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Collagen Supplementation for Skin and Musculoskeletal Health: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses on Elasticity, Hydration, and Structural Outcomes

Roshan Ravindran, Damiano Pizzol, José Francisco López-Gil, Masoud Rahmati, Laurent Boyer, Guillaume Fond, Laurie Butler, Angelica Stellato, Julia Gawronska, Yvonne Barnett, Helen Keyes, Pinar Soysal, Rafet Eren, Burak Onal, Dong Keon Yon, Lee Smith
Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum 2026 8:ojag018

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 41809116
PubMed Central
PMC12968778
DOI
10.1093/asjof/ojag018
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of the article.
Competing interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Study snapshot

DesignUmbrella review of published systematic reviews and meta-analyses; literature through March 6, 2025
ModelParticipants across previously published collagen RCTs and meta-analyses
Sample16 systematic reviews; nominally 113 RCTs and 7,983 participants; trial overlap possible
InterventionMultiple collagen preparations and comparator types
DurationVaried
EndpointsSkin elasticity and hydration; Osteoarthritis pain and function; Bone and muscle outcomes; Review methodological quality

What the study showed, in plain terms

This large umbrella synthesis reports favorable pooled skin and musculoskeletal outcomes, but the included reviews are largely methodologically weak and may repeatedly count overlapping primary trials.

Key findings

Reported favorable skin elasticity and hydration, bone/muscular and OA metrics; AMSTAR-2 judged only one included meta-analysis high quality, four low and the others critically low.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Double counting of RCTs across included meta-analyses is possible. AMSTAR-2 distribution limits certainty; does not supersede the 2025 funding-sensitive skin review or establish product-specific clinical effects.

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology