Davina McCall x Ancient + Brave: A partnership rooted in wellness
At Ancient + Brave, we believe in nourishing the body from the inside out, blending the wisdom of ancient traditions with the power of modern science. This philosophy is embodied by our incredible ambassador, Davina McCall, who has been a long-time supporter of our products and a true advocate for self-care.
We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Davina to discuss her wellness journey, the importance of collagen during midlife, and the daily routines that keep her feeling her best. In this conversation, we explore how our products have played a role in her health and why she’s chosen to partner with us.
Before we dive into the interview, let's take a moment to highlight what collagen is and the powerful benefits of our hero product, True Collagen.
Collagen - the foundation of vitality.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body. Think of it as scaffolding - it holds everything together, from our skin and joints to our bones, hair, nails, and connective tissues. It’s essential for strength, elasticity, and overall vitality. But here’s the catch: our collagen production naturally starts to decline from our late twenties or early thirties. That’s when people start to notice changes - things like fine lines, slower recovery after exercise, or joint stiffness.
To make things harder, our modern diets don’t naturally include much collagen. We’ve moved away from nose-to-tail eating - so we’re missing out on a lot of what our bodies used to naturally receive. Add in stress and environmental toxins, and it’s no wonder collagen levels take a hit. That’s why supplementation can make such a difference.
True Collagen is a pioneering supplement designed to replenish this vital protein.
Our True Collagen provides easily digestible, highly absorbable and clinically researched Type I hydrolysed bovine collagen peptides, sustainably sourced from grass-fed herds in the EU. This form is highly bioavailable, meaning it’s easily absorbed by the body and quickly put to work where it's needed most.
With its neutral flavour and smooth, easy-to-dissolve texture, it blends beautifully into coffee, smoothies, soups - or even just water - without altering the taste. It’s a simple, seamless daily ritual with powerful, whole-body benefits.
Davina McCall x Ancient + Brave Q+A
With Jo Woodhurst, Director of Nutrition and Education & Dr Jenna Macciochi, Director of Science and Innovation.
The beginning of Davina’s journey with Ancient + Brave
Davina: So I live in Tunbridge Wells, and there was a gym there called SPN and they used to stock Ancient + Brave so I think the first thing that caught my eye was the packaging. And I thought, this is interesting, I wonder what that is. Collagen, it said collagen and I thought, that's interesting you know, that there was such a buzz around collagen at the time, so I was kind of fascinated by it. I asked Jamie, who owned the gym, a little bit about it and she was telling me the ethos behind the brand, and about the ancient wisdom, and the brave being the kind of modern sciencey part. It's kind of a marriage of the two and I thought I’d try it! I think in midlife this is a time when you can feel slightly like your joints, your ligaments, everything really feels like it's getting a bit stiffer, and I wasn't doing it really for nails and hair, I was absolutely taking it for my whole body. I was just wondering if you guys could share a little bit about why it is good and you've done clinical trials, am I right?
True Collagen - clinically validated benefits
Jenna: So we did a double blind placebo controlled randomized clinical trial, which is like the gold standard. We wanted to make it as rigorous as if you were testing a pharmaceutical drug, so we did it by design in the most rigorous way. We used True Collagen and compared it to a placebo. They took it consistently for 12 weeks, and so we did a six week time point where we had a look to see how things were going, and then we looked again at 12 weeks.
Davina: What things were you looking at?
Jenna: So as a brand it's really important to us that we respect collagen as the most abundant protein in the body, so although we might be familiar with it as something that we take for our skin-health it's really for that whole body health. So we designed a trial to look at hair, skin and nails because that's important to people, but also to look at these elements of whole body health, so things like energy and sleep and gut health. And the results are really astonishing. So we see significant improvements in different features of the skin, so with collagen breakdown that happens with aging, we saw that that was significantly offset and there's a reduction in things like redness, the skin barrier has more integrity.
Davina: What does that mean in terms of skin barrier?
Jenna: So your skin is a barrier to the outside world, so you know every day you're faced with pollution, different things that we put on our face, different things that we're exposed to, and that can be absorbed into the skin and obviously affect our body. So we want to make sure that barrier is really strong, and so we know that collagen is important to the integrity of the skin therefore it's helping reinforce that barrier.
Jo: Yeah I think sometimes we think, well most of the time we think of skin as an aesthetic thing, but when it comes to our biology it's a protective layer.
Davina: I've never thought of it like that yeah
Jo: It's the biggest organ on the body, and because you want that protection you need to keep it hydrated and it needs to be supple and flexible, not just because it looks great and it does look really great when it feels like that, but actually it's protecting us from the outside world and it's really important.
Jenna: So I think the lovely thing is that a by-product of what we saw that there was a significant reduction in the fine lines, wrinkles and signs of aging, but that's all because we know that we're just really protecting the skin integrity and that structure, what's going on under the surface. And that collagen that's giving your skin that lovely barrier the plumpness so it's giving those aesthetic benefits but also it's working you know at that deeper level too.
The other results, which I think are really important to acknowledge, is that people found they had more energy and they found that they could recover from exercise.
Davina: Yeah that's what I found, which is really important because we want people to stay active and go and do the activities they love. So, if you've got energy and the ability to recover you can just do more of that.
Jenna: Yes, people found that it made their sleep better, hair was stronger with less breakage, nails felt stronger and people experienced less digestive discomfort and signs of bloating because the gut is also made up of collagen that gives it the integrity and the scaffolding.
