Collagen has escaped.
Once largely confined to expensive face creams and the beauty aisle, it's now in powders, gummies, coffee and bone broth.
Ocado says searches for collagen are up 38% in a year. Searches for beef bone broth are up 194%.
Apparently moisturising from the outside was no longer enough.
But somewhere between adding collagen to our morning coffee and drinking what is essentially very fashionable gravy, beauty became something we're supposed to eat.
So, can you actually eat your way to better skin?
What actually is collagen?
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body and helps provide structure to our skin, bones, tendons and other connective tissues.
Our bodies make it themselves, using amino acids from the protein we eat alongside nutrients including vitamin C. But collagen production changes as we age, which goes some way to explaining why the beauty industry has become so interested in it.
Except we're no longer just putting it on our faces.
We're eating it.
Welcome to edible skincare
Collagen powders are being stirred into coffee. Gummies promise glowing skin. Bone broth has somehow gone from something your grandmother might make to something you can buy in a very beautiful pouch.
And it's part of a much bigger shift towards beauty from within.
We don't just want breakfast to fill us up anymore. We would quite like it to improve our skin while it's there.
No pressure, breakfast.
But does eating collagen actually work?
When you eat collagen, it doesn't simply travel directly to your forehead.
It's digested into smaller peptides and amino acids, which can then be absorbed and used by the body.
Which is considerably less satisfying than imagining a collagen gummy heading directly towards a wrinkle.
And when it comes to whether supplements actually improve skin, the science is slightly messy.
Earlier systematic reviews found that collagen supplementation may improve measures including skin hydration and elasticity (Miranda et al., 2021; Pu et al., 2023).
Then a 2025 review of 23 randomised controlled trials found something interesting. When all the studies were combined, collagen appeared to improve hydration, elasticity and wrinkles. But when researchers looked only at higher-quality studies - or studies without pharmaceutical-company funding - those significant benefits disappeared (Myung and Park, 2025).
Since then, a large 2026 umbrella review covering 113 randomised trials has reported favourable outcomes across several skin and musculoskeletal measures (Ravindran et al., 2026).
And another systematic review published in August 2026 found potential improvements in skin hydration and elasticity, while cautioning that the studies varied considerably, follow-up was generally short and industry involvement was common (Moltó-Balado and Simeó-Monzó, 2026).
So collagen isn't obviously nonsense.
But it isn't powdered eternal youth either.
The evidence is promising in places, contradictory in others, and study quality matters.
Your body was making collagen before TikTok discovered it
Perhaps the bit getting lost in the collagen boom is that you don't actually have to eat collagen for your body to make it.
Protein provides amino acids your body can use, while nutrients including vitamin C contribute to normal collagen formation.
So alongside the powders, gummies and fashionable gravy, the less exciting answer is still a varied diet that gives your body the nutrients it needs.
Not quite as exciting as a £35 tub with impeccable typography.
But useful nonetheless.
And that's where we tend to land at ALYVE too.
Rather than adding every nutrient currently having a moment to your kitchen cupboard, Alyve starts with your diet, lifestyle and goals to create a personalised daily formula around what you need.
Because supporting your body from within doesn't necessarily require another trending powder.
Sometimes it just requires knowing what you're actually missing.
Take Alyve's personalised supplement quiz here!
So, has skincare moved into the kitchen?
It certainly looks that way.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the collagen boom isn't collagen at all. It's that the line between nutrition and beauty is disappearing.
Our skin is part of our body, so of course what we eat matters.
But that doesn't mean one powder, gummy or particularly photogenic bowl of bone broth can do all the work.
Enjoy the collagen coffee. Eat the protein. Get your vitamin C.
Just don't expect your gummy to know where your wrinkles are.
References
Miranda, R.B., Weimer, P. and Rossi, R.C. (2021) ‘Effects of hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, International Journal of Dermatology, 60(12), pp. 1449–1461. doi: 10.1111/ijd.15518.
Pu, S-Y., Huang, Y-L., Pu, C-M., Kang, Y-N., Hoang, K.D., Chen, K-H. and Chen, C. (2023) ‘Effects of oral collagen for skin anti-aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Nutrients, 15(9), 2080. doi: 10.3390/nu15092080.
Myung, S-K. and Park, Y. (2025) ‘Effects of collagen supplements on skin aging: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials’, The American Journal of Medicine, 138(9), pp. 1264–1277. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2025.04.034.
Ravindran, R., Pizzol, D., López-Gil, J.F., Rahmati, M., Boyer, L., Fond, G., Butler, L., Stellato, A., Gawronska, J., Barnett, Y., Keyes, H., Soysal, P., Eren, R., Onal, B., Yon, D.K. and Smith, L. (2026) ‘Collagen supplementation for skin and musculoskeletal health: an umbrella review of meta-analyses on elasticity, hydration, and structural outcomes’, Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum, 8, ojag018. doi: 10.1093/asjof/ojag018.
Moltó-Balado, P. and Simeó-Monzó, A. (2026) ‘Oral collagen supplementation for skin hydration and elasticity: a systematic review and meta-analysis’, Journal of Aesthetic Medicine, 2(3), 17. doi: 10.3390/jaestheticmed2030017.
