It's not a good idea because while one can avoid eating red meat, collagen hydrolysate is mainly obtainable only from bovine sources. Fishes are polluted. As one gets older, collagen becomes necessary for remaining healthy, and no synthetic amino acid mixture comes close in effect.

Also imagine that meat can in theory be lab grown.

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iknowstuff 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No thanks. I'd rather not get prion disease. Also:

1. Eating collagen supplements has not been established as a necessary dietary requirement. Your cells synthesize collagen from amino acids, with vitamin C serving as a required cofactor. Some trials report modest improvements in wrinkles, skin hydration, joint pain, or bone measures, but that supports collagen as an optional targeted supplement, not something everyone must consume to remain healthy.

2. Bovine is common, but commercial collagen also comes from porcine skin, chicken cartilage, fish skin/scales, and jellyfish. A randomized clinical trial, for example, used pork-skin collagen, while another tested fish-derived collagen. Actual collagen is animal-derived unless produced through recombinant biotechnology.

3. “No synthetic amino-acid mixture comes close in effect.” This lacks evidence. In a 2025 randomized double-blind study, participants received 30 g of collagen hydrolysate, a free-amino-acid mixture precisely matching collagen’s amino-acid profile, or placebo. Collagen and the amino-acid mixture produced similar blood amino-acid increases, and neither increased muscle connective-tissue protein synthesis versus placebo over six hours.

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OutOfHere 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You know much theory, but demonstrate zero practical knowledge:

0. There is near-zero risk of prion disease from cows in the US considering they're domesticated, not wild. There is no recent history of it either in the US. Collagen hydrolysate is highly processed to be short-chain.

1. As one gets older, vitamin C, no matter how much of it is consumed, is useful but insufficient for collagen synthesis.

2. You're right in theory about chicken/fish/pork collagen, but the commercial availability of their derived collagen hydrolysate is terrible or contaminated. Only bovine collagen hydrolysate has excellent and contaminant-free commercial availability.

3. You're measuring the wrong thing. It is not isolated amino acids have the resulting healing effects. It is only peptides, and these are poorly synthesized from plain amino acids.

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jeffbee 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If I understand the literature correctly, there is no strong evidence in favor of collagen as a dietary supplement outside of a dose just before weight lifting, because without the exertion the amino acids in blood simply don't reach tendons and ligaments.

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OutOfHere 5 hours ago | parent [-]

You won't understand until you get much older, your joints start to hurt, and your sleep becomes miserable. When you try collagen then in a sufficient amount, e.g. 15g/day, only then might you understand.

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jeffbee 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Collagen for osteoarthritis is well-supported by research. I was responding to the statement about connective tissues.

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OutOfHere 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

One doesn't have to wait for a full-blown osteoarthritis diagnosis to benefit from it. One can start at the first sign.

Also, sleep health is an independent consideration for which it benefits.

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ButlerianJihad 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> osteoarthritis

This is, nine times out of ten, a bullshit diagnosis, and here is why.

Providers have systematically and knowingly misidentified arthrosis and other degenerative diseases. Because guess what? You can medicate and relieve inflammation, but -osis is not curable and very difficult to heal.

So rather than tell the truth to elderly patients with degenerating bodies, the providers lie and say there is inflammation. Then the providers recommend a panacea, literally, that matches that bullshit diagnosis, and the arthrosis patients go on their merry way with “arthritis” pills in their pockets.

It is an extreme disservice to suffering people, but that is how capitalism and health care work.

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skeledrew 2 hours ago | parent [-]

> and here is why

LLM? Or LLMism adoption?

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ButlerianJihad 2 hours ago | parent [-]

dafuq is wrong with y’all and normal English sentences?

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skeledrew 2 hours ago | parent [-]

It's strange and unnecessary usage. LLMs generate normal English sentences which sometimes look strange and have unnecessary bits.

	▲	ButlerianJihad 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I’ll tell you what’s unnecessary is prickly commenters who call out ordinary English writing for no fuckin’ reason except to smell their own fuckin’ farts, so MYOB

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toasty228 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Fishes are polluted

Wait until you learn how 99.9% of cows are treated lol