Collagen, Controversy and Conscious Choice

In the world of wellness, collagen holds an almost iconic place - celebrated by some, dismissed by others. As with many things that become cultural shorthand for youth or beauty, the noise can quickly drown out the nuance.

Where does the ‘noise’ come from? First, let’s return to first principles. Let’s walk you through the science, the scepticism, and why collagen is not just hype, but truly does live up to the promise.

“Collagen is just protein - you get that from your diet.”

Yes - and no. Collagen is a protein, but not all proteins are created equal. And that's a good thing. It’s time we stopped treating them as if they are. 

When we talk about collagen, we’re referring to the most abundant structural protein in the human body-woven through our skin, joints, ligaments, fascia and bones. What sets it apart isn’t just its function, but its unique amino acid profile. Collagen is rich in glycine, proline and hydroxyproline-amino acids that are rarer in many common dietary protein sources, yet vital for the repair and integrity of our body's connective tissues.  

So while some might argue that collagen supplements are no better than a protein-rich plate of food, collagen plays a unique role.  Even if your diet may be high in protein, that doesn’t guarantee your body is getting the specific raw materials it needs to support its collagen network. A chickpea, a steak, a scoop of collagen - each offers a distinct amino acid profile, speaking a different biochemical language. The type of protein you consume dictates the message it sends to your body. Collagen isn’t about hitting a protein target - it’s about delivering nourishment that supports regeneration from the inside out.

And collagen does more than simply provide building blocks. Through a process called hydrolysis, its tightly wound triple-helix structure is gently broken down into smaller fragments - dipeptides and tripeptides - that can pass through the gut wall and enter the bloodstream within hours. Once there, they act as molecular messengers, stimulating fibroblasts - the cells responsible for producing collagen—to make more of your own. This isn’t just passive nutrition. These peptides act as active instructions. That’s why the benefits of collagen are seen not instantly, but progressively, emerging over weeks and months of consistent use as your body responds and rebuilds.

“It’s not a complete protein.”

That’s true. But also - so what? As we have just established, different proteins serve different purposes - and that’s not a flaw, it’s a feature.

‘Complete’ proteins contain all nine essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, which is important when you're trying to meet your daily protein needs, especially for muscle building and repair. This is why many gym-goers turn to protein powders made from whey or other high-leucine protein sources after a workout. 

But this idea isn’t just relevant in the gym. In everyday diets, it's important to get a variety of protein sources to ensure you're covering all essential amino acids. While animal proteins like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy tend to be naturally complete, plant proteins often need to be combined thoughtfully. Eating a range of foods like beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains can help ‘complete’ the amino acid profile across the day.

Collagen is low in certain essential amino acids, so it doesn’t count as “complete.” But that doesn’t make it incomplete in value. It simply offers a different set of benefits, making it a powerful addition alongside your broader protein intake.

Collagen isn’t meant to be your primary protein source - it was never designed to compete with muscle-building proteins like whey.  Think of it this way: different proteins have different jobs. Collagen isn’t trying to build biceps - it’s supporting the scaffolding that holds everything together.  It complements, not competes. It delivers different amino acids (glycine, proline, hydroxyproline) that typical diets lack - precisely the ones needed for connective‑tissue repair. It supports the parts of you that stretch, bend, move and glow. The parts that hold you together.

So while you’ll still want your leucine-rich whey post-workout to drive muscle protein synthesis, adding a scoop of collagen can help target the body tissues that bear the brunt of your training, like muscles, bones, ligaments, and tendons. In other words, muscles lift the weight, but fascia, joints, and tendons keep you in the game.

“No one needs collagen supplements.”

That’s true at least in a clinical sense. Collagen isn't a vitamin. It’s not like iron, B12  or vitamin D, where a deficiency leads to a diagnosable condition. You won’t develop rickets, anaemia, or nerve damage if you don’t take it.

But that’s not the point.

