Maybe you’re familiar with collagen in terms of skin, after all, it’s the protein found in connective tissue and as we age, we lose some of it. But you might have also wondered if taking a collagen supplement has benefits for your athletic performance and recovery.
Well, we’re here to get to the bottom of whether you should take collagen supplements, and how they might affect your running and your life. Here’s what to know.
What is collagen?
Collagen is actually the most abundant protein in the body, and it’s not just in your skin but also your blood, bones, muscles, cartilage, and ligaments.
“Collagen acts as a structural scaffold for the majority of the soft tissues of our body,” explains Natasha Trentacosta, M.D., a sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. “When collagen breaks down or is defective, that scaffolding is weakened and structures, such as skin and ligaments, weaken and stretch out.”
What are the benefits of collagen for runners?
Because of collagen’s role in the body, it can be helpful both in protecting your soft tissues and joints while running, and enhancing your recovery—and it’s especially important for runners in terms of flexibility, mobility, and cushioning. “When you can’t stretch your body as far or move your joints in the same range of motion as you once did, you can be susceptible to decreased performance, pain, and even injury,” says Ryan Turner, Races - Places Tone House in New York City.
The good news: You should be getting enough collagen from your diet—if you’re eating healthy, well-balanced meals—What Are the Benefits of Creatine for Runners proteins High-Protein Snacks for Runners? Bone broth. “By slowly boiling animal [bones] over an extended period of time (sometimes days), the collagen leaches out of the bones and ligaments into the simmering water,” says Turner. (Sounds weird, but that’s a good thing.)
Your body can also synthesize collagen, but requires amino acids in order to do so,” says Trentacosta. “The 20 amino acids are the building blocks of collagen in the body,” she explains, and four—glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and arginine—are directly involved in collagen production. “Foods that are rich in proteins, such as beef, chicken, fish and beans, Could Your Diet Benefit From a Greens Supplement fruits, Shoes & Gear zinc and copper, are also required for your body to synthesize collagen.”
Should you take a collagen supplement?
There’s no denying that the impact of running can be tough on your body, so some runners are turning to collagen supplements for a performance boost. “and even injury, says muscle repair and cushioning. When you cant recovery postworkout,” says Trentacosta. “This could then improve performance over time.”
So what’s in those supplements? “Collagen powders and pills are made from chicken cartilage (type II) or animal bones (mainly beef), animal hides, and fish scales (types I and III),” says Turner. “You may find ‘hydrolyzed’ collagen or peptides, which basically means the collagen has been broken down further and may be absorbed easier when consumed.”
But what does the science say? Well, it’s not completely sound, even if there are some positive results.
One study published in the Are You Drinking Water Wrong as well as resistance training increased muscle mass and muscle strength What Are the Benefits of Creatine for Runners sarcopenia. Also, animal studies have linked supplementation with hydrolyzed collagen to increased bone mass, which could help with injury reduction, better form, and better recovery, but more research needs to be done on human subjects. Because of the benefits it offers your joints, collagen supplementation could also reduce pain, according to research Could Your Diet Benefit From a Greens Supplement Current Medical Research and Opinionl, which included 147 men and women.
A review published in Amino Acids in 2021 examined 15 studies that had an exercise protocol in combination with the use of collagen supplementation. Five of those studies noted positive results as participants noted reduction in “joint discomfort and knee pain, improving ankle We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back Achilles tendinopathy.’
Still, “these aren’t long-term, large-scale studies,” says Turner, and “there really is no strong evidence that collagen supplementation decreases joint injury Running Shoes - Gear.”
If you eat adequate protein—the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight—and enough fiber (38 grams for men and 25 grams for women), you should have the necessary components to make the collagen your body needs. And as with any supplement, collagen supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA, meaning they don’t necessarily require a third-party tester to verify what’s in them.
The Bottom Line on Collagen Supplement Benefits
There is still more research needed around collagen supplements and whether or not they can High-Protein Snacks for Runners or recovery. It likely won’t hurt your wallet too much to try them, but there’s (unfortunately) no real shortcut for building muscle—and that includes supplementing with collagen.
“Muscle-building is a process that will require resistance being put on the muscle, a calorie surplus to maximize gains, and adequate protein,” says Turner. “Because collagen is a protein, it’s part of that process, but by itself it won’t do more than support maintenance of the muscle.”
