Vitamin C is essential for making collagen, but you almost certainly do not need to take a vitamin C supplement with your collagen. Two enzymes that turn collagen's building blocks into a stable triple helix (prolyl and lysyl hydroxylase) cannot work without vitamin C, which is why scurvy is a collagen-failure disease. The amount required is small: the UK reference intake is 40mg a day and 90mg covers everyone. An orange, a kiwi or a handful of strawberries does it. Megadoses do not make more collagen.
The reason the pairing gets talked about so much is a single influential study. In 2017 Shaw and Baar gave athletes gelatin enriched with about 50mg of vitamin C before exercise and doubled collagen synthesis. The vitamin C was there to make sure nobody in the trial was short of the cofactor, not because a big dose adds anything. This guide explains what vitamin C does in collagen production, how much you need, whether timing with your collagen matters, and which foods cover it.
Quick answer
- Do you need vitamin C to make collagen? Yes, it is a required cofactor.
- How much? 40mg a day (UK reference intake); 90mg is plenty. Most UK diets provide this.
- Take it with your collagen? Convenient, not essential. Vitamin C stays in the body for hours; the same-day total matters.
- More is better? No. Above about 200mg absorption drops and the excess is excreted.
- Who might be short: smokers, very low fruit and veg intake, some restrictive diets.
What vitamin C does in collagen synthesis
Your cells build collagen as a chain of amino acids, then two enzymes add hydroxyl groups to proline and lysine along the chain. Those hydroxyl groups are what let three chains twist into the strong triple helix that gives skin, tendons and bone their structure. Both enzymes use vitamin C as a cofactor: without it, the chains are made but cannot be stabilised, and the body breaks them down. That is scurvy: bleeding gums, poor wound healing and joint pain, all collagen failures. Vitamin C also acts as an antioxidant in skin and stimulates the genes for collagen production in fibroblasts.
How much vitamin C you actually need
| Source | Vitamin C |
|---|---|
| UK reference nutrient intake (adults) | 40mg a day |
| EU / US recommended intake | 75–90mg a day |
| Amount in the Shaw 2017 collagen trial | ~50mg with each dose |
| One medium orange | ~70mg |
| One kiwi fruit | ~65mg |
| 80g strawberries | ~45mg |
| Half a red pepper | ~60mg |
| 80g broccoli, cooked | ~35mg |
| Intake above which absorption falls sharply | ~200mg per dose |
The enzymes are saturated at normal dietary intakes. Taking 1,000mg with your collagen does not make more collagen; most of it leaves in urine within hours.
Should you take vitamin C at the same time as collagen?
It is a convenient habit, not a requirement. Vitamin C is water-soluble and stays in circulation for several hours, and collagen synthesis runs continuously, so what matters is that you are not deficient on the day. Taking your collagen with a piece of fruit, a glass of orange juice or a meal that contains vegetables covers it. If you take collagen pre-training on an empty stomach, as the tendon protocol suggests, a small vitamin C source alongside is sensible and costs nothing. See best time to take collagen.
Who might be short of vitamin C
- Smokers need roughly 35mg a day extra.
- Very low fruit and vegetable intake, which describes a surprising share of UK adults.
- Restrictive or all-meat diets.
- Heavy training blocks increase oxidative stress; a normal diet still covers it, but this is the group where the pre-exercise pairing is most sensible.
Vitamin C and skin
Topical vitamin C has its own evidence for skin brightness and photo-protection, separate from oral intake. Oral vitamin C at normal levels supports collagen production in skin; the skin trials that showed elasticity and hydration improvements used collagen peptides alone (2.5g to 10g a day) in people eating normal diets, so no extra vitamin C was needed for the effect.
What KUDU does about it
KUDU's Collagen + Creatine sachet includes vitamin C alongside 10g of collagen and 5g of creatine, so the pre-training cofactor question is handled in one sachet. The 20g liquid collagen shot is pure hydrolysed bovine collagen with natural flavours; take it with a piece of fruit or a normal meal and you have everything the enzymes need.
Collagen and vitamin C: FAQs
Do I need to take vitamin C with collagen?
You need enough vitamin C on the day, around 40 to 90mg, which a normal diet provides. Taking it at the same moment as your collagen is convenient but not required.
How much vitamin C for collagen production?
40mg a day meets the UK reference intake and the enzymes are saturated at normal dietary levels. Doses above 200mg add nothing for collagen.
Does vitamin C help collagen absorption?
No. Vitamin C helps your cells build collagen after the peptides are absorbed; it does not change how much collagen you absorb from a supplement.
Can I take collagen without vitamin C?
Yes, provided your diet is not deficient. The skin trials used collagen alone in people eating normally.
Is vitamin C in KUDU?
Yes in the Collagen + Creatine sachet. The 20g liquid collagen shot is pure collagen; pair it with fruit or a meal.
Related reading
- The role of vitamin C in collagen synthesis
- How collagen synthesis works
- Best time to take collagen
- Does collagen actually work?
Sources
- Shaw G et al. Vitamin C enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr 2017.
- Pullar JM, Carr AC, Vissers MCM. The roles of vitamin C in skin health. Nutrients 2017.
- UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, dietary reference values for vitamin C.
- Levine M et al. Vitamin C pharmacokinetics in healthy volunteers. Proc Natl Acad Sci 1996.
