Collagen supplements are now widely used for skin health. This raises an obvious question: if skin contains both collagen and elastin, why do we supplement collagen but rarely supplement elastin?
Before we answer that, let us understand what these two proteins do in the skin.
What are collagen and elastin?
The deeper layer of the skin, called the dermis, contains a supporting framework made largely of collagen and elastin fibres. Together, these proteins allow the skin to remain strong while still moving comfortably with facial expressions and everyday movement.
Collagen accounts for approximately 70–80% of the skin’s fat-free dry weight, while elastin accounts for only around 2–4%. In numerical terms, the skin may contain roughly 20 to 40 times more collagen than elastin.
Their importance, however, cannot be judged by quantity alone.
Collagen gives the skin its strength, thickness and structural support. Its fibres act like a safety belt, limiting how far the skin can stretch. Elastin acts more like a spring. It allows the skin to stretch and then return to its original position.
Together, collagen provides firmness and elastin provides flexibility and recoil.
Can we take an elastin supplement?
The real question is not whether elastin can be consumed, but whether elastin supplementation has the same quality of evidence as collagen supplementation.
At present, it does not.
Why is collagen easier to supplement?
Collagen continues to be produced, broken down and replaced throughout adult life. Its production declines with age, but the renewal process does not stop. Specific collagen peptides can be absorbed into the bloodstream and signal fibroblasts to produce components of the dermal matrix.
This has been examined across multiple human trials. Research has reported improvements in pigment reduction, hydration, wrinkles, dermal collagen density and measured skin elasticity with specific collagen peptides.
Interestingly, collagen supplementation may not support collagen alone. In one placebo-controlled trial, eight weeks of specific collagen peptides produced 65% higher type I procollagen and an 18% higher elastin marker than placebo.
Why is elastin more complicated?
Most of the skin’s functional elastic fibre network is constructed during development, and elastin production reduces drastically after puberty. Adult fibroblasts can still produce tropoelastin, but their ability to rebuild a properly organised elastic fibre is limited.
Producing elastin protein is also only the first step. It must be deposited onto a fibrillin scaffold and correctly cross linked to form a functional fibre. Once this architecture is damaged by UV exposure, smoking, pollution, inflammation or ageing, adult skin does not replace it efficiently.
Elastin is itself highly cross linked and insoluble, making it more difficult to process into consistent, bioactive peptides.
What does the research show?
Early human research on oral elastin peptides is encouraging but limited. Small trials using approximately 100–200 mg per day have reported improvements in skin elasticity, fine wrinkles and hydration.
However, these trials have not demonstrated a quantified increase in elastin markers in human skin; something that collagen peptides have already managed to demonstrate. We also do not have strong independent replication, long-term data or direct trials showing that adding elastin to collagen produces better results than validated collagen peptides alone.
At present, therefore, we do not have hard evidence for elastin as a supplement.
Research must still show that a specific elastin peptide reaches the skin, increases elastin production, helps form properly organised elastic fibres and produces a meaningful visible benefit.
Until then, validated collagen peptides have the stronger evidence. For elastin, protecting the fibres we already have from UV exposure and other forms of cumulative damage remains the more dependable strategy.
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