8 Plant-Based Collagen Supplement Alternatives
The human body makes its own collagen, but aging causes collagen production to take a nosedive. This results in wrinkles, sagging skin, dull hair, broken nails, and can even affect bone health – all unwanted side effects that are a natural part of growing older. In attempts to discover a more natural fountain of youth, people have turned to collagen supplements, but the sustainability conscientious among us seek alternatives to the popular stuff – specifically, plant-based collagen supplements and support.
When you want to stay plant-friendly, you will have to rely on products that enhance and boost natural collagen production with plentiful vitamins and minerals – things the body can work with all on its own. Plus, the contents of the brands in this coveted category also deliver a host of other welcome side effects that do a body good.
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1. Amazing Grass GLOW
The Amazing Grass GLOW Collection supports collagen production and synthesis with vitamin C from organic acerola cherry. A plant-based protein made with reviving superfoods, this product provides 100% of the Daily Value of plant-based Biotin and is a great source of B complex and C vitamins. This powder mixes well and helps maintain healthy hair, skin, and nails and supports full-body radiance.
2. Pink Moss Vegan Collagen Beauty Supplement
Pink Moss is a vegan collagen beauty supplement that features sea moss. It comes in a dissolvable, odorless, tasteless gel that you can take directly or add to a beverage. Rich in minerals, Pink Moss promises to remove toxins, replenish minerals and nutrients to the body, improve gut health, boost energy, foster nail and hair growth, and relieve inflammatory and allergic reactions when adopted into a healthy wellness and exercise routine. Pink Moss gets its signature color from beetroot extract.
3. PlantFusion Complete Plant Collagen Builder
A plant-based collagen powder, PlantFusion Complete Plant Collagen Builder is made with a mixed blend of Saberry amla fruit extract, amino acids, and plant proteins essential for collagen growth. The PlantFusion products protect existing collagen to prevent breakdown and hydrate skin and joints so you can retain natural oils and moisture for a healthier appearance. You can drink it as a shake, mix it with smoothies, or add it to a beverage.
4. SuperFeast Tremella
The tremella mushroom is the fungus of the day when it comes to boosting collagen, beautifying, and delivering a boatload of other health benefits. Packed with antioxidants to slow the aging process, this “snow” mushroom has a gelatinous form that stores more water than its weight, which helps hydrate the body, reduce inflammation, lower cholesterol, support immunity, maintain skin elasticity, and even protect the neurological system. The natural vanilla taste of SuperFeast Tremella makes it easy to blend with smoothies, breakfast foods, or desserts.
5. Garden of Life mykind Organic Plant Collagen Builder
Garden of Life mykind Organic Plant Collagen Builder supplements are targeted to improve the beauty of hair, skin, and nails by improving the body’s natural production of collagen. Using co-nutrients like silica, these vegan supplements promise to support skin health, protect against UV damage, and deliver the youthful glow that occurs when your body is full of high levels of collagen, keratin, and elastin. They contain whole food biotin from organic sesbania and antioxidants from organic fruits and plants.
6. So Good So You Beauty Shot
The So Good So You Beauty Shot reinforces the body’s building blocks to help your system make its own collagen. In one shot, this tiny tonic delivers probiotics, living silica, and fruit- and plant-based ingredients to reduce redness and inflammation, provide elasticity, deliver anti-aging antioxidants, support digestive and immune health, and make nails, skin, and hair healthier. Also, the juice shot comes in a biodegradable plastic container.
7. Anima Mundi Vegan Collagen Booster Powder
Made with a hearty mix of collagen-promoting adaptogens, ancient herbs, and flowers, Anima Mundi Vegan Collagen Booster Powder promises to support a youthful glow and promote the strength of bones, nails, hair, tissue, and skin with 100% herbs and a plant-based solution. It incorporates horsetail and nettles that naturally contain collagen co-nutrients of silica and calcium. You can add the powder to smoothies, protein shakes, wellness tonics, overnight oats, and more.
8. The Mushroom Latte
If you prefer to gulp your collagen in the morning like Kourtney Kardashian and get a healthier kind of stimulant kick with your wellness drink, then The Mushroom Latte from Everyday Dose may be your speed. This brand promotes its low-caffeine, energy supplement collagen drink as having a combo of ingredients that people often lack in their everyday lives – like chaga, lion’s mane, and suntheanine – for better sleep, more energy, improved mental clarity, enhanced immunity, and lower stress. The tiny coffee shot masks the mushrooms and the entire drink is swimming with a collagen amino acid profile that helps the gut, skin, and joints.
Skip the Main Market’s Collagen Offerings
As voracious readers of food labels know, there is plenty of greenwashing to be found on a product’s packaging. Many characteristics sound great – like gluten-free, keto-friendly, and dairy-free – but collagen fits into these categories naturally, making such claims irrelevant.
Anyone focused on maintaining a plant-based lifestyle really needs to ask: Where did the rest of the ingredients in your collagen supplement come from? And, most of all, where did the collagen part come from? Most collagen supplements are animal-based and include gelatin, which is composed of a heated mix of animal bones, tendons, and skin. Cruelty aside, that’s just gross.
Plant-based collagen supplements do not harm animals; they deliver the daily protein dose the body needs and are usually suitable for people with allergies. If you’re looking for a collagen boost beyond the abundance found in kidney beans, pumpkin seeds, soy products, and the like, plant-based collagen supplements are available for the taking.
This article was originally published on April 5, 2021.