In the past I have worked on the Amazon accounts of some very big collagen brands and I have to say, there is almost no reason at all for anyone to be taking collagen instead of any other source of protein, like whey.

Somehow (probably tiktok), over the years, collagen has become a super popular supplement for women, mainly for perceived nail, hair, and skin health benefits etc.

But here's the thing, if you consume collagen directly, it doesn't magically then get sent to hair, nails or other body parts. It is cleaved into amino acids and re-synthesised by your body into collagen and used where needed.

The key thing is just getting enough protein overall.

Now, if you have a protein-deficient diet (which many women do), yes there might be some benefit, but it will be less benefit than just taking a protein shake (or just eating more chicken or other protein sources).

Why whey?

Because whey protein has a complete amino acid profile, higher bioavailability, and is better at stimulating protein synthesis (higher amino acid levels also mean whey produces more keratin, which is mainly what hair and nails are composed of).

Not only that, whey is a lot cheaper. Here's a quick price and ingredient breakdown I did on a popular collagen brand V ON whey

As you can see, you get almost TRIPPLE the amount of grams, at 10 pounds cheaper (that's over 12 US cuck bucks) and you're missing out on the BCAAs too.

So you are paying a lot more, getting a hell of a lot less, and the benefits will be no better. Even when collagen supplements add in an amino blend, it still ends up being more expensive.

But there must be some benefit to collagen, right?

So one of the touted benefits is it's good for joints and this is because it has more glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline that are needed for the synthesis of connective tissues (skin, tendons, and cartilage).

So why this might be an option, it's so expensive, I would still say just use whey and add in a joint support supplement separately and it will come out cheaper (or eat bone broth, organ meats, cartilage etc).

And yes, you can get all this from real food, I'm just pointing this out because it boggles my mind seeing the sales numbers for something that is basically just an inferior and more expensive version of a protein shake.