The Science of Satiety: Can Collagen Shakes Help Control Hunger?

Posted October 2024

The Science of Satiety: Can Collagen Shakes Help Control Hunger? - The Collagen Co.

It’s a daily occurrence. You’ve been up and about for only three hours, and your stomach starts growling. 

Of course, there’s a solution: preparing yourself a nice, hearty breakfast in the morning. 

The only problem? Your already chaotic mornings — the kid-wrangling and lunch-packing as a mom, or just the getting ready, commuting, and shuttling when you don’t have kids. 

There’s simply no time. 

And so, what’s a truly viable alternative for you? Meal replacement shakes. More specifically, those formulated with collagen for that extra satiating factor. 

How does collagen curb appetite?

For those unfamiliar with collagen, it is the main structural protein that forms the connective tissue throughout your body, from skin to bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. 

So, when you consume collagen as a dietary protein source (through collagen meal replacement shakes), you’ll experience more satiety than eating the same number of calories from carbs or fat

Why? 

A 2020 meta-analysis investigating the effect of short-term protein consumption on appetite found that protein intake:

  • Decreased ghrelin levels: Ghrelin is known as the “hunger hormone” for good reason; it tells your brain you’re hungry and ready to eat. 
  • Increased GLP-1 levels: Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is a hormone that promotes satiety by delaying gastric emptying and decreasing the rewarding value of food by acting on the brain's mesolimbic pathway (or reward pathway). FYI, GLP-1 is the same hormone that the popular and highly effective weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are designed to mimic. 

  • Decreased ghrelin levels (less hunger), coupled with increased GLP-1 levels (more fullness) — that’s a potent satiety-promoting combination. 

    Where’s the research?

    Penty of studies highlight collagen’s effectiveness in a weight management plan.

    In a 2019 study published in Marine Drugs, for example, researchers randomly assigned 90 participants with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 25.6 (category: overweight) to 2 groups:

    • Group 1: 2 grams of marine collagen peptides daily
    • Group 2: Placebo group 

    After 12 weeks, participants who supplemented with marine collagen peptides reported a significant improvement in body fat percentage and body fat mass compared to those in the placebo group. 

    A later 2023 study published in Clinical Nutrition Research reported similar findings. 

    The researchers randomly assigned 74 participants to 2 groups:

  • Group 1: 15 grams of collagen peptides daily
  • Group 2: Placebo group

  • After 12 weeks, the collagen group showed a significant reduction in total body fat mass compared to the placebo group, as evidenced by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) measurements. 

    What to look out for in a collagen shake

    Not all collagen meal replacement shakes are created equal. Here’s what distinguishes the best from the ‘meh’.

    Quantity and quality of collagen

    All collagen meal replacement shakes will contain collagen. 

    But what you should pay attention to isn’t just the mere presence of collagen but, instead, how much there is and the quality:

  • Quantity: Research suggests that a minimum daily protein intake of 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight helps with maximum satiety. This means weighing 55 kg will translate to an optimal daily protein intake of 88 grams. So, ideally, the collagen meal replacement shake you choose will contain enough collagen to hit at least 20% of your daily protein requirement. As for how you’ll meet the remaining? We’ll cover that in a bit, but for now, onto collagen quality.

  • Quality: To reap the numerous other beauty and wellness benefits of collagen supplementation, the collagen in your collagen replacement shakes must be hydrolysed collagen peptides. That means they’re broken down till they’re small enough to bypass your digestive tract — effectively retaining their bioactive properties of stimulating collagen-producing fibroblasts, modulating inflammatory pathways in the gut, etc. How small must they be, though? Anywhere between 2-3 kDa is perfect. 
  • Calorie content 

    Since collagen meal replacement shakes are designed to promote weight loss, they should be low in calories. (Your overall energy intake is still the primary determinant of your body weight.)

    While collagen and other good-quality protein sources should constitute the bulk of your collagen meal replacement shake’s calorie content, it should still feature some healthy fats to keep you full. Fats also:

  • Contribute to healthy hormone production and functioning

  • Another thing you want to look out for within those calories is added sugar. You want as little as possible — eating too much added sugar has been linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart and liver diseases, and even some types of cancer

    It’s also bad for your skin; learn more about this unsweet sugar and skin relationship here

    Dietary fiber

    A side effect of replacing foods with meal replacement shakes is decreased dietary fiber intake. 

    Unfortunately, that could adversely affect your bowel movements and gut health

    That’s why your collagen meal replacement shakes should contain dietary fiber — and, in particular, a specific kind known as prebiotic fiber. These pass through your gastrointestinal tract undigested and can stimulate the growth and activity of certain “good” bacteria in your gut microbiome. 

    Bonus: prebiotic fiber also slows gastric emptying, promoting satiety

    Want a collagen shake that ticks all those boxes (and more)?

    Um. That’s a long, long list of things to look out for in a collagen meal replacement shake. 

    If you’re thinking, “There’s no way I’ll find a collagen shake that’s … all that,” well, we’re here to prove you wrong with The Collagen Co’s Glow Shakes

    Every serving packs:

    • 17.5 grams of hydrolysed (read: bioactive) collagen peptides, plus 11+ grams of whey and milk protein isolate 
    • 5+ grams of gut-nurturing prebiotic fiber
    • Fat-burning MCT oil
    • Energy-giving green tea extract
    • 24 vitamins and minerals
    There’s also virtually no added sugar — which will 100% make you double-take when you taste the myriad of mouthwatering flavors we have on offer (psst: NEW FLAVOR ALERT, go bananas for our banana glow shake!)

    Learn more