Speaking of Women's Health
The Speaking of Women's Health Podcast is excited to bring you credible women's health information from host and Executive Director, Dr. Holly L. Thacker. Dr. Thacker will interview guest clinicians discussing relevant women's health topics and the latest news and tips.
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Speaking of Women's Health
Here’s How to Build Collagen the Smart Way
Speaking of Women's Health Podcast Host Dr. Holly Thacker unpacks what collagen actually is, why production slows with age and menopause, and how to protect and build it with food and daily habits. She weighs the evidence on collagen supplements, shares safety guardrails, and lays out a practical plan for skin, joints, and bones.
Dr. Thacker starts with the big levers: why smoking, alcohol, sugar, and UV exposure damage collagen, and how simple shifts—SPF on chronically exposed skin, smarter sun for vitamin D, and a realistic supplement plan after age 40—help you age slower.
Then she moves to the plate. Dr. Thacker lists the collagen-rich foods like bone broth, chicken skin, and fish skin, plus the nutrients that actually drive collagen synthesis: complete protein, vitamin C, zinc, and copper.
Curious about powders and peptides? Dr. Thacker dives into when and how to choose safe supplement products.
If this conversation helps you think differently about your routine, tap follow, share it with a friend who’s collagen-curious, and leave a quick review so more listeners can find us. Have a question or a topic you want explored next? Send us a note at speakingofwomenshealth.com and let’s keep the conversation going.
Welcome to the Speaking of Women's Health podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Holly Thacker, the Executive Director of Speaking of Women's Health, and I am back in our Sunflower House for another edition. And this discussion is going to be all about collagen. I would say every other patient I've been seeing lately has been asking me about collagen. So we're going to dive into the topic and uh talk about this. Maybe you've read about it or seen it on a social media post or perhaps an advertisement promising you glowing skin, luscious hair. Oh, we know how much hair is so important to women. I'm not really a hair person, I'm a nail person. Collagen's good for the nails too, by the way. And we have done some really in-depth podcast on hair, on hair supplements, on treatment for hair loss, on causes of hair loss. So we're gonna talk about just some basic nutritional building blocks. And you may ask, is just one scoop of collagen powder, is it that simple? Is that enough for me? Well, not always. Uh, in fact, many of us already get enough collagen in our diet and we don't even realize it. So in this episode, I am going to walk you through what collagen actually is and uh why it's important, not just to skin and hair, which of course we all care about as women, but the older you get, you're starting to think about those joints and bones. If you didn't hear the earlier podcast I did on joint supplements and preparing for joint replacements, um, that is a good one. I do want to focus on how to naturally uh support collagen production through your diet and food ingestion, and then focus on maybe when it might make sense to consider a supplement or talk to your physician or nurse practitioner. So, first things first, what is collagen? Well, it is the most abundant protein in your human body, it makes up a whopping 30% of your total body protein. It's like the scaffolding that holds everything together your skin, your bones, your tendons, cartilage, and your blood vessels. So there are 28 different types of collagen, but type one is the most uh common and it accounts for 90% of the collagen in your body. And it's made up of three key amino acids: glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. So glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. Think of these three building blocks as what your body uses to create strong, flexible tissues. And here's something interesting. Your body naturally produces collagen, but like many things, that process slows down as we get older and as we age. It's it's harder to recover from musculoskeletal injuries if you haven't noticed. It's harder for your skin to repair. Uh, little bumps can cause much bigger amounts of bruising. Uh, on one of my earlier podcasts, I talked about some simple kind of hidden uh tips and tricks and things uh that you can use for your skin. And one of them is the herb Arnica, which really reduces bruising and skin fragility, and is sometimes used by the dermatologists and plastic surgeons after certain procedures. But long before you get to an injury or some medical intervention, you really want to make sure that your diet is as good as it can be, and that you are either making andor ingesting enough collagen. So, why does collagen matter? And why is this such a big deal? And why is everybody talking about collagen and asking me about it? Well, it helps your tissues stay strong and stretchy, it gives skin both firmness and some elasticity. It's crucial for your joint health, your bone strength, and wound healing. And when I get a bone density, which measures how much calcium is in the bone, for the last several years I've also been doing a microarchitecture test that looks at how the bone is connected, whether it's normal, partially degraded, or completely degraded. So when I see women that have degraded architecture, which accounts for 40% of bone strength, it really makes me wonder about their nutrition, their diet, their protein intake, collagen intake, vitamin D, and vitamin C. And collagen even plays a role in replacing dead cells. And a lot of skincare routines involve exfoliation, taking off the top layer of dead skin. The catch as we get older, our collagen production really does start to decline. And for women, that drop becomes, no surprise, more noticeable after menopause. And by the time we hit our 60s, both men and women experience significant reductions in collagen levels. So not only do you notice a lot more wrinkling, but joint stiffness and perhaps an acceleration in the loss of the bone density. So aging is a part of the life cycle and is somewhat considered to be natural and expected. But there's a lot of lifestyle habits that accelerate collagen aging. So let's talk about the big ones. Smoking. It reduces blood flow to your skin, it damages collagen fibers. In fact, a lot of surgeons will not do elective surgery on smokers, particularly if it's cosmetic or it involves the skin, but also musculoskeletal procedures and tendon uh surgeries. Excessive alcohol, it dehydrates your skin, it's a toxin, and it does impair collagen repair. So we had a whole dedicated podcast uh in season three about alcohol, alcohol problems and how to deal with that. We also had an excellent guest podcast by our executive producer, Lee Klecker, all about smoking uh and smoking cessation techniques. So, besides smoking and alcohol, what other things do you think are bad for your collagen? Well, too much sugar and processed foods, because they can lead to inflammation and glycation, which breaks down collagen. And then, of course, sun