The Best Collagen Powders, According to a Dietitian

open nature collagen peptides review
open nature collagen peptides review

Collagen is the “it” ingredient these days. After all, it’s now a regular add-in to items like smoothies and smoothie bowls at home, your gym café or your neighborhood smoothie shop—and for good reason because taking collagen regularly (even every day) may help your skin appear younger and less wrinkly, speed up wound healing, help with recovery from a hard weight-lifting session, strengthen your hair and bones and ease joint pain.

So, which collagen powder should you take if you want to add a collagen supplement to your regimen? Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best collagen powders. We started by rounding up a list of top sellers and then whittled the list down to collagen powders that are also independently verified for quality. Then—to finalize our list—we asked a dietitian to weigh in.

What Is Collagen?

Collagen brings strength, structure and elasticity to our connective tissues, tendons, ligaments, bones and skin. But as we age, our body becomes less efficient at producing collagen. According to recent research, by age 40, we lose about 1% of our collagen every year, and by around age 80, we have 75% less collagen than a young adult.

While a total of 28 types of collagen have been discovered, five are the most common. Type I is the most abundant in our body, making up over 90% of the collagen in the human body. This form of collagen is in the skin, bone, teeth, tendons, ligaments and organs. Type II is in cartilage, and type III is mainly in the skin, muscle and blood vessels. Type IV is in the epithelial tissue layers, which cover body surfaces and line body cavities. And then type V is one of the main elements of cell surfaces and the placenta. But from a supplement standpoint, you’ll mostly find Types I, II and III.

There are foods that are naturally rich in collagen. And there are other forms of collagen supplements, like capsules and liquid. There are also so-called vegan collagen supplements on the market, and they don’t actually contain collagen (collagen is inherently not vegan). Instead, these products comprise other ingredients that stimulate collagen production.

But arguably, the most popular way to up your collagen intake is with a collagen powder. Collagen powders can be extracted from a few different sources, with the most common being bovine (cattle), porcine (pigs), ovine (sheep), chicken and fish (usually labeled “marine” collagen).