Reflections | Taking collagen is like the old Chinese belief that eating pigs’ brains improves brain power

I recently read a story in The Guardian that questioned the efficacy of taking collagen orally. It should be required reading for those who take collagen in the hope of retaining, or acquiring, youthful-looking skin.

Allow me to quote a few lines: “Here’s the kicker: collagen is a complex protein made up of 19 different amino acids. If you eat it, the digestive tract’s job is to break down the amino acids before releasing them into the blood stream – and there’s no guarantee they will reform in the same way.”

A clinical dermatologist interviewed for the story “agrees that while there’s little harm in taking collagen supplements, getting the building blocks of the protein from a good, rounded diet is a logical and cheaper way to go.”

But going the logical and cheaper route is counter-intuitive for many people. For them, the more fanciful the claim, the more convincing it is; the higher the price, the more effective it must be. Hence, we see the proliferation of collagen supplements in powdered or pill forms, and the popularity of foodstuffs allegedly laden with the youth-giving protein such as fish maw, which are the dried swim bladders of certain fish; something called “peach gum”; and the collagen-rich stew bijin nabe (literally “beauty pot”) that is now available in many Japanese restaurants.

The belief that digested collagen will regroup to form the same collagen in our bodies reminds me of the Chinese culinary tradition of “strengthening like with like” (yixing buxing). According to this belief, which, surprisingly, still has adherents, eating chicken feet strengthens one’s legs, pig’s livers are good for liver health, pigs’ brains improves brainpower, and so on.