Even though collagen protein is made of collagen, drinking it didn’t make the connective tissue inside muscles grow faster—even when combined with exercise.

Even with daily exercise, collagen protein shakes didn’t help older women’s muscles build new protein over a week—whey did, but collagen didn’t.

With collagen protein, the muscle-building effect was almost identical in the exercised and non-exercised leg—unlike whey, which responded more strongly where exercise happened.

After drinking whey protein shakes every day for a week, older women’s muscles kept building up new protein even on days they didn’t exercise—collagen protein didn’t do this at all.

Doing leg exercises helps whey protein build muscle even more—but even with exercise, collagen protein still can’t match whey’s muscle-building power.

Doing strength training alone helps middle-aged men build stronger bones, but adding this collagen supplement doesn't make a bigger difference than a placebo or whey protein.