Can Taking Collagen Support Your Weight Loss Journey? Here’s What Our Doctors Say

It’s well known for its skincare benefits, but does collagen help with weight loss? There's a lot of misinformation out there, so this post explains what the science says, and how it could support your weight loss treatment.

Article Summary:

• Collagen is an essential protein that helps give your skin, muscles, and bones their structure.
• There’s minimal evidence that collagen directly supports weight loss, but it can help support joint health and muscle mass, which are essential for staying active.
• You can increase collagen with foods like bone broths and chicken, or take collagen supplements alongside a balanced diet.

What is collagen?

Collagen is your body's main structural protein. In simple terms, it's the frame that holds most tissues in your body together, including skin, muscles, bones, blood vessels, and organs. Your body creates collagen from amino acids, which form long, rope-like chains to give the protein its strength. [1]

You may have heard about the importance of collagen for your skin health. It plays a key role in giving your skin elasticity, helping it stretch when it needs to, and bounce back afterwards. Collagen production decreases with age, which is why your skin becomes less firm and develops fine lines as you get older. [2]

Types of collagen

There are 28 different collagen types, with each performing slightly different roles in your body. Here are some of the most common:

• Type I: Accounts for around 90% of your body's total collagen, helps give skin, bones, tendons, and ligaments firmness and strength.
• Type II: Mostly found in joint cartilage, aids mobility and absorbs shock.
• Type III: Maintains structure and elasticity in softer tissues, like skin, muscle, organs, and blood vessels.
• Type IV: Forms the flexible membrane between skin layers and around muscle, fat and nerve cells.
• Type V: Helps organize Types I and Type III, found in skin, cornea, bones, and hair follicles. [1] [3]

Does collagen help with weight loss?

There's minimal clinical evidence to suggest that collagen directly impacts weight loss. However, the benefits of collagen elsewhere in your body may indirectly support your efforts. Here's how.

Relieving joint pain

Because collagen forms the main building blocks of your connective tissues, it's no surprise that it's associated with good joint health. Healthy joints are essential if you're going to be exercising more as part of a weight loss program. Movement burns calories and can help you maintain a calorie deficit, where you use more energy than you consume. This encourages your body to use stored fat for fuel, causing you to lose weight. Studies show that collagen supplementation can help reduce stiffness and joint pain, making physical activity more comfortable. [4] [5] [6]

Maintaining muscle mass

Similarly, collagen makes up the structure of your muscle fibers. Muscle preservation is essential during weight loss, due to the fact that muscle burns calories even at rest, helping increase your energy expenditure. It's recommended that you include resistance training and other strengthening activities to prevent muscle loss. One study found that taking collagen peptide supplements alongside weight training could help you increase your muscle mass. [7]

Reducing body fat

Some studies show a link between collagen and body composition, specifically the development of fat cells. Research published in 2023 found collagen supplementation had a beneficial effect on body fat reduction in adults over the age of 50. [8] Another study also found that collagen helped suppress fat accumulation in overweight adults. [9] However, more clinical trials are needed to confirm this early evidence.

Adding collagen to your diet

If you're looking to introduce more collagen into your diet alongside your weight loss program, there are two ways to do this.

The first is eating foods rich in collagen, or that support your body's natural collagen production process. Bone broths, chicken (particularly the skin), fish, and gelatin are all direct sources of collagen. Foods rich in vitamin C, zinc and copper, such as citrus fruits, berries, leafy vegetables and beans, provide your body with essential nutrients and amino acids to boost the production of collagen. [10]

To use the collagen found in animal-based products, your body must first break down the whole collagen fibres into amino acids. This is because whole collagen fibres are too large to be absorbed by your gut. [11] However, collagen supplementation doesn't require this process. Supplements like collagen powder use hydrolyzed collagen, also known as collagen peptides or collagen hydrolysate, which is already broken down and can be absorbed easily by your digestive system.

Depending on where the collagen is sourced from, different supplements contain different types, giving them a range of benefits for your body. Some examples include:

• Bovine collagen peptides: One of the most widely used varieties, bovine collagen is sourced from cows and contains types I and III, helping support healthy skin, bones, and joints. [6] [12]
• Marine collagen peptides: Sourced from fish and abundant in type I collagen, so it's commonly found in supplements promoting skin elasticity and structure. [13] [14]
• Chicken collagen peptides: Derived from chicken cartilage and rich in type II collagen, which helps support joint health and flexibility. [15]
• Vegan collagen peptides: If you're vegan, there are options available but it's important to know that they won't contain actual collagen protein. Most vegan options use ingredients designed to support or stimulate your own collagen, such as amino acids or yeast-derived peptides.

It's important to remember that, although a type of protein, collagen supplements aren't a substitute for a balanced diet, and you cannot get your daily protein intake from supplements alone.

If you're thinking of starting your weight loss journey, our team can help. Find out if you're eligible for support with MedExpress today.

References

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2. Varani J, Dame MK, Rittie L, Fligiel SEG, Kang S, Fisher GJ, et al. Decreased Collagen Production in Chronologically Aged Skin. The American Journal of Pathology [Internet]. 2006 June 1 [cited 2026 Aug 14];168(6):1861–8. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1606623/

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6. Kumar S, Sugihara F, Suzuki K, Inoue N, Venkateswarathirukumara S. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, clinical study on the effectiveness of collagen peptide on osteoarthritis. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture [Internet]. 2014 June 24 [cited 2026 Aug 14];95(4):702–7. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jsfa.6752

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9. Tak Y, Kim Y, Lee J, Yi YH, Cho Y, Kang G, et al. Effect of Oral Ingestion of Low-Molecular Collagen Peptides Derived from Skate (Raja Kenojei) Skin on Body Fat in Overweight Adults: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Marine Drugs. 2019 Mar 7 [cited 2026 Aug 14];17(3):157. Available from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6471368/

10. Boyera N, Galey I, Bernard BA. Effect of vitamin C and its derivatives on collagen synthesis and cross-linking by normal human fibroblasts. International Journal of Cosmetic Science. 1998 June [cited 2026 Aug 14];20(3):151–8. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18505499/

11. MD PP, MD MMS. Considering collagen drinks and supplements? [Internet]. Harvard Health. 2023 Apr [cited 2026 Aug 14]. Available from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/considering-collagen-drinks-and-supplements-202304122911

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