Do beautiful twentysomethings really need collagen?

Supplement marketers: Do your picture-perfect youngsters actually need to be taking collagen?

October 14, 2024

[Editor's note: This article is the Viewpoint in the new SupplySide Supplement Journal digital magazine on nutricosmetics — your toolbox for better business. Download the free issue here and discover formulation advice, science analysis, and the best ways to market your products to your target audience.]

Collagen — grande dame of the nutricosmetic set — is a curious ingredient. It’s unlike most other nutrients. Normally, you consume a nutrient, it goes where it’s needed, and your blood or tissue levels of said ingredient increase. But not so with collagen.

You already know collagen is the most abundant type of protein in the body. But the collagen taken in supplements is typically collagen peptides. These are fragments of protein’s amino acids. Typically, when protein degrades into peptides fragments, the body takes notice and produces more.

So when a person supplements with collagen peptides, it’s not that they are putting more collagen to the body’s tissues and plasma; it’s that the circulating protein fragments are alerting the body that a lot of collagen seems to be breaking down in the body, so it’s time to ramp up endogenous collagen production.

Sneaky!

Also possibly sneaky is the marketing of collagen, which invariably pictures glowing 20-somethings with impeccable facial complexions. The idea of collagen is to improve skin firmness, suppleness and moisture content. Studies show some collagen peptides also can help with wrinkles, dry skin and aging skin. Do these picture-perfect youngsters actually need to be taking collagen?

Related:Glow up with nutricosmetics – digital magazine

Researchers in Spain back in 1994 measured skin collagen content in 76 women between age 20 and 60. They found that collagen decreased significantly with age — after the 40s and after menopause, which is typically between 45 and 55 years old.

After menopause in particular is when women’s collagen stores really begin a precipitous decline.

So do the collagen marketers have it all wrong, to sell collagen to 20-somethings who, let’s face it, have pretty lustrous skin at that age already?

Well, not so fast. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and University Hospital, detailed all of the age-related changes that occur. They noted that “beginning in the fourth decade [when you are in your 30s], there is a linear decline in bone mass at a rate of about 10% per decade for women and 5% per decade for men. Thus, by the eighth and ninth decades [your 70s and 80s] 30% to 50% of the skeletal mass may be lost.”

Related:11 hot nutribeauty trends

Researchers at the University of Michigan confirmed collagen drops between two very different age groups — women ages 18-29 and those older than age 80. They found collagen synthesis decreased by 68% between the two groups. But when exactly does collagen begin to decrease?

Sign of the times — I turned to AI. ChatGPT told me that natural collagen production decreases starting around the age of 25, by about 1% a year. “The decline becomes more noticeable in the late 30s and 40s,” ChatGPT advised, with an “even more significant reduction in collagen production” after menopause.

Google’s Bard AI bot largely agreed, saying collagen production begins to decline around the age of 25 — and by age 40, women may have lost 10-20% of their collagen.

What to make of all this?

I guess it’s fair to start taking collagen in morning smoothies around age 25 — and yes, sure, go ahead and market your collagen supplements with lustrous young 20-somethings.

Todd Runestad

Content Director, SupplySideSJ.com, SupplySide Supplement Journal

Todd Runestad has been writing on nutrition science news since 1997. He is content director for SupplySide Supplement Journal and its digital magazines. Other incarnations: content director for Natural Products Insider (now rebranded to SupplySide Supplement Journal), supplements editor for NewHope.com, Delicious Living!, and Natural Foods Merchandiser. Former editor-in-chief of Functional Ingredients magazine and still covers raw material innovations and ingredient science.

Connect with me here on LinkedIn.

Todd writes about nutrition science news such as this story on mitochondrial nutrients, innovative ingredients such as this story about 12 trendy new ingredient launches from SupplySide West 2023, and is a judge for the NEXTY awards honoring innovation, integrity and inspiration in natural products including his specialty — dietary supplements. He extensively covered the rise and rise and rise and fall of cannabis hemp CBD. He helps produce in-person events at SupplySide West and SupplySide East trade shows and conferences, including the wildly popular Ingredient Idol game show, as well as Natural Products Expo West and Natural Products Expo East and the NBJ Summit. He was a board member for the Hemp Industries Association.

In previous lives Todd was on the other side of nature from natural products — natural history — as managing editor at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. He's sojourned to Burning Man and Mount Everest. He graduated many moons ago from the State University of New York College at Oneonta.

Quotes

"There is not a colds-and-flu season. There is a vitamin D-deficiency season."

"There is no such thing as inclement weather. Only improper attire."

Link answers question, "When taking magnesium, should you also take vitamin D3 2,000 IU?"

"Cannabis is nature's most nearly perfect plant."

Blog