Not needing something doesn’t mean it can’t be profoundly supportive. Wellness shouldn’t just be about avoiding deficiency - that’s an outdated, reductive model rooted in disease prevention of years gone by. Today, it should be about creating the conditions for your body to thrive. Especially in areas modern life tends to neglect.

So no, you don’t need collagen to survive. But if your goal is to help your body move, live and feel great, then it becomes far more than optional.

We don’t live, move, or eat the way our ancestors did. We’re living much longer. We sit more, and our diets rarely include the nose-to-tail nourishment that once delivered collagen-rich cuts of meat. Somewhere along the way, modern life quietly edited collagen out of our plates.  And it’s not just what’s missing, it’s what we’re exposed to. Chronic stress, processed foods, pollution, smoking, nutrient deficiencies, blue light exposure, and gut imbalances all conspire to degrade the collagen matrix from within. In many ways, modern living doesn’t just sideline collagen, it actively erodes it.

So, taking collagen isn’t about correcting a deficiency - it’s about restoring a missing piece, offering our body something it no longer gets enough of. So no, not essential in the medical sense. But for many, transformational in the real sense.

“There’s no robust evidence/the only evidence is industry-funded.”

This is one of the most common criticisms of collagen - and on the surface, it sounds damning. But as with so much in wellness, the truth lies in the nuance.

Yes, many collagen studies are funded by the companies that produce them - including ours. But this isn’t unique to collagen. Industry-funded research is common practice across the entire field of nutrition, from probiotics to omega-3s to vitamin D. That’s because public funding bodies rarely prioritise food-based interventions, despite their potential for population-level impact [1]. Without industry support, many of the advances we now take for granted would not exist.

What matters isn’t who funds a study, but how the study is conducted. And in that regard, collagen science has come a long way.

In the last 10 years, we’ve seen a sharp rise in gold-standard research—randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, many now consolidated in systematic reviews and meta-analyses [2,3]. These studies involve thousands of participants and use objective, instrument-based methods, not just self-reported outcomes. Tools like corneometry (for skin hydration), cutometry (for elasticity), ultrasound (for dermal density), and validated pain scores (like WOMAC and VAS) have become standard.

Across these trials, the findings are strikingly consistent:

• Improved skin hydration, elasticity, and reduction in wrinkle depth [4,5]

• Reduced joint discomfort and pain in both athletic and ageing populations [6,7]

• Enhanced tissue regeneration and recovery when used consistently for 8–12 weeks [8]

These are not cosmetic claims or wishful subjective observations about ageing skin. They are biological whole-body benefits - measured, replicated, and grounded in rigorous human research.

At Ancient+Brave, we hold ourselves to that same level of scientific integrity. Our BECOME trial, using True Collagen at 10g/day, showed statistically significant improvements in skin hydration, firmness, and brightness, along with elevated biomarkers of collagen turnover and reduced collagen breakdown. The study was double-blind, placebo-controlled, and independently conducted. Science, as rigorous as it should be.

 

“Dermatologists say it doesn’t work.”

Some do. And yes, we hear that a lot.

But let’s pause and ask: compared to what?

Many dermatologists are trained to think in terms of clinical intervention, where results are fast, pharmaceutical, and often dramatic. When collagen supplements are measured against lasers, injectables or prescription medications, it’s not surprising that it might be dismissed as “ineffective.”

But that comparison misses the point entirely.

We don’t take collagen to erase a decade overnight. We take it to support the body’s natural processes, gently, gradually, and from within.

It’s also important to acknowledge that most dermatologists receive minimal training in nutrition. Their expertise lies in diagnosing and treating skin diseases, not necessarily in understanding the emerging field of nutricosmetics or the role of ingestible nutrients in skin health. So when oral collagen is compared to interventions that force rapid results, it’s being evaluated through the wrong lens.

Many of the same dermatologists who dismiss collagen supplements are more than happy to recommend procedures and topicals that treat symptoms without addressing the deeper, structural changes happening in the dermis with age.

