Research published in the journal Nutrients found that collagen could prove to be a safe and effective weight-loss supplement, with the findings set to be presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity.
During the study, individuals that ate protein bars enriched with collagen lost twice as much weight as a control group that did not have the supplement.
They also experienced greater decreases in blood pressure and waist circumference and saw their liver health improve more.
Collagen is a protein that is found in connective tissue, with a number of collagen-enriched protein bars already available on the market.
“Our results indicate that, by swelling in the stomach, the collagen made the participants feel less hungry, which would have led to them eating less and so losing weight,” said researcher Dr Paola Mogna-Peláez from the University of Navarra in Spain.
Methodology
Dr Mogna-Peláez was interested in testing the effects on collagen consumption on weight loss because of its relative cost compared to many other weight loss drugs.
“It is a protein that is cheap and easy to obtain and is not known to have any side-effects [and] it is also a compound that the public is familiar with,” she explained.
“Crucially, collagen’s structure can be modified to allow it to absorb extra water, which leads to it growing in size.”
Working alongside colleagues at the University of Navarra, Dr Mogna-Peláez conducted a 12-week randomised controlled trial that involved 64 overweight or obese individuals aged 20 to 65.
All of the participants were given healthy eating advice based on the Mediterranean diet, while half were also asked to a eat chocolate-flavoured protein bar enriched with collagen with a glass of water before lunch and dinner each day.
To measure the impact, the participants were asked to fill in an appetite questionnaire and periodically undergo a range of body measurements and other tests.
After 12 weeks, the group consuming collagen had lost an additional 1.5kg on average (3kg lost vs 1.5kg lost) than the control group despite both groups consuming the same number of calories. Systolic blood pressure also fell for the group consuming the protein bars, while the waist circumference, BMI and fatty liver index also fell more in the collagen group than in the control group.
Furthermore, the questionnaire showed that the collagen group felt less hungry and fuller than the control group.
“Collagen may also have led to the participants building muscle and we know that muscle burns more calories than fat,” added Dr Mogna-Peláez.
“It is also possible that collagen changes the make-up of bacteria in the gut, which may aid with weight loss and appetite control.”
