Can Men Benefit from Collagen Supplements?

Collagen is a women’s supplement, right? Not exactly. As a nutritionist and collagen expert, I recommend collagen to men all the time. So let’s talk about the four main reasons why No matter who you are, you can benefit from collagen supplements, especially as you get older. So why do I say that? Well, this might be obvious, but our bodies change in many different ways as we get older. For example, around our early twenties, collagen production starts to naturally decline through our entire bodies at a rate of 1% per year. Then around our mid thirties muscle mass starts to decrease about three to 8% per decade, and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60. You may have heard of that term sarcopenia, and that’s referring to this age related muscle loss. Of course, these are just a couple of changes that happen as we get older, but the point I wanted to make is that we know these changes are not just happening to women, but they’re happening to men too. So how can collagen supplements help to address these things and more? Here are the four main reasons I recommend collagen supplements to men. The first is that category of exercise, performance and recovery. In one recent study, researchers wanted to assess whether or not collagen supplements had an effect on muscle mass and strength. There were two groups both engaged in resistance exercise, but one group received collagen supplements and the other a placebo. After three months, they found that compared with the placebo, those taking the collagen supplement showed a more pronounced improvement in body composition. There was a significant increase in muscle mass and strength. So of course, you might be thinking of course, resistance exercise alone is going to increase muscle mass and strength. But this study shows that when combining resistance exercise with collagen supplements, the results were better than just the exercise alone. And this is helpful to know that collagen supplements can help men to counteract those effects of natural muscle loss like we talked about earlier. And on a related note, we have evidence that collagen can help improve joint function, increase the length of pain-free strenuous exercise, and reduce the need for alternative therapies. So collagen supplements can definitely help to support exercise performance, recovery, and overall strength. So the second category that I recommend collagen supplements to men is healthy bones and joints. So research shows that collagen supplements are effective in improving symptoms of osteoarthritis, like stiffness and overall physical discomfort. And that makes sense because our bones, our joints, our ligaments, our cartilage, they all depend on collagen for structure and function. So since we naturally lose collagen as we get older, men who are experiencing joint issues can benefit from collagen supplementation. The third category is hair support. So you might be thinking, well, hair is not made of collagen, and that’s right. Hair is made of keratin. So this is another structural protein found in our bodies. We see it in our hair and our nails, but collagen supplements can still provide our body with the building blocks that it needs to make keratin. So key amino acids that it needs to make keratin. And there’s proof of this. So one recent study in 2020 showed that those taking collagen peptides over the course of 16 weeks had a significant increase in hair thickness. I know a lot of men, particularly in their early forties, maybe even a bit older, are looking for ways to support their hair as they get older. So I wanted to share that study. And the fourth reason I recommend collagen supplements to men is fine lines and wrinkles. There are several studies that report that taking collagen for just 28 days can show skin benefits like improved hydration and skin elasticity and eye wrinkles. So improved skin is something that both men and women can definitely benefit from. So there you have it, four reasons why men may want to take collagen supplements, but you might be thinking, okay, I understand collagen is important as we get older, but why can’t I just eat more collagen rich food? Or why can’t I just eat more protein? If you wanna learn more about food sources of collagen versus supplements and how they compare, check out the links in the description down below.