Julie says…I don’t know if it’s available in the States, but in Malasia there’s is a coffee with collagen that supposedly has anti-aging effects. Is this product really good for my skin?
The Left Brain responds:
The product that Julie is referring to is the Nestlé’s “Nescafe Body 3-in-1 Coffee with Collagen.” According to what I read it is sold only in Singapore but Nestle has experimented previously with similar products in Japan. This is one of several new Nescafe products that promote “beauty from within.” But does it really work?
Collagen quandary
On one hand, there does appear to be some science behind this. According to at least one study (Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2009 Apr 23;73(4):930-2. Epub 2009 Apr 7.) daily ingestion of collagen peptide can help control UV-B induced skin damage and photoaging. In this particular study, subjects ingested 0.2 g of collagen peptide per kilogram of body mass per day. That’s approximately 11 grams of collagen per day for a 125 pound woman. On the other hand, coffee doesn’t appear to be an effective way to administer that much collagen. The Nescafe product contains about 200 mg (or .2 grams) per cup, so you’d need to drink about 55 cups of coffee every day to achieve the benefits that the collagen study identified. (You’d also need to drink 26 glasses of wine to calm down from all that caffeine!)
The Beauty Brains bottom line
Based on a quick review of a single study, there does appear to be a possibility that ingesting enough of the right kind of collagen may be beneficial for your skin. But don’t fall for the marketing hype of collagen coffee.
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Correct me if i’m wrong, but a lot of those collagen additives in drinks and yoghurts etc. comes from pigs.
I was in Hong Kong about to enjoy a collagen yoghurt drink, and then I read the ingredients and I couldn’t do it!
Coffee contains Caffeine which is a vaso-constrictor — that is it narrows blood vessels. That is the rational for using it in eye care products to reduce puffy and swollen eye areas. Tea also has significant amounts of caffeine and that is why a cold tea bag is a time honored remedy for puffy eyes. I’ve tried both and neither seemed to help very much.
@Sarah – So I guess that means collagen coffee isn’t kosher?
Seriously though, I, and my mom, both have allergies to pork and pork products. She gets severe headaches and tells me when she was a kid it would make her throw up for hours. Me – well, let’s just say I spend a lot of time curled up on the bathroom floor wishing I was dead. So if this is true I guess that means I can’t use any collagen products.
I stocked up on collagen pills when I was in Tokyo (DHC, Fancl and Meiji), can’t remember the amount of collagen in them but the collagen they used comes from fish.
the coffee in Malaysia that have become market leaders with this unique offering is Alicafe
The collagen used is marine matrix collagen as the pack reads
correction: Alicafe 5 in 1 is cofee with ginseng and a power root called tongkat ali
the range with marine matrix collagen is the PERL range