Protein. Creatine. Vitamin D. Omega-3s. These are all essential supplements that you’re probably already taking, but there’s one more that you might not know that much about: collagen. This is a key building block of cartilage, ligaments, tendons, and the other connective tissues that keep your body supple and supported. In this article, we’ll catch you up on what supplemental collagen can do for you and how our newest product makes it easier than ever for you to incorporate it into your daily routine.
Why Do I Need a Collagen Supplement?
Collagen is a catch-all term for three types of protein fibers found throughout your body. It’s released by connective tissue and can also be ingested orally through foods like bone broth and meat. Collagen comprises nearly 70 percent of your total cartilage mass and is also an integral component of bones and other connective tissues, such as ligaments, tendons, and fascia. In addition, collagen helps provide structure to the web-like extra cellular matrix that supplies cushioning and support to your musculoskeletal system.
If you looked at collagen up close in a laboratory setting, you’d see a cable-like structure that’s made up of a bundle of small fibers called macrofibrils. These are comprised of even smaller fibers called microfibrils. It’s this intertwined composition that gives collagen its strength and resilience.
Between 10 percent and 15 percent of collagen peptides are absorbed intact into the bloodstream and distributed to collagen-rich areas of the body, including the joints, skin, etc. As you age, your body’s natural collagen-producing capabilities decline, as does your ability to absorb it from external sources to repair existing tissues and form new ones. Such a drop off can contribute to a deficiency that increases the incidence of soft tissue, joint, and bone-related injury, cause or exacerbate joint pain, and limit recovery. This decline starts as early as your late 20s to early 30s and accelerates over time. While a healthy diet that is rich in meat (bovine and porcine) and fish like cod, pollock, and salmon help, it often doesn’t go far enough to give you sufficient collagen. This is why daily supplementation can be beneficial.
What’s the Difference Between Performance-Focused and Beauty-Centric Collagen?
Many of the bestselling collagen products that you’ll find online and in your local grocery store are designed to improve the appearance of customers’ hair, skin, and nails. There’s nothing wrong with that, but these formulations are very different to those that are engineered to promote joint health, injury recovery, and sports performance.
That’s why when we formulated Collagen Shot, we zeroed in on type I and II collagen as the main ingredients. These promote the repair of existing connective tissues and, when combined with regular exercise, kickstart the creation of new tissues that increase the durability of your extracellular matrix (ECM), ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and other support structures by increasing collagen synthesis.
Momentous Collagen Shot also includes 35 milligrams of vitamin C per serving, which research has demonstrated is a clinically effective dose that promotes maximum uptake and absorption. Many beauty-focused collagen products don’t contain any vitamin C, while others fall short of this mark and so are less efficacious.
When Should I Take Collagen, and Do I Only Need it on Training Days?
If you’re targeting to optimize longevity, then you should take Momentous Collagen Shot 30 to 60 minutes before your workout. This was validated in a study conducted by Gregory Shaw, Keith Baar, and their UC Davis colleagues, who found that collagen synthesis doubles when you pair pre-exercise collagen and vitamin C consumption with exercise.[i] If you’re struggling with an injury and need to support tissue repair, then you could add in a second dose at another time of day.
On active recovery days, you could modulate your consumption and only take 10 grams of collagen, whereas on occasions when you have two-a-days or are going hard and fast, you’d do well to take 20 grams or more. As with other supplements mentioned earlier in this article, consistency is key if you want to see the maximum benefit from collagen.
How Can Momentous Collagen Shot Help Me?
There are many occasions when life throws you curveballs and this isn’t realistic, whether you’re an athlete who’s on the road, a busy mom or dad, or a warfighter or first responder in the field.
It’s for use cases such as these that we developed the new single-serving Momentous Collagen Shot. To get a clinically effective combination of collagen and vitamin C, just pull the top off, drink the contents, and get on with your day. By enabling you to take a potent, performance-focused collagen supplement everywhere, we’ve made it easier to build this essential micronutrient into your daily routine.
[i] Gregory Shaw et al, “Vitamin C–Enriched Gelatin Supplementation Before Intermittent Activity Augments Collagen Synthesis,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2017, available online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5183725/.
