Great Lakes Collagen Review – Is It Worth The Price?

Great Lakes Gelatin Company has had a simple mission since they originated way back in 1922: To help you and others live better, healthier lives with the help of their top-quality collagen-based products. 

They charge what they feel is a fair price, especially considering their product’s impeccable record of safety and quality, and not to mention their role in developing the original collagen hydrolysate. And, speaking of collagen hydrolysate, let’s take a look at Great Lakes’ signature product!

Great Lakes Collagen is a hydrolysate, grass-fed, pasture-raised collagen powder. With benefits like supporting joint health, better post-workout recovery, and healthier skin, this collagen has a lot to offer. The question is, though, does it actually stand up to all the claims? Let’s find out in this review of Great Lakes Collagen!

About Great Lakes Collagen

Originally used as a functional ingredient for things like providing the ‘gel’ in gelatin desserts and to make vitamin capsules from, it didn’t take long for Great Lakes Gelatin Company to also recognize a health market for their product. That’s because collagen is an important protein that’s necessary for healthy hair, skin, and joints, not to mention many other functions in the body. 

It is, in fact, the most abundant protein in the animal kingdom, and with at least 16-types. 

One thing they all have in common though is that they are fibrous proteins that help tissues withstand stretching. This can be seen in your skin’s elasticity when you’re younger, which is something that, thanks to a loss of collagen production as you age, fades. 

But using a collagen supplement can help keep the wrinkles at bay, not to mention help your joints stay mobile and pain-free, keep your hair and nails looking marvelous, and even help improve your sleep and post-workout recovery. This is made easier with collagen in its hydrolysate form, which means you don’t have to heat it to get it to dissolve, and instead, you can simply stir it into your smoothie or anything else you feel like adding healthy protein to. 

Great Lakes Collagen Benefits

Easily Dissolvable

As anyone who’s stirred up a batch of Jello can tell you, gelatin typically needs to be dissolved in warm water before use. This doesn’t exactly speak for the convenience of using it in a daily supplement, though when it’s converted to its hydrolysate form, this is rectified. 

This makes it ideal for use in your favorite hot or cold beverage, which can be easily converted from a tasty drink to a highly bioavailable protein source. 

Ready for the ultimate Keto coffee? Simply stir in a couple of tablespoons of Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate and enjoy! 

Healthy Aging 

As you age, your body produces less collagen on its own, which results in sagging, wrinkled skin, brittle hair, and poor nail health. This is compounded if you’re a sun lover, smoker, consume too much sugar, or live where the air is polluted. 

But you can also do a few things to help reduce age-related, habit-related, and environmentally related collagen loss. This includes increasing your intake of vitamin C, proline, glycine, and copper, all of which your body needs to produce collagen; or, by simply using a convenient collagen supplement that’s easy to stir into your favorite beverage. This can not only help your skin look smoother and more taut, give you healthier hair, and provide nails that are strong and resilient; your joints also rely on collagen to repair and maintain healthy cartilage. This helps provide cushioning and ease of movement rather than the pain and immobility that some of us simply associate with getting older. 

Ready to kick up your heels at any age and leave them guessing as to how old you really are? 

By adding Great Lakes Collagen to your daily routine that includes a healthy, whole foods diet, plenty of hydration, and enough sleep each night, you can achieve that and more. 

Ethically Sourced

Okay, some may not worry too much about how an animal is raised and treated, though, to many more of us, it absolutely DOES make a difference. 

By allowing the animals to live on green pasture where they can dine on their natural diet—grass—we can not only feel good about knowing that the critters weren’t raised in some miserable feedlot, but their diet is as healthy to us, the consumers, as it is to them. 

And that is what we like to see—more happy cows and pigs, please!

Plus, the bovine formula is Kosher, and both bovine and porcine proteins used by Great Lakes are Paleo-friendly and non-GMO. Additionally, while it may not be a dedicated keto collagen powder like Orgain Keto, Great Lakes Collagen is Keto-certified. 

