Welcome to my collagen-enhanced week. Tea, chewing gum, dissolvable sachets and – new to Australia – wine; all of it carrying the buzzy little protein. I’m prepped, I’m ready and, if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to basking in the promised healthy glow.
Collagen as a skincare trend is booming. The industry was valued at US$4.9 billion ($7.77 billion) globally in 2024, and is forecast to reach US$8.7 billion ($13.8 billion) by 2034. Collagen for skincare products is most often derived from animal sources and, while bovine-sourced collagen reigns supreme, marine collagen is the additive of the moment. There are a plethora of Australian brands selling the product; you’ll have likely seen The Beauty Chef, Par Olive and Vida Glow in your feeds.
We know what collagen might do for us: bouncy skin, thick hair, strong nails. Found naturally in protein-rich foods like skin-on chicken, fish and bone broth, it’s also the most abundant protein in your body. Your cell turnover, the strength of your bones, your skin’s structure and elasticity – all of it relies on collagen. Which is why, in our chronically youth-obsessed society, so many of us have latched on.
This week, I too am latching. The excitement I have for my boosted treats is similar, I guess, to the feeling I have when I try out a powerful face cream, or alleged “gut-resetting” juice cleanse – things I’ve done in past quests to feel/look/be “better”.
Monday: Collagen hits: four (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum)
My morning matcha is rich in “hydrolysed wild-caught Norwegian collagen peptides”. Mid-morning, I stir a sachet of Vida Glow’s mango-flavoured marine collagen into a glass of water, preparing for it to help me “live brilliantly”. A jaw workout on a pellet of strawberry collagen gum gives me 0.03 grams of the stuff. Another mango sachet after dinner and I’m done for the day.
Tuesday: Collagen hits: four (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum)
Marine collagen is nearly always hydrolysed, meaning it’s broken up into smaller peptides, making it easier for your body to absorb. Studies show that it takes around 12 weeks of daily collagen doses for users to self-report noticeable changes in their skin, so my seven-day plan is just a toe-dip.
Tomorrow’s where my beautifying test meets my midweek drinks: two glasses of Pure Glow, the flash new South Australian rosé with marine collagen.
The Watkins family – behind the mega Watkins Wine – say this just-launched bottle is an Australian first. Head winemaker Sam Watkins cut his teeth at Seppeltsfield Barossa and Philip Shaw Wines. For his newest drop, he mixes merlot, shiraz and grenache grapes – grown in the cool-climate Langhorne Creek region – before a proprietary amount of powdered marine collagen is added and it’s sent to be bottled.
Wednesday: Collagen hits: six (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum, two glasses of Pure Glow)
With a couple of drinking buddies at my side, I pour the lightly blushing liquid between three glasses. We cheers, we drink. And it’s good: cherry on the tongue, with the sweet, ripe fruit notes finishing dry. Super sippable. Pure Glow also claims to contain 24 per cent less alcohol than your stock-standard South Australian rosé. Collagen or not, if you’re into rosé you’ll be into Pure Glow. And the knowledge that it’s revved up with the trending supplement doesn’t hurt either.
As the bottle empties, our group reaches a consensus: we would buy again. But not because it made our skin plumper (though we were watching each other’s pores closely).
“It’s the collagen, of course, that’s compelling people to try it,” Pure Glow founder Jo Watkins tells Broadsheet. “But it’s also the whole package: the fact that it’s lighter in alcohol, it’s sustainable, it ticks all the boxes. [The marketing’s] all well and good, but if it doesn’t taste delicious no one’s going to rebuy.
“We don’t claim to be experts in that area … we are experts in making wine, and we’ve found a way to bring two categories together.”
Thursday: Collagen hits: four (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum)
“[Collagen] really is the thing at the moment,” says
clinical nutritionist Brooke Kelly. “It’s almost nauseatingly the thing: you just hear ‘collagen, collagen, collagen, collagen’.
“I don’t think it’s the worst health trend … and we do have some evidence to suggest it can be helpful with gut health. In terms of ‘is it good or bad?’ – there’s no clear-cut answer.”
In fact, while a number of studies have linked collagen to improvements in skin texture and elasticity, so far “no human studies have clearly proven that collagen you take orally will end up in your skin, hair, or nails,” dermatologists Dr Payal Patel and Dr Maryanne Makredes Senna wrote for Harvard Medical School in 2023. (We couldn’t find any scientific research proving it, either.)
But while you can’t dictate exactly where that collagen in your morning matcha will end up (sorry, to my fellow dry-hair-havers), or whether all (or any) of that 0.03-gram dose in your chewie is absorbed, there are general health benefits to boosting production of the protein, joint and muscle health among them.
Friday: Collagen hits: five (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum, one glass of Pure Glow)
My twice-daily three-gram serve from Vida Glow, a decade-old marine collagen wellness brand, contains at least 2.6 grams of the stuff. The brand’s recommended daily serve depends on the person – there’s no widely accepted recommended dietary intake (RDI) for collagen.
As we age, “the collagen production in our body naturally decreases. We get wrinkles and dry skin, reduced bone strength,” Kelly says. “Collagen is really important to be putting into your diet – not in the form of a supplement, but in your food. Whether the collagen you’re actually taking is doing that is a different story.”
(I bolstered my supplements this week with collagen-rich meals: a garlicky veggie-laden soup with a slow-made bone broth base; a three-egg omelette with greens; a Niçoise-style salad with a seared tuna steak and a jammy egg; berries on my morning yoghurt bowls.)
Kelly says if she assessed someone’s diet and lifestyle and determined their need for a collagen supplement, she’d prescribe a highly specific, practitioner-only form, with clear instructions on when and how to take it.
Saturday: Collagen hits: six (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum, two glasses of Pure Glow)
Sunday: Collagen hits: four (tea, two sachets of Vida Glow, gum)
Compared to most cosmetic procedures, the cost of marine collagen supplements is palatable. If it tastes good and if I feel good knowing that I’m “doing something”, and it causes no harm, does the science really matter?
It does, of course. For a lot of people, spending their hard-earned cash on a treatment that could but doesn’t definitely work is extravagant. And currently there’s no hard proof that supplementing collagen will definitely improve the quality of your hair, skin and nails or slow the creep of the fine lines we’re taught to fear.
After my week of collagen loading, am I swanning around with newfound youthfulness? Not exactly. But when I met my friend for coffee on Sunday morning, she did say I looked “glowy”. While I’m still on the fence about repurchasing ingestible beauty products, there has been one clear positive: my daily moments of pause as I whisked that collagen matcha and swirled collagen into my water. I can see why it’s become a part of so many people’s weekly self-care rituals.
@pureglowdrinks
@brooke_kelly_nutrition
This story is part of Broadsheet’s special Wellness Issue, which explores what it means to feel good in 2025.
