Want A Side Of Collagen With That?

Ingestible collagen is being hailed as a hero for everything from your tum to your training. But, how legit is it? WH sorts the reality from the hype

- Alex Davies

I throw my usuals in the blender: banana, zucchini, spinach, almond milk, nut butter. Then I grab a small sachet of collagen – the latest addition to my pantry – and sprinkle in the powdered contents. Yep, I’m spiking my smoothie with the same stuff that’s been a standard injectable filler in the cosmetic world for decades.

Once reserved for beauty-circle chat, collagen is fast becoming a wellness staple for devotees crediting it for a soothed gut and bolstered workouts as well as glowing skin. Don’t fancy it as a powder in your blend? Then munch on a collagen bar, brew a collagen coffee or even sip on a bottle of water packed with the stuff. But between the marketing speak, new science and the fact not all experts are drinking the collagen-infused Kool-Aid, a big question remains: is the hype worth buying into?

WHERE IT STARTED

Anna Lahey clocked the trend six years ago on a holiday in Japan. “Women there have been using marine collagen for over 300 years,” says the Sydney-based entrepreneur. “It’s part of their daily diet: people go to a restaurant and actually have their meal infused with collagen; they go to their supermarket or the equivalent of 7-Eleven and collagen’s available; they go to the gym and there are collagen drinks on offer. We just didn’t have anything like that in Australia back then.”

Curious, she brought some powder home from her trip and saw “amazing” results over a year of using it herself – stronger nails, better skin and a reduction in the hair loss she’d struggled with since her teens. After waxing lyrical about this new wonder product to friends and family, Lahey co-launched a marine collagen range – Vida Glow – into the Australian market in 2014. (The brand now ships worldwide and claims to have an 80 per cent repeat customer rate.)