Davina: I think the other funny thing is that lots of people don't know that it's a protein, and we know protein is important for muscles, and strength is so important in midlife.
Jo: Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, so we'd always encourage people to have other sources of protein in their diet and that's important to say, but it's a really easy way to get protein into your diet. So if you're having a scoop of collagen in your coffee, you're already upping the intake of protein across the day and it's all about having those different sources coming in across the day so it's a quick easy win.
Davina: How much collagen should people take?
Jo: It's a good question and it's when we get asked a lot, but one of the reasons that we have got our collagen in a powder is so that you can teeter the dose to what you need. So we say from five grams is an effective dose, especially for maintenance
Davina: Is there any science behind how it helps things like ligaments and tendons and those parts of your body?
Jo: What we're seeing is that the hydrolysed peptides can help to stimulate collagen creating cells like fibroblasts, and in your bones they’re called osteoblasts, and that can really help to regenerate collagen in the areas that it's needed. So when you take True Collagen, your body will decide where it needs to go.
Davina: I do feel like I'm getting injured less, because I was just noticing little tears or a little kind of tweak or something, and I just feel like that's not happening as much since I've been taking True Collagen.
Jenna: You're giving your body those raw materials to help with the wear and tear, or exercise and to recover. There's loads of research in the sports and exercise field looking at it in athletes to try and offset injuries, and so I think that's one of the amazing benefits and again, from midlife onwards we want people to stay as active as possible because it's really important for bone density and we know that maintaining those muscles because they’re like a longevity organ for us.
Davina: I feel like it is important to say to people, it's not something that you can pick up, take once and you'll see the benefit, and then pick it up two weeks later. How should people be taking it?
Jo: So consistency is key, and we've tried to make this product as easy to take as possible, so you add it to your favorite drink of the day whatever that would be that you're going to have most consistently. The results in all the clinical trials are over time as well, and our body needs to build up that collagen reserve over time as well so it's important that you're consistent and patient. The body is going to use it how the body knows best, but we do see that when we're taking it, and like Jenna said over six weeks and then 12 weeks we are seeing a jump in improvements each time.
Davina’s favourite Ancient + Brave products
Jenna: So we've talked a lot about collagen. Are there any other Ancient + Brave products that you love to add in?
Davina: Where do I begin! What's been interesting is that my son has just been buying creatine off the internet, and we've got no idea where it's coming from, if it is a reliable source, if it is a reliable type of creatine. So anyway we're both on Ancient + Brave True Creatine+ now. I didn't know that creatine was for girls.
Jo: Yeah it’s a big misconception.
Jenna: We wanted to give it a renaissance, it's like men should be taking collagen too and women should be taking creatine, so let's do a little swap.
Jo: I think sometimes because of the way it's been marketed we just assume it's for sort of big gym bros and it does a great job for that as well, but it's got so many functions beyond just muscle health. And muscle health is so important.
Davina: It's about cell regeneration right?
Jenna: Yeah, and cellular energy you know. It's brain health as well, our brain is a hungry organ and there's lots of new research coming out around cognition and even longevity because with time all of these energy systems, like a car with time they start to not run as efficiently, and so by supporting that with creatine which is helping with the cellular energy, it's really important. And the immune system, helping to keep that in condition as well.
Davina: The other thing is True Magnesium+, I take that at night. But the really big new one for me is the True Omegas+. Can you just quickly tell me about the omegas because you've got omega-3 and omega-7?
Jenna: So people might be familiar with omega-3, we hear a lot about it, it's found in oily fish. We know in the UK that on average people don't consume enough oily fish to meet their needs, and maybe they choose not to or for dietary preference etc. So it's really important to supplement if you're not getting it through your diet. Ours is from an algae source so it's vegan, so it's accessible for every dietary preference but we've combined it with omega-7 which is my absolute favorite omega. It comes from the sea buckthorn plant which is this really robust hardy plant and it's a bright orange color and it's really important for so many aspects of our health. It actually helps collagen do its job in the body.
Davina: That’s interesting, so take it with collagen and it will help that as well?
Jo: Yeah I think it's important to remember that bodies can make a lot of things but they can't make omega-3 which is why it's really important to supplement it. It's an essential fatty acid because we can't make it ourselves so we're only relying on diet to obtain it. So when we're not eating oily fish and many of us aren't eating plant sources of omega-3, and some of us have a bit of trouble converting that, we supplement it and it becomes really important.
Davina: The other thing was Noble Collagen, I just heard about that today I was like why am I not on Noble Collagen immediately!
Jo: Oh it's a super cool and very innovative formula. In Noble Collagen we've got type II Collagen and that's very targeted for joints because that's what is mainly in your cartilage. We've combined it with Boswellia serrata which is a really beautiful botanical that's known for anti-inflammatory compounds. And you can take it alongside True Collagen.
And the final thing really is we talk about the brave lifestyle at Ancient + Brave. What does a brave lifestyle mean to you?
Davina’s Brave Lifestyle
Davina: I think the older I get, it's more and more about thinking about or listening to my body knowing what I need. And taking care of my body isn't a gift just for me but it's for my whole family, it's for everyone around me, it's for everyone I love. I owe it to everybody to take care of myself.
Jo: It's a real devotion to yourself when you're doing something really nourishing for yourself and nourishment can come from supplements or food but also just caring.
Davina: Yeah, well to me it's self-care
Jo: For sure, thank you so much