Avocado, açaí, chia seeds, sea grass… Every year some food becomes popular that promises to solve the problems of all those who eat it. In some cases they are beneficial (although not as miraculous as claimed), but in others they do not offer any advantage that is backed by science. This is the case of collagen, a fashionable product that in recent days has gained a lot of presence on social networks and, in part, it is due to the fact that a bar has just opened in Madrid with smoothies with this protein as a claim.
The business – which has several establishments in Mexico – is called Sesén Room and its promoters ensure that the drinks offered there are beneficial. They defend that the collagen they present is purer and undergoes double hydrolysis that favors its absorption. However, scientific evidence has not yet confirmed that hydrolyzed collagen has any positive effect on health.
In the EU, the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) is the body in charge of validating the properties of products and foods. In the case of collagen, he has shared a couple of reviews: the first, from 2011, answers whether this protein promotes the maintenance of joints; and the second, published in 2013, refers to the contribution of elasticity to the skin. In both, the answer is that there is no cause-effect relationship to prove it.
For dietitian-nutritionist Beatriz Robles, “collagen is a poor quality protein, because the amino acids it contains (glycine and proline) are not essential.” This means that they are amino acids that do not need to be incorporated through the diet, since our body already produces them. “It is not a complete protein either, since it does not contain the nine essential amino acids,” stated the expert for this report, and added that in eggs, meat and some legumes, there is complete protein.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body and is responsible for creating and sustaining the tissues that form it, but there is no need to resort to supplements if we follow a healthy diet. “The collagen we obtain through food is enough,” Dr. Judit Sánchez Raya, Head of the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, ??explained to the Comer channel. “We have other higher quality proteins, such as albumin. Collagen is not even detected in blood, that is, it is not usually examined in analyses.”
According to the expert, it only makes sense to take this protein through supplements when you suffer from a pathology that reduces its presence in the body, such as joint hypermobility. There have also been studies that have observed that supplements reduce joint pain in young and adolescent athletes and that they improve the elasticity and hydration of the skin in older people. “But they are works with few samples and financed by the industry with limited results,” concludes the doctor.
But if this protein does not have any of the properties attributed to it, why are there so many people who think that it has these advantages? Robles believes that it is due to the intense marketing that has occurred around collagen “as a result of supplements that have been highly promoted or different articles and news.” It may also have had an influence that celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Díaz, Cara Delevingne and Madonna have publicly stated that they take these supplements to rejuvenate their skin.
