Are Collagen Molecules Too Big To Be Absorbed?

It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝I read your article about collagen, but I heard collagen molecules are too large to be absorbed, so supplementing with collagen is basically useless, have I been misled?❞

Great question! And the answer is… Nuanced.

Firstly let’s note: absorbed where? The gut (oral supplementation), or the skin (topical application)?

You said “supplementing”, so probably you’re thinking about the gut; we’ll give good attention to that, but for the sake of being methodical, let’s briefly talk about the skin and products with topical collagen that’s applied externally:

Yes, collagen molecules are absolutely huge and cannot be absorbed by the skin. Not only that, but the epidermis (the outer part of your skin) is not where collagen synthesis happens, so this is a bit like trying to fix a structural problem in your house by flinging mud at it from the outside. The mud may have the same minerals that are needed, but it’s just going to sit on the outside of your house until it gets washed off.

So it is with topical collagen creams, masks, etc. They can give a brief “filler” effect at best, but they’re not doing anything for your actual skin and will just get washed off when you wash.

Now, about hydrolysed collagen peptides

This term means that the huge collagen molecules have been broken down into little bits. These now are are small enough to get absorbed.

When it comes to topical treatments, there is currently no good science that we could find to show that they actually help, though, perhaps because while they’re small enough to get absorbed, most aren’t. We can’t know for sure yet though, as studies that do exists are usually not only funded by the beauty company making the tropical product, but also, tiny and often methodologically weak.

Here’s an example; it’s a tiny (n=22) study, funded by the beauty company whose product is being tested, with no control group, the main outcomes were subjective satisfaction, skin roughness measurement (that would be affected by anything physically smoothing over the top of the skin), and then more technical measures that while cited as improvements, have numbers that look like:

❝Furthermore, the skin surface elasticity (total recovery/total elongation; gross elasticity (R2)) increased from 0.81 ± 0.03 to 0.83 ± 0.03❞

Read in full: Effect of a Topical Collagen Tripeptide on Antiaging and Inhibition of Glycation of the Skin: A Pilot Study

Perhaps better, more conclusive studies will be conducted and their results will vindicate the use of topical collagen treatments, but the current state of science is, if being honest about things, “we don’t know”.

About that “subjective satisfaction” thing though—it’s worth noting that that there are no known adverse side effects (beyond rare adverse reactions, usually to some other ingredient), so if you have a topical collagen treatment that you enjoy using, don’t let us stop you.

Now, about the gut

Collagen molecules are, once again, far too large to be absorbed by the gut, too. Hydrolyzed collagen peptides are, once again, the answer.

And this time, not only are they small enough to be absorbed, but also, there is a lot of science to indicate that it really does meaningfully improve bone density, alleviate symptoms of arthritis, and so forth.

And as for its benefits for the skin from the inside, it’s hard to know whether it’s getting there or not, but what we can know is that collagen synthesis is increased systemwide in people who take hydrolysed collagen peptide supplements in the recommended dosage range of 5–20g/day, and that many measurable signs of skin aging are meaningfully reversed (much more so than the paltry numbers in the topical treatment study we linked above):

This is what we wrote about in the article you read, which for convenience we’ll link again here: We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of ← we also link to where you can get good quality hydrolyzed collagen peptides.

Vegan/Vegetarian?

At present, only animals make collagen. We say “at present” not because it’s likely that plants or fungi are likely to start doing it soon, but rather, because lab-made stuff is often around the corner.

For now, however, all sources of collagen are from animals.

So, what to do if vegan/vegetarian?

The best thing to do is to simply do like those animals did, and include in your diet plenty of the ingredients required for your body to make collagen internally.

As for what they are, check out: The Best Foods For Collagen Production

Enjoy!