system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If collagen is a protein, and proteins are broken down during digestion, why would collagen or collagen supplements be beneficial? Is it just hype?

Is it more to do with the types of amino acids after breakdown? And would cooking collagen for example in pork crackling matter?
gpt
Eating collagen, smearing it on your face, rubbing it into your hands, does absolutely nothing. When you eat it your digestive system breaks it down into amino acids as with any other protein.

Your body (fibroblasts) synthesizes collagen from amino acids, primarily glycine-proline-X or glycine-X-hydroxyproline. It makes as much as it needs or as much as it can. You don't push more into your cells through consumption or osmosis.

There is as much science behind collagen supplements or cremes as there is behind eating a bear's gall bladder for sexual potency.