“The stuff in beauty creams is appearing in foods, as companies launch pricey snacks and drinks containing collagen—and many consumers are eating it up despite little hard evidence that it works,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Collagen product sales are skyrocketing, from supplements to food,” agreed Nutritional Outlook. “While dietary supplements and topical beauty products have traditionally been [collagen’s] home, foods and drinks are emerging as novel platforms for launching collagen to an even wider audience.”
Companies using collagen in food products promote it as good for the joints, skin, and digestive system, among other benefits. However, the claims are controversial, largely because many are based on animal studies or small human studies. Plus, many studies are industry-funded.
Nevertheless, SnackNation identified collagen in snacks as one of the top trends from the March 2018 Natural Products Expo West. One place collagen is showing up is in protein bars.
Bulletproof Protein Bars use collagen protein from grass-fed cows and also contain the company’s Brain Octane coconut oil. The bars are organic cashew butter based. They come in a variety of flavors, have 12g of protein each, and contain no added sugar.
Yonder is a new company selling Bone Broth Collagen Bars made with “European grass-fed, pasture-raised bovine bone broth and grass-fed bovine collagen with no hormones or antibiotics, humanly raised,” according to the company website. Available varieties are Coconut Almond, Wild Blueberry Nuts, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.
Collagen Fuel Bars from Primal Kitchen are available in four flavors: Dark Chocolate Almond, Macadamia Sea Salt, Chocolate Hazelnut, and Coconut Cashew. The paleo-friendly nut-based bars contain 7.5g of bovine collagen and 13-15g of protein.
Other companies offering bars include:
- Bonk Breaker makes a line of Premium Protein Bars containing blend of pasture-raised collagen protein and grass-fed whey. The bars, which contain nut butters, are available in Cookies & Cream, Double Fudge Brownie, and Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Chip.
- Foundations makes a seed-based collagen protein bar.
- Kalumi makes BEAUTYfood Collagen Bars containing marine collagen. Each gluten free, non GMO bar has 12g of marine collagen.
- NuttZo, maker of nut and seed butters, introduced Bold BiteZ bars with collagen in 2018. The bars contain five grams of sugar, 10g of protein, and 1600mg of collagen. The refrigerated, organic, non GMO bars are free of gluten, grain, dairy, whey, and soy.
- Ancient Nutrition is selling the Bone Broth Protein Bar. Bone broth is another trending product that contains collagen.
Most collagen protein bars use nuts or seeds or their butters. But in March 2018 Country Archer Jerky Co., a maker of gourmet jerky and meat sticks, became the first company to introduce meat bars that contain collagen peptides. The bars come in three flavors: Herb Citrus Turkey, Cayenne Beef With Bacon, and Sweet Barbeque Pork With Bacon. The bacon is uncured, the turkey and pork from animals raised without antibiotics, and the beef is from grass-fed cows. Each bar has 15g of protein.
With the consumer desires for protein and wellness, whether or not most people need to consume extra collagen, this trend is likely to persist.
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