Collagen, creatine and cupping. Do they work?

Collagen, creatine and cupping are getting more popular in the health world. But do they work? Tim Caulfield applies science to all the hype.

Collagen, creatine and cupping are getting more popular in the health world. But do they work? Tim Caulfield with the U of A joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison to apply science to all of this hype that we often hear about.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Kent Morrison: Tim, let’s start with creatine. This is a compound from three amino acids. It’s supposed to boost energy and workouts. Does it?

Tim Caulfield: I’m going to start with the big picture. First, you have to always remember the supplement industry is a massive multi-billion dollar marketing machine with so many unproven supplements out there, lightly regulated, potential harm. Often, supplements are even adulterated and contaminated, but having said all of that, there is evidence for creatine. It’s been studied a lot, some relatively big studies, which is one of the things you always want to look for. What the studies have found is, you do see a small effect. I think this is an important highlight, you see a small effect on performance with power sports, like jumping. Also, there’s some evidence that slows age-related muscle loss. So there’s a potential benefit for all age groups but I really want to emphasize, it’s not a steroid. It’s not magical. You’re not going to get buff taking creatine. The effect is small. To highlight how small it is, it’s not a banned substance by entities like the world anti-doping association, which I actually work with. The United States anti-doping agency basically said, “The results are so mixed, we’re not going to bother banning this.” So that’s a good caveat. My response is, potential benefits, but they’re small. There’s real science there, but kind of underwhelming.

Kent: Let’s move on to something that’s talked about a lot, and it’s collagen. What do we know about collagen?

Tim: Collagen is really taking off. You’re seeing ads everywhere on social media, and lots of social media influencers pushing this. I’m going to start with my conclusion here, in general, the marketing claims are overstated here and they’re often definitive. It’s presented as if this will make a difference for your skin, and that’s the big thing, right? It’s anti-aging, it’s gonna help your wrinkles, which is overstated. But there is some evidence, the studies are small, often industry studies which is something we have to look at, that suggests it may be beneficial in making your skin firmer. I think that once we have bigger, better controlled studies, the benefits are going to disappear or become quite small. There is some real science here, but remember…. lightly regulated industry, so you’ve got to always enter the supplement world with a little bit of skepticism.

Kent: We’ll move on from supplements to something that is often used supposedly to increase blood flow and healing, which is cupping. Does cupping do anything?

Tim: I’ve tried this. I’ve tried this all over the world by doing research for a variety of things in different kinds of settings, and I can be more definitive with this one. There’s no real evidence, beyond placebo effects, that this does anything. It drives me nuts because you see elite athletes in the Netflix sports documentaries, and they’re all doing this. There is no good, solid evidence to support this at all. The underlying mechanism is supposed to be that it’s going to align your life force energy, which is scientifically implausible. It’s pseudoscience right out of the gate. I personally think it’s nonsense. If people enjoy it, there is a placebo effect. There’s kind of a placebo theater around something like cupping. If they enjoy it, knock yourself out. No huge risks other than those big welts that you get. They look really impressive, but the impressive welts do not match up with any real good evidence to support efficacy.