Why Collagen Supplements Leave a Bad Taste in My Mouth
I’d like to talk about collagen. It’s product constantly marketed at women our age and I believe very cynically so.
It’s a protein — a very big molecule — which has to be broken down into amino acids to be transported round the body. Where it gets to and what the body does with them depends on the body’s signalling. There’s no guarantee that they will be used to build collagen.
The reason we lose collagen is not a shortage of amino acids. The cellular mechanism that makes collagen gets more flawed as we get older. Also oestrogen signals the body to make collagen, so we notice the difference in our skin as we go through menopause.
If you were short of amino acids, the best thing you could do is eat a diet rich in good quality proteins — which we are indeed advised to do. There are certain amino acids that are essential because the body can’t make them from other amino acids. Proteins that contain all the essential amino acids are called complete proteins — they include meat, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy.
If you are reliant on plant protein it’s likely that you’ll have to combine different incomplete proteins to make sure that you have all the amino acids you need.
Collagen is not a complete protein.
There’s no evidence that collagen is effective and plenty of scientific reasons why it couldn’t be.
Society puts a lot of pressure on women to look good — and we usually like to look our best too. That can make visible ageing distressing.
Distress makes it easy to exploit people.
What I find just as upsetting is that women are recruited to sell such products through multi-level marketing — often because they are struggling to manage earning a living with their other responsibilities.
They’re encouraged to sell in some really uncomfortable ways — such as direct messaging people in Facebook groups — like The Effing Menopausers — that are set up to support women through menopause and don’t allow selling.
They are frequently asked to leave. That can’t feel great.
The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth to be honest. Unlike all those yummy proteins you can enjoy while nourishing yourself!
