The Effect on Body Composition and/or Muscle Strength
In our previous article, we referenced a collagen supplementation review article by Mishi Khatri et al that was published in the journal Amino Acids in September 2021. To continue our exploration of that research, we will now look at studies relating to body composition and muscle strength.
The researchers reviewed four such studies, all involving resistance-training exercise programs with collagen supplementation versus placebo.
One trial focused on an elderly, sarcopenic male population. The patients all participated in a supervised resistance-training exercise regimen, and each received either collagen supplementation of 15 gm per day for 3 months or a placebo. The trial participants did not know which of those two they were receiving.
Two studies were conducted in a recreationally active group of younger men. The methods were otherwise identical: resistance-training exercise and collagen supplementation, 15 gm per day for 3 months, or placebo. Again, the patients did not know whether they received actual collagen or a placebo.
The fourth study was in untrained, not premenopausal women who were not recreationally active. They also had resistance training and the same collagen supplementation of 15 gm per day for 3 months versus a placebo, and again they did not know which they were taking.
Here were the outcomes:
The elderly, sarcopenic men showed benefit from the resistance-training program, as expected; however, statistically significant improvement was seen in the group with collagen supplementation. No such improvement was seen in the placebo group, indicating that collagen supplementation aided both body composition (increased muscle mass) and strength. (You can read our own article on dynapenia, or the loss of muscle strength, by clicking on Vitamin D, Dynapenia, And You.)
In the study involving untrained, premenopausal women, there was a greater increase in the fat-free mass (FFM), a greater decrease in total body fat (BF), and an increase in hand-grip strength in the group taking the collagen that was not seen in the placebo group.
In the two studies with physically active men, the group taking the collagen had a significant increase in FFM and a decrease in total body mass, or total weight. For the group taking a placebo, there was an overall increase in total body mass, but not preferentially in FFM.
Now for a little science behind these findings.
The improvements in FFM are possibly due to an increase in connective tissue. Studies dating back a decade show an increase in the extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis with collagen supplementation. Connective tissue and the ECM are what support, strengthen and maintain our muscles and bones. Collagen supplementation has been shown to reduce body weight gain as well as reduce adipocyte (fat cell) enlargement.
By studying the protein makeup of muscle tissue in patients receiving collagen supplementation, we can see a higher increase in the muscle-building proteins of myosin, actin-binding protein, and tropomyosin when specifically compared to those patients undergoing exercise only. Stated more simply, adding collagen supplementation to exercise allows our muscles to build more proteins.
In summary, collagen supplementation of 15 gm per day for a period of at least 3 months has been shown to improve body composition and muscle strength across a wide range of trial participants — from elderly, weak men, to younger active men, to inactive women — when added to an exercise program.
Want to read more? Here are the links to other research noted in this article:
- Schunck M, Oesser, S (2103). Specific collagen peptides benefit the biosynthesis of matrix molecules of tendons and ligaments. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 10(Suppl 1):p23, doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-10-S1-P23.
- Chiang TI, et al.(2016). Amelioration of estrogen deficiency-induced obesity by collagen hydrolysate. Int J Med Sci 13(11):853-857. doi.org/10.7150/ijms.16706.
- Oertzen-Hagermann V, et al. (2019). Effects of 12 weeks of hypertrophy resistance exercise training combined with collagen peptide supplementation on the skeletal muscle proteome in recreationally active men. Nutrients. doi.org/10.3390/nu1151072.