Ancient + Brave True Collagen Powder

What is it?

True Collagen is a hydrolysed bovine collagen powder marketed for skin, joints, bones, gut, sleep and energy. It is positioned in the "Menopause Support" category.

What do the guidelines say?

No menopause-specific guideline recommends collagen supplementation. NICE NG23 (updated November 2024) focuses on HRT, lifestyle and non-hormonal prescription therapies and makes no mention of collagen [2]. The 2023 NAMS Non-Hormone Therapy Position Statement reviewed the evidence for supplements in menopausal symptom management and found insufficient evidence to recommend them, explicitly grouping supplements and herbal remedies as not recommended at evidence Levels I-II [3]. Neither the BMS, BSSM, EMAS nor IMS has issued any guidance on collagen supplementation specifically.

This is not a statement that collagen is harmful. It reflects the absence of evidence in the context of formal menopausal treatment.

What does the evidence say?

Skin hydration and elasticity

Earlier meta-analyses painted a reasonably positive picture. A 2021 meta-analysis of 19 RCTs in 1,125 participants (95% women) concluded that hydrolysed collagen supplementation for 90 days was effective in reducing wrinkles and improving skin elasticity and hydration [4]. A 2023 meta-analysis of 26 RCTs in 1,721 participants reached similar conclusions and identified significant improvements in hydration and elasticity, while also noting several biases in included trials [5].

The picture changed materially in 2025. The most rigorous independent meta-analysis to date analysed 23 RCTs covering 1,474 participants and specifically examined the effect of funding source and study quality [6]. When all trials were pooled, the result was positive. But when the researchers separated studies by funding source, those not funded by pharmaceutical or supplement companies showed no significant effect on skin hydration, elasticity or wrinkles. Industry-funded studies showed significant effects. High-quality studies showed no significant effect across any skin outcome; only low-quality studies showed a significant improvement in elasticity. The authors' conclusion was direct: there is currently no clinical evidence to support the use of collagen supplements to prevent or treat skin ageing [6].

The collagen industry has challenged this paper on data extraction errors in the underlying trials, so it is not entirely settled. But it is the most systematic attempt to strip out funding bias to date, and it materially changes how the earlier meta-analyses should be read.

A 2026 umbrella review of 16 systematic reviews covering 113 RCTs and approximately 8,000 participants found improvements in skin elasticity and hydration overall, but did not find significant improvement in skin roughness, and noted that most included studies were industry-funded and only one included meta-analysis was rated high quality on AMSTAR-2 criteria [7].

Most RCTs in this area include women broadly aged 20 to 70, not perimenopausal or menopausal women as a defined group. One RCT studied postmenopausal women specifically (aged 60 to 93) and reported improvements in dermal collagen content and skin thickness after 24 weeks [8]. But trials designed around menopausal status as a defined variable are sparse.

Bone health

The bone evidence is more coherent and more directly relevant to perimenopausal and menopausal women, because bone loss is a defined clinical concern in this population and several trials specifically recruited postmenopausal women.

A 2025 meta-analysis of 17 RCTs found that supplementing with specific bioactive collagen peptides appears useful in compensating for bone mineral density declines in postmenopausal women, with positive changes in bone markers indicating reduced bone deterioration and increased bone formation [9]. The strongest single trial randomised 131 postmenopausal women to 5g of specific collagen peptides daily for 12 months and found significant increases in spine and femoral neck bone mineral density compared to placebo [10]. A Greek RCT in 51 postmenopausal women with osteopenia added collagen peptides to a standard calcium and vitamin D regimen and found significant improvements in trabecular bone mineral content and volumetric bone mineral density at the tibia after 12 months, compared to calcium and vitamin D alone [11][12]. A four-year follow-up study of postmenopausal women found statistically significant improvements in spine bone mineral density from baseline to year two and year four in women receiving specific bioactive collagen peptides [13].

Important caveats apply. The strongest results involve specific bioactive collagen peptide formulations studied predominantly in Germany by researchers with collagen industry affiliations, not hydrolysed bovine collagen as a generic category. You cannot assume a standard collagen powder replicates these results. Collagen for bone health has consistently been studied alongside calcium and vitamin D, not as a standalone intervention. And none of this is reflected in current clinical guidelines, which identify HRT, calcium, vitamin D and weight-bearing exercise as the primary tools for postmenopausal bone health [2][3].

