Many people have begun to turn to collagen for the many health benefits it offers, but it does leave some people worried about the effect collagen might have on their waistline.
This leaves everyone wondering: do the benefits of collagen offset the potential to make you gain weight?
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a protein in your body that is the main component that makes up your connective tissues. These tissues include tendons, ligaments, muscles, and skin. (Source)
There are many types of collagen but the most four popular types include:
- Type 1: found in connective tissue.
- Type 2: found in joints and intervertebral discs.
- Type 3: found in your skin and blood vessels.
- Type 4: found in your kidneys, inner ear, and eye lens.
Recently, collagen has been becoming more popular as a supplement that people take.
Most supplements contain between one to five types of collagen.
Here are some collagen supplements I have reviewed:
Collagen And Weight Loss
In regards to the question of whether or not collagen makes you gain weight, it is actually more likely that when taking a collagen supplement, can assist in your weight loss goals.
It does this in a variety of ways, which include:
Reducing Hunger
Collagen can help reduce your feelings of hunger which can cause you to eat fewer calories during the day, which assists in weight loss.
Collagen has this effect because it is a protein, which is known to reduce hunger.
Protein can also increase thermogenesis in the body, reducing hunger.
Increasing Muscle Mass
As mentioned previously, collagen supplements can help increase muscle mass, which is also a potential cause of weight loss.
If you have ever looked into losing weight, you likely know that muscle burns more calories than fat.
Therefore, when you have more muscle mass, you burn more calories at rest which can help you lose weight.
Reducing Fat
Collagen also helps reduce the development of fat cells, which obviously helps you with your weight loss goals.
That being said, simply taking collagen alone will not do this.
You have also to watch what you eat and be aware of your exercise regimen.
Health Benefits Associated With Collagen
Many health benefits come with taking collagen.
These benefits include:
Improving Skin Health
Collagen is a major part of the makeup of your skin.
It benefits your skin’s strength, elasticity, and hydration.
As you get older, you have less collagen in your body, which can cause your skin to become dry and even form wrinkles.
This is why taking collagen has been shown to help your skin.
More collagen can keep your skin hydrated and elastic and prevent wrinkles and other signs of aging.
Relieving Joint Pain
Because collagen also helps your cartilage, this can help protect you from potential joint pain.
You can increase joint pain as you age and have less collagen in your body.
This is because the cartilage starts to break down without the collagen to protect it.
This means that taking collagen supplements can reduce overall joint pain, and joint stiffness, and even help improve osteoarthritis symptoms if you suffer from that.
Preventing Bone Loss
Collagen also is an important component in your bones that helps you with your bone structure and strength.
Not only do you have reduced collagen when you age, but you can also experience deterioration in bone mass.
To help reduce the risk of this bone mass deterioration, taking a collagen supplement can help, and pairing it with calcium can be even more effective.
This can also help prevent or slow down getting osteoporosis.
Boost Muscle Mass
Collagen is also important when it comes to your muscle health, and taking it can help boost your muscle mass and other benefits.
Not only can collagen help boost muscle mass or hold off the natural loss of muscle mass that happens with aging, but it can also help stimulate muscle growth after a workout.
You can combine a collagen supplement with whey protein if you want to improve your muscle gain after working out.
Promoting Heart Health
When it comes to preventing heart conditions, collagen can be very helpful.
Why is this?
This is because collagen helps with your arteries and keeps them flexible and elastic, which is great for your continued heart health.
When your arteries lose their flexibility and elasticity, you can have a higher risk of atherosclerosis, which is caused by your arteries' narrowing.
Atherosclerosis can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Other Benefits
These are not the only health benefits that come from taking collagen.
Other potential benefits can include:
- Increasing hair and nail strength and preventing brittleness. This can also help hair and nail growth.
- Assist with bettering gut health.
- Improve mood and anxiety symptoms.
- Promoting weight loss and increased metabolism.
Some who take collagen report an increase in bowel movements while taking collagen.
While this might seem like a side-effect, it can actually be a benefit, as it improves your gut health and how your digestive system is functioning.
Joint Pain Reduction
Joint pain reduction is already a listed benefit of collagen, but this also can help you with your weight loss goals by ensuring that you are not feeling the pain that might prevent you from exercising.
With less joint pain, you can exercise easier and comfortably, which will help you with your weight.
Potential Risks Of Collagen Supplements
While side effects of collagen supplements are rare, they can happen.
Some potential side effects include experiencing heartburn or having a bad taste in your mouth.
Collagen supplements also risk not knowing exactly what ingredients are in your specific supplement.
Some potential ingredients to be wary of include:
- Heavy metals
- Allergens
- Microbial Contaminants
There can also be different dosage levels than those listed on the label.
To be safe, it is best to look for a USP Verified Mark on the label, meaning that the product has been made according to the FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMPs). (Source)
Natural Alternatives To Collagen
If you experience side effects when taking collagen supplements, there are some natural ways you can increase your body’s collagen levels. (Source)
In order for your body to produce collagen, it has to combine glycine and proline, both amino acids, with other amino acids including Vitamin C, zinc, and copper.
To accomplish this, you will want to eat more glycine and proline rich foods such as:
- Chicken
- Beef
- Fish
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Beans
You also will want to combine these with citrus fruits, tomatoes, leafy greens, shellfish, nuts and whole grains to get the necessary Vitamin C, zinc, and copper.
Collagen And Other Supplements
If you are already taking supplements and are not sure if collagen is the right addition for you, you are not alone.
Collagen can be safely consumed with most other supplements and vitamins.
Collagen mixed with greens powder is another option worth considering as this gets your greens and collagen in one go.
It is suggested, though, that you are using each powder’s designated servings, as they may differ.
Collagen For Men
While they might not be thinking about taking collagen, it can be just as beneficial for men to take as women.
Women often take it as a way to improve hair, skin, and nails, but many benefits of collagen would benefit men as well (not that improving their hair, skin, and nails isn’t also a nice benefit).
Because of the benefits in regards to joint pain, muscle mass, improved heart and bone health, and other great benefits, men should be taking a daily collagen supplement just like women.
Medical Or Cosmetic Uses For Collagen
There are also medical or cosmetic uses that are associated with collagen. (Source)
Some of these uses include:
Skin Fillers
One of the cosmetic uses of collagen includes dermal fillers.
These fillers can:
- Reduce Wrinkles
- Improve skin contours
- Fill out any skin depressions
- Improve the look of scars
Dressing Wounds
Collagen helps with the natural healing of wounds, so it is often used in the medical field to assist in the healing of wounds by applying it topically.
These applications can be in dressings, gels, or powders.
Applying collagen to wounds can assist with:
- Controlling Bleeding
- Reduction in Inflammation
- Strengthening Scar Tissue
- Promoting new tissue growth
Does Collagen Make You Gain Weight?
To wrap it up, collagen is highly beneficial to your health and well-being in addition to other great uses in beauty and medicine.
Taking collagen will not lead to an increase in weight gain and will likely assist in weight loss if paired with a healthy diet and good exercise habits.
Additionally, collagen provides major benefits to both men and women and can be taken as a daily supplement and combined with other vitamins and minerals.
If you are unsure whether to introduce a daily collagen supplement into your lifestyle, it is a good idea to talk to your physician about your options.