Is taking collagen a waste of your time and money?

Is taking collagen a waste of your time and money?

From The Emma Guns Show by Emma Gunavardhana

February 22, 2026 · 1h 10m

About this episode

Emma Gunavardhana discusses the efficacy of collagen supplements with guest Maxine Laceby, who conducted a clinical trial on the subject.

The question I think I'm asked most when it comes to beauty these days is, 'should I be taking collagen?' It sells a good story, doesn't it? Take this daily supplement and all that collagen and youthfulness we're told starts to deteriorate after we hit 30, will be topped up and wrinkles, jowls and sagging will have a much harder time showing up on your skin. It's all great but where's the proof? Just because we begin to lose our collagen stores as we age, doesn't mean eating or drinking collagen will do the job we think it will. In fact, whenever I have been asked whether collagen is something worth taking, my response has been 'it can't do any harm, but no derm I've spoken to says there's a direct and proven link so, for me, the jury's out'. Until now... In this episode, I chat with Maxine Laceby from Absolute Collagen who took a big risk by putting collagen through a gold standard double blind placebo clinical trial. A trial where neither the participants or the researchers know who is receiving the active treatment versus an inactive placebo. This kind of trial is accepted by medicine as objective scientific methodology that produces knowledge untainted by bias. Essentially…

People in this episode

Host: Emma Gunavardhana

Guest: Maxine Laceby

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Absolute Collagen

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