how to read a collagen label in about twenty seconds

I have become the person who stands in an aisle turning cans around, which is not a personality I chose. But this has genuinely saved me money, so here is the checklist, in the order I run it.

one, find the grams

Not the serving size. Not the number of servings. The grams of collagen per serving.

The trials that found something used real amounts. Two and a half grams for nails, five for bone, ten and up in several skin and joint studies. If a product holds half a gram, it is wearing the word rather than delivering the ingredient.

Also check what the grams describe. Twenty two grams of collagen peptides is not the same claim as 20 grams of collagen protein, and a brand that gives you both numbers is being straight with you.

two, check for the word hydrolysed

Hydrolysed collagen, collagen peptides, or collagen hydrolysate. All three mean the same thing, which is that the protein has been broken into fragments small enough to absorb.

If a label just says collagen with none of those words anywhere, ask why. There is a whole piece on this blog about what that step does.

three, source and type

Bovine, marine, porcine, chicken. Type I and III, or type II. A product that will not tell you where its main ingredient came from has told you something.

Watch the units on type II specifically. Undenatured type II is dosed around 40 milligrams and is not comparable by weight to hydrolysed peptides dosed in grams. That is a legitimate ingredient, not a trick, but the numbers look wildly different for a reason.

four, the sweetener and the sugar line

Total sugars and added sugars are separate lines on a US Nutrition Facts panel, and the gap between them is informative. One gram of total sugar with zero added is fruit juice doing flavour work. Fifteen grams added is a soft drink with a claim on it.

Then look at what is providing the sweetness. Sugar alcohols such as erythritol and maltitol are a well documented cause of bloating at volume. Monk fruit and stevia are not.

five, proprietary blends

If you see a proprietary blend, a beauty blend, a wellness matrix, anything with a single combined weight covering several ingredients, you cannot tell how much of anything is in there.

US labelling rules allow this, and ingredients within the blend must be listed in descending order by weight, which is the only clue you get. If collagen is fourth in a blend, it is a small fraction of an already small number.

The fix is simple. Prefer labels that give a weight per ingredient.

the sixth one, which is not on the label

Who tested it, for what, and can you see the result. Almost nobody prints that, so you have to go looking on the website.

A brand that publishes lot level heavy metal results has made itself checkable. A brand that says third party tested and stops there has said a phrase. There is a whole piece on that distinction, because it is the single biggest gap between how safe this category looks and how safe it is.

Twenty seconds. Grams, hydrolysed, source, sugar, blends, testing. It filters most of a shelf and you will never unlearn it.

LÉS is a beverage, not medicine, and nothing here is medical advice.