Collagen may improve bone health in female endurance athletes 🦴

A potential use for collagen peptides.

Effects of collagen peptide supplementation on bone turnover, cytokine, and inflammatory markers in female distance runners: a randomized pilot study

Study Details

This new study recruited 22 female endurance athletes (18–35 years, >56km/wk) to take either…

1️⃣ 20g collagen peptides

2️⃣ Isocaloric placebo (maltodextrin)

…1hr after waking up, every day for 4-weeks 🥤

Markers on bone turnover and inflammation were assessed pre- and post-intervention 🔍

Key Findings

🧬 P1NP (a marker of bone formation) was significantly greater in the collagen group

🔥 Plus, a marker of inflammation (IL-6) was significantly lower in the collagen group

🍽️ Energy intake and total protein intake was not significantly different between collagen and placebo

Conclusion

Short-term daily collagen intake in the morning may support bone health in female endurance athletes ✅

Whey protein has also been shown to increase markers of bone formation in previous research 🧐

So these findings may not be specific to collagen.

Nice applied findings though, and a potentially useful strategy for female athletes 💪

Reference

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2026.1825906/full

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