collagen has also been found to strengthen nails and help them grow faster. There isn’t a lot of science to support this yet, but a small study done in 2017 found that collagen can improve nails and even ease joint pain.
What Factors Determine When You May See Results?
Scientists have focused on its impact on human health rather than reducing collagen’s efficacy time. Therefore, most of the research conducted on collagen protein has revealed its benefits for human health.
Moreover, the people who took collagen supplements daily have also reported varying periods. Thus, it is quite impossible to give an exact time range to expect the collagen benefits. However, with the knowledge of factors affecting this time, you may reduce this time duration. The efficacy time of collagen supplements depends on various factors, including personal and commercial aspects.
Personal factors include health, age, and lifestyle. The commercial factors include the manufacturing process of the supplements, the type of collagen, and other ingredients used during the production. These factors may change the amount of drug absorbed by the body, also referred to as bioavailability.
Personal Health and Lifestyle Factors
Certain personal and lifestyle aspects can influence the bioavailability of collagen in your body. Some of the most important personal factors include age, diet, medical condition, metabolic rate, and nutritional status. For instance, your body’s collagen production rate decreases by 1 to 1.5% after you enter your twenties. Though this slight change is unnoticeable at the start, you start feeling a noticeable change within a few years.
Thus, it is better to start taking collagen supplements in your thirties rather than later in your fifties. Taking collagen supplements in your thirties will maintain and support the natural collagen level within your body. Whereas in older age, collagen supplements will first take time to improve the collagen level to the required level.
Moreover, nutritional status may also affect collagen efficacy. If you are not taking a balanced diet and your body has a reduced level of vitamin C, then it will affect the collagen level. As discussed earlier, vitamin C is necessary for collagen synthesis. Thus, its deficiency can decrease collagen levels in the body.
Likewise, lifestyle factors also pose a huge impact on your collagen efficacy time. These factors include smoking and alcohol consumption, distress, anxiety, lack of sleep, exercise, and increased sun exposure. People with healthy lifestyles have a higher probability of noticing faster and more promising results than people with unhealthy habits.
Besides supplements, you may also improve collagen levels with natural sources. As collagen is present in all animals, you can get collagen from its natural sources as well. The collagen-rich foods include bones, ligaments, and skin of animals, such as bone broth and chicken skin. Moreover, some seafood, including jellyfish, fish skin, and fish scales, also contain collagen.
Ingredient and Manufacturing Factors
In addition to the personal and lifestyle factors, the characteristics of the supplements also affect the efficacy time. One of the most crucial manufacturing factors is the collagen type used in supplement formation.
More than 98% of our body contains three main types of collagens, type I, II, and III. Hence, most manufacturers formulate collagen supplements using these common collagen types. All these collagen types offer varying health benefits to the human body.
Type I collagen is the most abundant collagen found in eyes, skin, ligaments, bones, and hair. This collagen helps in wound healing, improving skin and hair health. Type II collagen is present in joints, gut lining, and cartilage, and this collagen maintains and supports immune function and gut health. Type III collagen is present in organs, muscles, and blood vessels. The main function of this collagen is to help in healthy blood clotting. The manufacturers may use any of these collagen types depending upon the target function of the supplements.
Likewise, collagen supplements also differ based on the manufacturing practices used. The US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does not have the authority to check the quality control, safety, and effectiveness of dietary supplements. According to The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, the manufacturers of all dietary supplements are responsible for the safety and effectiveness of their products. Moreover, as per this law, the manufacturers are also accountable for all the claims about their products.
Indeed, this law held manufacturers accountable. Still, many products with false claims entered the market. Without the authorization and guidelines of the FDA, there is minimal quality control check for these products. To get safe and quality products, look for a third-party verification seal on the packaging.
Which Collagen Results May Be Felt First?
Most people who have used the collagen supplements gave positive feedback on the early improvements of their skin and nails, but the effects on the ligaments and bones showed up after a while. Even though people typically choose to take collagen because of skin and hair health, very few realize its influence on hair and nail growth and joints. On the other hand, there is no single science report on which benefit starts at which level, thus indicating a deficiency in research.
How Long Do Skin Benefits Take?
Collagen, one of the essential ingredients for beautiful skin, is highly in demand. Now, collagen powders or pills are used by a lot of people because they are convenient. With many collagen products on the market, many research studies have been conducted. One research demonstrated that women who took collagen had fewer wrinkles after 8 weeks.
Another discovered that collagen enabled skin to stay hydrated and decreased wrinkles in 12 weeks. These researches indicate that collagen can enhance the appearance of your skin in approximately 8 to 12 weeks. However, more research is needed to understand how all types of collagen function and how long it takes to see results.
How Long Do Joint Results Take?
Collagen supplements, in general, and type II collagen, in particular, do wonders for joint health. When taken daily, they can alleviate the pain and stiffness of the joints as well as make them function more smoothly. Besides, they are good for your bones. Also, the collagen can help you with your fat burning and muscle building, however, it may take you a bit longer to get these results than the skin improvements. It is recommended for osteoarthritis, in which joint cartilage wears down and causes pain and stiffness.
