Collagen and Functional Foods: Where Do Collagen Peptides Fit?

Consumers increasingly look to everyday foods and beverages for more than basic nutrition. Protein-enriched drinks, high-protein snacks, fortified foods and products formulated around specific nutritional needs have become familiar parts of the food landscape.

These products are often described as functional foods.

Collagen peptides are particularly well suited to this growing area of food formulation because they can be incorporated into a wide variety of products, from beverages and powders to bars, dairy-style products and gummies.

What are functional foods?

There is no single internationally accepted regulatory definition of a functional food.

Broadly, the term is used for foods or beverages that, as part of a normal diet, are formulated or selected to provide additional nutritional or physiological benefits beyond their basic nutritional role.

A functional food may contain naturally occurring beneficial components or may be formulated with additional ingredients such as protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals, probiotics, omega-3 fatty acids or other food-derived ingredients.

The important distinction is that a functional food remains a food. Rather than being consumed solely as a tablet or capsule, its nutritional functionality is incorporated into an everyday food or beverage format.

Why are functional foods important?

Functional foods allow nutrition to be incorporated conveniently into everyday eating habits.

For food manufacturers, they also provide opportunities to develop products for increasingly specific consumer needs and occasions, from protein-enriched snacks and beverages to products positioned around active lifestyles, healthy ageing or beauty-from-within.

Successful functional foods therefore need to achieve two things at the same time: deliver the intended nutritional functionality and remain an appealing food product.

Taste, texture, convenience and overall eating experience remain important. An ingredient may offer useful nutritional properties, but it must also work within the formulation and manufacturing process.

Collagen and the growing focus on protein

Consumer interest in protein is helping drive innovation across the functional food market.

According to the Innova Trends Survey 2026, 80% of consumers surveyed said they pay attention to protein in their diet, while 57% said they actively include more protein, with interest particularly strong among Gen Z and Millennials.

Collagen has also become an increasingly recognisable ingredient in its own right. In the same research, 76% of consumers surveyed said they knew collagen nutrients or ingredients.

This growing awareness is helping collagen move beyond traditional supplement formats. Recent product innovation tracked by Innova includes collagen-containing beverages, gummies and other functional products, as well as familiar food formats such as protein spreads and bone broths.

For food manufacturers, this creates an opportunity to combine the familiarity and convenience of everyday foods with ingredients that consumers increasingly recognise and actively seek out.

Source: Innova Market Insights, Trends Survey 2026 and Innova Database; presented in GROW/Innova Market Insights, From Function to Value: Rethinking Gelatin, March 2026.

Where do collagen peptides fit?

Collagen is a naturally occurring structural protein found in animal connective tissues. Collagen peptides are produced by breaking collagen down through a controlled hydrolysis process into smaller peptides.

This gives collagen peptides quite different characteristics from gelatin.

While gelatin is valued for functional properties such as gelling, thickening and stabilisation, collagen peptides are highly soluble and do not form a gel under normal food preparation conditions. This makes them particularly versatile as an ingredient in functional food and beverage formulations. Research literature describes hydrolysed collagen as being used across a wide range of food applications and notes the solubility of collagen peptides resulting from hydrolysis.

Collagen peptides can be incorporated into products including:

• functional and protein beverages
• powdered drink mixes
• nutrition and snack bars
• dairy and dairy-style products
• gummies
• sports and active-nutrition products
• beauty-from-within foods and beverages
• products developed for healthy-ageing markets.

Their versatility allows manufacturers to introduce collagen into familiar formats rather than limiting it to traditional supplement forms.

More than simply adding an ingredient

Developing a successful collagen-containing functional food requires more than adding collagen peptides to an existing formulation.

Manufacturers need to consider the complete product and manufacturing environment, including:

Solubility
The ingredient needs to disperse effectively in the intended application and under the processing and preparation conditions the product will encounter.

Taste and sensory characteristics
Flavour, aroma, mouthfeel and appearance remain fundamental to consumer acceptance.

Dosage
The quantity of collagen peptides incorporated needs to reflect the intended product formulation, nutritional positioning and any substantiated claims being made.

Texture
The interaction between collagen peptides and other proteins, hydrocolloids, sweeteners, fats and ingredients needs to be considered when developing the desired finished texture.

Processing conditions
Temperature, pH, mixing, storage and other manufacturing conditions can influence the performance of the overall formulation.

Product positioning
A collagen beverage developed for sports nutrition may require a very different formulation and communication strategy from a gummy or beauty-from-within product.

Collagen peptides and protein enrichment

Collagen peptides can also contribute to the protein content of a formulated food.

However, not all proteins have the same amino acid profile. Collagen is particularly rich in glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, but unlike a complete dietary protein it does not contain all indispensable amino acids in sufficient proportions – notably, collagen lacks tryptophan.

For manufacturers, this distinction is important when formulating products, calculating nutritional composition and determining how the finished product should be positioned.

Collagen peptides may also be combined with other protein sources where a manufacturer is seeking both the characteristics of collagen and a broader amino acid profile.