Is This Supplement The Secret To A Stronger Pelvic Floor?

If you’ve never given your pelvic floor a passing thought, boy, do we have news for you: Pelvic floor health is vital, regardless of your age or gender. While commonly associated with menopause or pregnancy, the pelvic floor simply refers to the group of muscles, nerves, and organs that make up the lower abdomen, and it’s in charge of supporting your bladder, sex drive, posture, and more. These functions can affect everyone at any stage of life, so we repeat: It's always a good time to prioritize your pelvic floor. 

In terms of strengthening this group of muscles, you might rattle off a few lower body exercises or dabble in kegels—but did you know that what you eat also plays a role? Yes, experts say certain foods are key assets in pelvic floor health. 

Naturally, this makes us wonder whether supplements can help as well—namely, collagen peptides. Collagen makes up the structure of all your tissues, including the ones in your pelvic floor muscles, so can consuming collagen help keep the area strong? Like many other collagen-related queries, it’s not a simple yes or no, but it turns out, our predictions aren’t so far off. 

First, let’s discuss what the pelvic floor does, exactly: “The pelvic floor is made up of muscles, skin, and fascia,” explains urogynecologist and pelvic floor expert Betsy Greenleaf, D.O. “It is this tissue that is responsible for keeping all of our organs from dropping out the bottom, such as bowels, bladder, and reproductive organs in women.” Think of your pelvis like an open bowl constructed from your hip bones—while it creates a sturdy structure, Greenleaf notes, little is holding your organs inside. “It is a desperate fight against gravity.” That’s why it’s important to strengthen those pelvic floor muscles, so you can better support your continence (aka bladder control), sex drive, and more over time.

Now collagen, as you may know, helps make up the structure of your skin, bone, fascia (aka connective tissues), and muscle (it’s the most abundant protein in the body, as a matter of fact).* So it likely doesn’t come as a shock that collagen plays a key role in pelvic floor health: “Collagen composes the tissue, such as fascia and ligaments, and adds to the strength against gravity,”* notes Greenleaf. Specifically, your pelvic tissues contain mainly type I and type III collagen.

But, sigh, collagen levels deplete over time, due to things like aging, smoking, genetics, and a host of other factors. Your pelvic floor also happens to weaken over time as you lose muscle mass (plus, gravity afflicts us all at some point), and according to Greenleaf, natural collagen decline can speed up that process. 

“Weakening of the pelvic floor is a combination of thinning of the collagen in the fascia and muscles and weakening the muscle fibers,” she says. Essentially: “It is double trouble for the pelvic floor with decreasing collagen and decreasing muscle mass.” Research even shows that collagen content is lower in women who need to strengthen their pelvic floor; an increased breakdown of collagen is also tied to stress urination in women (aka, whenever a physical activity—laughing, sneezing, coughing, etc.—puts stress on the bladder and causes it to leak).

Here’s the thing: While we have plenty of research demonstrating the link between collagen and pelvic floor health, the jury’s still out on the impact of oral supplementation on this specific area of our physiology. So the answer remains a resounding maybe. That seems to be the response to many up-and-coming collagen-related questions of late (looking at you, oral care), probably because consuming collagen supplements for their array of health benefits is a much younger science in general—the bulk of the research only dates back about two decades.* 

Theoretically, though, it makes sense that restoring collagen through supplementation can aid pelvic support and strength over time.* Collagen supplements have been studied in the context of building muscle: In one small human study, men who took collagen daily while participating in an exercise program gained more muscle mass than those who only did the exercise program.* This makes us curious whether high-quality collagen peptides paired with some pelvic floor exercises can help support those pelvic muscles—but, again, there’s no hard data on the matter (yet!). 

However, there is a fair share of research demonstrating collagen’s benefits for gut health: One of the main amino acids in collagen, glutamate, supports digestive health because it's a major fuel source for the cells in the intestine.* Our gut lining also uses proline and glycine (two other amino acids in collagen) for energy.* And anything that’s good for your gut ultimately trickles down to support pelvic health, too. "Our gut is so connected to our other organs…especially the pelvic floor," Greenleaf says on an episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. 

Greenleaf also recommends getting your fill of nutrients that help preserve your natural collagen layer, like vitamin C, vitamin E, astaxanthin, etc. “It appears taking supplements that support collagen formation may have some benefit,”* she adds. In one study, researchers found that postpartum women who took a multivitamin supplement addition to high-potency zinc, leucine, and omega-3 fatty acids had improved recovery of the pelvic floor after vaginal delivery.