39 Does Collagen Help?

In this episode I look at a systematic review of collagen peptide supplementation to see its effects on joint pain, body composition, post-workout recovery and muscle soreness. As it turns out, collagen contains especially high amounts of the amino acid hydroxyproline, a semi-essential amino acid that's not found in your other protein supplements. Semi-essential means our bodies can manufacture this amino acid, but at great cost - so if you're working out to gain strength and/or speed, you could be wasting a lot of your protein just repairing joints and tendons, rather than building muscle. From the research contained in this systematic review, I'll be increasing my collagen supplementation to 15g daily from my usual 10g. As always, if you live your life on the road, I hope you're not only surviving, but thriving, even when you're out of your element!