exposure. Ultraviolet rays do break down collagen and they speed up skin aging. And that's why twin studies of identical twins that grow up in different environments, one very heavily exposed to sun and one not, the one exposed to sun looks and has aged from a skin perspective significantly more than the identical twin who has not had that uh sun exposure. So sun, sun exposure on arm and legs for 15 minutes for vitamin D is important. Um, I think it is important to protect from excessive sun exposure uh when I have my granddaughters. Sometimes they already look like ghosts, even when it's not Halloween, because their father, my son, Dr. Stetson Thacker, put sunscreen all over their face. And obviously, as women or places that the sun always is exposed to the face, the neck, the decollet area, the the uh uh front of the hands, these show aging the fastest. Um, I think maybe having parts of your legs and arms exposed to get some natural sunlight uh for vitamin D production can be helpful. However, after age 40, the skin really doesn't make vitamin D that well. And that's why at that age it's important to have vitamin D supplements. Certainly breastfeeding babies, uh, that's the one thing they do need is vitamin D drops and in general with infants. And I am so blessed to have so many infants uh in my life, certainly in my family, but there's been like a little mini baby boom amongst coworkers and friends and neighbors, and that's lovely. Uh, but usually those first six months um there's a lot more need for the sun protection. So if you want to preserve your collagen, these are great areas to focus on. Protecting your skin from too much sun exposure, getting the junk food and processed foods and sugar out of your diet, not smoking or working on smoking cessation, and really limiting minimizing any alcohol use. So, how can you support collagen naturally? Well, you can start with your plate and you can focus on ingesting collagen-rich foods. So, what are some collagen-rich foods? Chicken skin. You know, people like their fried chicken with that chicken skin, pig knuckles, yes, truly, yes, pig knuckles are rich in collagen. Fish skin, okay. Most people need to get more fish. And even jellyfish, which is ingested in some cultures. I have never had jellyfish myself. I think that one of the most common ways, um, and a lot of my patients do this, especially if they're intermittently fasting. There might be one day a week or during religious observances, uh, that they may do a fast and just only ingest bone broth. And you can make really good bone broth by simmering animal bones and connective tissue. My husband loves soup, he's a great soup maker. We have some really good soup recipes uh on our website uh that include broth. My favorite recipe on our Speaking of Women's Health website is the Italian wedding soup. Just made that recently. It really hits the spot. But even if you're not eating these foods regularly, your body can still make collagen as long as you're getting the right nutrients. So protein from sources like poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and remember I like the omega-3 eggs. Vitamin C, which is essential for collagen synthesis, is found in citrus fruits, bell peppers, leafy greens, and berries. Zinc and copper, which help activate the enzymes involved in collagen production. So the next time you're grocery shopping, think about how your choices will help your skin and joints from the inside out. So, what about collagen supplements? Because I know so many of you are curious and are asking me. Well, collagen supplements, especially the hydrolyzed collagen peptides, have become very popular. They may help improve skin elasticity, hydration, and even joint pain or bone density. But here's the thing: research is still evolving, and certainly not all supplements are created equally. In fact, I was thrust onto the national stage at the very beginning of my career because L-tryptophan was being manufactured in such a way that there was a contaminate. And L-tryptophan is a natural amino acid. And it was frequently used by bodybuilders to help with muscles, just like so many people are turning to creatine. It was used by those having trouble sleeping. Instead of having a turkey sandwich and milk rich in tryptophan, people were popping a supplement. Women with PMS, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, uh, were taking it to try to boost serotonin. And there were a number of Americans that died because of this contamination. So I don't want to minimize the concern that taking unregulated substances or things that don't have any kind of purity or standardization have because you have to have a reason why you're putting something in your mouth, whether it's food or whether it's a supplement. And I think because things are over the counter, because sometimes they're promoted so much by celebrities and influencers and people that you might find entertaining on social media, um, I may not be as entertaining, but I I certainly work to get the right information out to help keep you healthy and strong and in charge because I have seen a lot of havoc. Certainly side effects, um, reactions, allergies, and tolerances to prescription medicines, yes, but also to supplements as well. And some products throw in all sorts of things like herbs and high doses of vitamins when you may already be on it. So it may not be right for everyone. That's why you need to read labels, bring them in at your visit, and talk to your healthcare clinician before starting any new supplements. So, to wrap up, your body can make collagen on its own with the right nutrients. Lifestyle choices like avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol, and protecting your skin from the sun can help preserve collagen. And while supplements may offer benefits for some, um, they're not always necessary and they're not always a magic bullet. Uh, I did a whole podcast on biotin. That's B7, that's a vitamin, and we have a list of what foods have B7. Certainly, there's warnings about B7 because it messes up a lot of blood work. And ideally, you should be off all biotin for at least 12 hours, preferably 72 hours before getting certain blood tests done. And I think biotin helps the nails more than the hair. Uh, it's in a lot of expensive hair products. Uh, what I recommend for a lot of my patients is who um want to have stronger nails and maybe slightly thicker hair is taking gelatin capsules, collagen, uh, or just opening a container of Knax gelatin and putting it in a drink and mixing it up. And um it also kind of fills up your stomach when you have enough water, too. Uh, so that's something that I've done for several years before eating my first meal of the day. So I want to thank you so much for joining us on this latest episode. If you've enjoyed this, uh please share it with others. Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, tune in, wherever you listen. Give us a five-star rating, and don't forget to join us and bookmark speakingofwomen's health.com. If you have any questions or any topics you want us to cover, just send us an email on the contact us on speaking of women's health.com. Remember, be strong, be healthy, and be in charge.