Great for Workout Recovery and More

Not only can your skin, hair, nails, and joints benefit from collagen protein, so can your muscles. In fact, collagen can not only provide the building blocks to repair and grow muscles damaged from exercise, but it can also help reduce post-workout inflammation and soreness. 

But it doesn’t stop there, since as sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, Natasha Trentacosta, MD explains, “Collagen acts as a structural scaffold for the majority of the soft tissues of our body,” which along with hair, skin, muscles, and cartilage also includes your blood, bones, and ligaments. This both helps keep you flexible and strong and may also help increase your exercise performance, quality of sleep, and digestion. 

Great Lakes Collagen Ingredients

While other collagen powders, like LiveWell Collagen, may contain additional nutrients such as potassium or calcium, Great Lakes Collagen keeps its formula straightforward and to the point. There’s only 1 simple, effective ingredient in Great Lakes Gelatin Company’s product, and that’s collagen protein harvested from happy, healthy, grass-fed cows. It’s nearly odorless, flavor-free, and clear, which, along with it being hydrolyzed to dissolve easily in liquids, makes it as simple to add to your diet as stirring it into hot or cold drinks (though mixing at room temperature is best to avoid lumps before heating or cooling it), cooking with it, or even adding a tablespoon-or-two to your favorite soups, salad dressing, or other foods. 

Since collagen is again the most abundant protein in us, there is little-if-any chance for negative reactions, and it’s also safe for kids, nursing mothers, and those on medications, though it’s still a good idea to speak to your doctor first before supplementing with collagen. 

Plus, they realize that not everyone wants a flavorless product, which is why you’ve also got the option of ordering one of their 6-flavored collagens, all of which use natural, botanically sourced flavors. 

Does Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate Work?

Whether you’re hitting that age where the person looking back at you in the mirror looks more like a road map than you, or you just want to stay up on your joint, skin, hair, and overall health, using Great Lakes Collagen is a great place to start. Each serving provides 12-grams of what your entire body needs, which is high-quality collagen protein. 

No, you don’t need to be a gym rat or have the vanity of a supermodel to protect just to benefit from what Great Lakes’ has to offer, since a healthy diet and habits that include getting enough rest, hydration, and stress along with Collagen Hydrolysate is for everyone who wants to look, feel, and perform like a champ. 

Who Is Great Lakes Collagen Best For?

Whether you’re an active go-getter or just someone looking to improve your health, this product is for you. This includes gym rats, endurance athletes, and seniors who are experiencing sore, aching joints and ligaments. 

But if you enjoy a lifestyle of fast food, cigarettes, and sun lamps, this product can sort of help. However, what you really need are better habits since no supplement is a miracle cure that can override a lack of good nutrition and ample recovery time. But if this IS you and you’d like to change for the healthier, supplementing with collagen may be a great place to start. It can help you phase away from processed foods and too little sleep by helping you feel fuller and improving the quality of your sleep. 

Remember, it all starts somewhere; why not make it here?

Claims vs. Reality

There’s a reason these guys have been in business since 1922, and that’s because they don’t try to sell you snake oil. Instead, they produce a high-quality product at a good price and even have the ethical sense of ensuring that the product is harvested from happy, pasture-raised animals. 

So yes, Great Lakes Gelatin Company does produce products that perform at least as well as they claim. 

Is Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate Safe?

Okay, so there’s a whole HOST of side effects you’ll experience when you supplement with this product. These include tighter, smoother, more elastic skin, healthier nails, stronger muscles, better sleep, improved digestion, and should we go on?

In all seriousness, collagen is once again the most abundant protein in your body, so the risk of negative side effects is minimal at best, and the product can be used by all ages. This even includes pregnant or nursing mothers with a bundle of joy to keep healthy and develop, which collagen can also help with. 

Where To Buy Great Lakes Collagen

Great Lakes Collagen ca be purchased directly from the official Great Lakes website here.

Great Lakes Collagen sells for a reasonable $25.99 for the 16-oz size (about 38 12-gram servings). You can save another $2.60-per-container when you sign up for auto-ship or order 6-or more units.