The science on oral collagen is no longer soft or speculative. It now matches - and in some cases exceeds - the data we have for many mainstream topicals. Randomised controlled trials using ultrasound and skin biopsies consistently show improvements in hydration, elasticity, dermal density, and wrinkle depth [9-11]. This is not anecdotal. It’s empirical.

And let’s be clear, this should not be an either/or conversation. You can support your skin from the outside and the inside. But dismissing ingestible collagen supplements simply because they don’t behave like a needle or a laser is to fundamentally misunderstand its role.

Collagen doesn’t intervene - it nourishes.
It doesn’t force - it invites.

And when paired with consistency, ritual, and a respect for the body’s own pace of renewal, it delivers.

It’s Not a Binary

In the age of social media hot takes and black-and-white thinking, it’s easy to fall into the trap of all or nothing. But supporting our health has never been binary, and collagen is no exception.

Yes, some collagen products are underdosed, poorly sourced, or built more for marketing than for meaningful change. Yes, some supply chains contribute to environmental harm.  And yes, healthy scepticism is essential - we welcome it.

But dismissing all collagen is like rejecting olive oil because some groves are poorly farmed. The existence of low-quality products doesn’t cancel out the evidence - or the impact - of those made with care, integrity, and proof.

At Ancient + Brave, we walk a different path: A slower, more intentional one. We blend ancestral wisdom with meticulous science and hold every product to The Brave Standard:

• Potent, effective, clinically validated - with bioavailable peptides at meaningful doses, backed by our gold-standard trials.
  
  

• Sourced with integrity - our True Collagen is made from EU pasture-raised hides, and Wild Collagen from MSC certified wild caught fish.
  
  

• Third-party tested, batch by batch - screened independently, we test above and beyond industry standards
  
  

• Designed for whole-body health - not just your glow, but your ground. Supporting skin, joints, gut, sleep, and recovery.

We don’t believe in quick fixes. We believe in quiet, sustainable  transformations - through nourishment, consistency, and conscious choice.

So no, you don’t need collagen to survive. And yes - critiques will always critique. We welcome that. It keeps us sharp, accountable, and evolving.

At Ancient + Brave, we don’t shy away from scrutiny - we rise to meet it. We hold ourselves to a higher standard, because our community expects it and deserves it.

In a world full of noise, shortcuts, and surface-level solutions, we choose integrity. We choose evidence. We choose products that support not just your glow, but your whole self - inside and out.

Stay Brave. Stay curious. And thank you - for holding the standard with us.

 

References

1. Ioannidis JP. The challenge of reforming nutritional epidemiologic research. JAMA. 2018.
   
   

2. de Miranda RB et al. Effects of hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Dermatol. 2021.
   
   

3. Zague V et al. Collagen peptides modulate the metabolism of extracellular matrix in dermal fibroblasts. J Med Food. 2011.
   
   

4. Choi FD et al. The effects of oral collagen supplementation on skin moisture and elasticity: a systematic review. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2019.
   
   

5. Proksch E et al. Oral supplementation of collagen peptides improves skin hydration and elasticity. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2014.
   
   

6. Clark KL et al. 24-week study on the use of collagen hydrolysate as a dietary supplement in athletes with activity-related joint pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008.
   
   

7. Kumar S et al. A randomized controlled trial of collagen hydrolysate in osteoarthritis. Int Orthop. 2015.
   
   

8. Zdzieblik D et al. Collagen peptide supplementation in athletes reduces joint pain: a randomized controlled trial. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2017.

9. Proksch E et al. Oral supplementation of collagen peptides improves skin hydration and elasticity. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2014.
   
   

10. Choi FD et al. The effects of oral collagen supplementation on skin moisture and elasticity: a systematic review. J Clin Aesthet Dermatol. 2019.
    
    

11. de Miranda RB et al. Effects of hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Dermatol. 2021.