Joint health

RCTs in general adult populations suggest collagen supplementation can reduce joint pain and improve mobility. The 2026 umbrella review found high-certainty evidence for improvements in osteoarthritis-related pain and stiffness [7]. However, trials conducted exclusively in perimenopausal or menopausal women on joint outcomes are sparse. The joint evidence is more consistent than the skin evidence, but it is not specific to this life stage.

Gut health, sleep and energy

No systematic reviews, meta-analyses or RCTs were identified in PubMed to support collagen supplementation for gut health, sleep quality or energy levels in any population meeting this review's evidence standards. These claims appear to rest on the brand's own unpublished BECOME study. Without peer-reviewed publication, they cannot be independently assessed.

Hair and nails

Evidence from systematic reviews, meta-analyses or RCTs for collagen supplementation improving hair or nail outcomes is absent at the standard required for this review.

The BECOME study

The brand's BECOME study (90 women, 35-55, 12 weeks, 10g daily) reported improvements in skin hydration, fine lines, digestion, sleep, energy and joint comfort. It is described as double-blind, placebo-controlled and independently run, but was led by the brand's own Director of Science and Innovation. It has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal as of April 2026. Without peer review, the methodology, statistical analysis and conflict-of-interest management cannot be independently assessed. The brand describes it as equivalent to pharmaceutical research standards. That characterisation goes beyond what is currently verifiable.

Claims that go beyond the evidence

• Gut health benefits from collagen supplementation: no peer-reviewed RCT evidence
• Sleep quality improvements: no peer-reviewed RCT evidence
• Energy level improvements: no peer-reviewed RCT evidence
• Hair and nail benefits: no peer-reviewed RCT evidence at the required standard
• Characterising the unpublished BECOME study as equivalent to pharmaceutical trial scrutiny: not currently verifiable
• Citing earlier positive meta-analyses for skin without disclosing that the most rigorous independent analysis found no effect in high-quality or independently funded studies

Bottom Line

The biology behind this product is legitimate. Menopause accelerates collagen loss, and that has real consequences for skin, joints and bones. The supplement industry did not invent the problem; it invented the implication that a collagen sachet straightforwardly fixes it.

For skin, the evidence looked promising until the most rigorous independent meta-analysis (2025) found the positive signal largely disappears once industry-funded and low-quality studies are removed.

The marketing is running well ahead of where the independent science currently sits. For bone health, the evidence in postmenopausal women is more genuinely interesting, particularly when specific peptide formulations are added to calcium and vitamin D, but it uses specific products and formulations, not hydrolysed bovine collagen as a category. For joints, the evidence is more consistent but not specific to menopausal women. For gut health, sleep, energy, hair and nails, there is no peer-reviewed evidence this review can use.

References

1. Calleja-Agius J, Brincat M. Gynecol Endocrinol 2012;28:273-277. PMID: 22136214. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22136214/
2. NICE. Menopause: diagnosis and management. NICE Guideline NG23. Updated November 2024. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng23 (Clinical guideline, no PMID.)
3. The North American Menopause Society. 2023 Nonhormone Therapy Position Statement. Menopause 2023;30(6):573-590. Available at: https://menopause.org/professional/educational-materials/position-statements (Clinical guideline, no PMID.)
4. de Miranda RB et al. Int J Dermatol 2021;60:1449-1461. PMID: 33742704. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijd.15518
5. Pu SY et al. Nutrients 2023;15(9):2080. PMID: 37432180. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15092080
6. Myung SK, Park Y. Am J Med 2025;138(9):1264-1277. PMID: 40324552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2025.04.034
7. Ravindran R et al. Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum 2026; ojag018. https://doi.org/10.1093/asjof/ojag018
8. Reilly DM et al. Dermatol Res Pract 2024;2024:8752787. PMID: 39039432. https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/8752787
9. Naafs MA et al. Front Nutr 2025. PMID: 41049371. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1646090
10. Konig D et al. Nutrients 2018;10(1):97. PMID: 29337906. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10010097
11. Argyrou C et al. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2020;20(1):12-17. PMID: 32131366. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7104583/
12. Lampropoulou-Adamidou K et al. J Clin Densitom 2022;25(3):357-372. PMID: 34980546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocd.2021.11.011
13. Zdzieblik D et al. J Bone Metab 2021;28:207-213. PMID: 34504688. https://doi.org/10.11005/jbm.2021.28.3.207

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