Recent studies show that symptoms can be decreased by 38% after 14 days of taking collagen. It can also benefit rheumatoid arthritis sufferers or people who have post-exercise pain. Overall, proper use of collagen can greatly improve joint and bone health.
How Long Might Any Additional Benefits Take?
Consistent use of collagen supplements for 12 weeks to a year will produce visible benefits, with skin getting results faster than other areas. Research evidence was summarized by a record of a study in 2019 that demonstrates the improvement of skin after receiving 2.5 to 10 grams daily for 24 weeks.
In addition, collagen is good for the joint health of athletes, with a 2020 study noting that athletes with tendon problems experienced less joint pain after twice daily intake of 2.5 grams. In addition, a review in 2017 confirmed that nail growth promotes and reduces the brittleness action of collagen, with a study reporting 80 percent improvement in nail appearance and 64 percent less brittleness after 24 weeks of daily consumption.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does collagen supplement improve muscle growth?
Yes, the inclusion of collagen products in your daily diet can help improve your muscle growth. The collagen protein contains arginine and glycine amino acids, and these amino acids aid in the formation of creatine. Creatine is one of the most effective supplements to build muscle mass.
However, it is crucial to have a positive lifestyle and eat a healthy diet to experience changes while taking collagen products. Notably, there is a lack of research on the effect of collagen on muscle growth, and further research can help understand this effect better.
What is the correct dosage for collagen supplements?
The health officials have not yet given any guidelines regarding the daily dosage of collagen supplements. However, it is advisable to read the label before consumption. All the reliable manufacturers mention the ingredients, percentage, and daily dosage of the pills. Moreover, the recommended dosage varies based on the form of the collagen and the purpose you have for consuming it.
For instance, a study showed that a daily dosage of 2.5 to 15 grams of hydrolyzed collagen is safe and effective for nutritional balance. Another study showed that 2 grams of hydrolyzed collagen usage for at least 70 days could relieve joint pain and stiffness. If you are taking undenatured collagen, then intake of 10 to 40 grams of collagen is beneficial to gain its benefits. Collagen supplements come in either hydrolyzed or undenatured form.
The manufacturers formulate their dietary products considering all the available research on the subject. You need to buy products from a reliable and accountable manufacturer that has earned strong customer support.
What is hydrolyzed collagen?
Hydrolyzed collagens are small collagen peptide chains. The hydrolysis of collagen produces this hydrolyzed collagen or collagen peptides. This form of collagen protein is popular in the hair cosmetics and skincare industry. The manufacturers use hydrolyzed collagen in makeup, bath products, and shampoos.
Hydrolyzed protein can improve hair texture, softness, and sheen. Also, this collagen has the natural ability to be absorbed in the hair and enhance hair’s tensile strength.
Moreover, this form of collagen can also repair physically damaged or excessively treated hair. In skincare products, hydrolyzed collagen reduces the dryness and roughness of the skin. Moreover, it helps enhance its suppleness and softness. Moreover, hydrolyzed collagen can improve sun-damaged and wrinkled skin.
Can I include collagen supplements in my daily protein count?
Yes, the addition of collagen protein in your daily diet affects your daily protein count. So, include collagen protein in your regular protein count when tracking your daily intake.
A study published in 2019 showed that the addition of functional collagen peptides in your daily diet adds effective collagen dosage to your routine.
The effective recommended collagen dosage varies between 2.5 to 15 grams per day. Most of the collagen supplements available in the market provide this range. Thus, intake of a single supplement per day will count as a single serving of collagen protein.
Is high temperature bad for collagen supplements?
There is a common misconception that high temperature or heat can damage collagen supplements. Collagen has a solid helical structure that does not lose its conformation with high temperature.
However, a very high temperature of 300°C or 572°F can affect the collagen protein. Thus, adding your collagen supplements to a hot cup of coffee will not ruin their efficacy, but baking them in the oven can surely do.
Is it ok to take collagen supplements every day?
Yes, in general, taking collagen supplements daily is safe as long as you adhere to the dosage recommended on the product label. Routine consumption will establish a stable level of collagen in your body.
What causes collagen loss?
Understanding the causes of collagen loss is crucial. Aging, excessive sun exposure, smoking, high sugar intake, and certain autoimmune disorders can all lead to collagen loss. These factors not only interfere with collagen synthesis but also contribute to the degradation of existing collagen, which are key signs of aging.
What are the side effects of taking collagen supplements?
A few people may suffer from moderate side effects of collagen supplements, such as digestive issues, bad taste in the mouth, and rarely allergic reactions. However, the majority of people tolerate collagen well.
Conclusion: Do Collagen Supplements Work?
Taking collagen supplements may be the right move for your overall health, particularly your skin, hair, and joints. As we age, the body produces less and less collagen, causing wrinkles and strengthening the bones.
Adding collagen supplements to your routine is great because it helps your body stay healthy, and your skin remains clear while your joints keep moving smoothly. It’s as if you are giving your body a hand in working by itself to keep everything going the way it used to be when you were younger.
When selecting a collagen supplement, pay attention to its absorbability and the source from which it is obtained. Remember that regularity is one of the main factors here, so take your supplement whenever needed to achieve the desired results. Moreover, following the recommended water intake and having a well-balanced diet will make the benefits even more obvious.
