Live Conscious is a popular collagen brand that’s sold primarily online. The brand claims to have sold over 1 million bags of their collagen peptides powder supplement, and their collagen is one of the most affordable options on the market.
But is Live Conscious collagen well-formulated? Is it really cheaper per-serving than other leading brands? And does collagen even improve skin and joint health?
We’ll seek to answer these questions in this review where we’ll analyze the ingredients in two of Live Conscious’ most popular products: Live Conscious Collagen Peptides and Live Conscious Beyond Greens.
Does Collagen Improve Skin and Joint Health?
Collagen is the structural protein in skin, and it’s one of the most well-studied supplements for reducing wrinkles. As we age, our body’s collagen production slows down, and medical research proves that supplemental collagen can help replenish collagen levels in the body and improve skin.
An extensive medical review published in the International Journal of Dermatology analyzed data from 18 clinical trials on oral collagen supplementation and skin parameters. Data from over 1,000 trial participants was examined. The researchers concluded that oral collagen supplementation provided significant improvements to skin:
“Based on results, ingestion of hydrolyzed collagen for 90 days is effective in reducing skin aging, as it reduces wrinkles and improves skin elasticity and hydration.”
Another meta-study that we frequently cite on Illuminate Health concluded similarly, and found the effective dosing range of collagen for skin care to be 2.5 grams (g) to 10 g per day. We typically recommend 10 g since collagen is a safe food product without side effects, and this appears to be the maximally-effective dose.
Collagen can also improve joint health. A medical review from 2019 evaluated whether orally-administered collagen could reduce osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms. The researchers concluded that collagen reduced OA symptoms overall, and was particularly effective for reducing stiffness.
We consider collagen to be one of the most promising therapeutic supplements for improving skin quality and reducing wrinkles, and also to have significant research backing for improvements to joint health.
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides Ingredient Review
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides has a clean and effective formulation with one single active ingredient: collagen peptides sourced from pastured animals. We consider this to be the ideal formulation for a collagen supplement. Many brands include additive ingredients like flavoring agents and artificial sweeteners in their collagen powder, but this is a healthier option.
This supplement provides 11 g of collagen per serving, which is an effective dose but is a slight user inconvenience in our opinion because the maximally-effective collagen dose we recommend is 10 g, as outlined in the previous section.
There is no harm in taking 11 g rather than 10 g of collagen, it will just cost more per serving and we haven’t come across medical evidence of improved benefits beyond a 10 g daily dose.
We approve of this formulation and consider it equivalently effective to any collagen peptide supplement sourced from pastured animals on the market.
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides User Review
A YouTube channel called “I.Am.JenneKim” has published a review of Live Conscious Collagen Peptides which appears to be unsponsored. The creator shares her experience using the product and explains whether it benefited her skin:
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides Amazon Reviews
Live Conscious Collagen Peptides is one of the most popular collagen supplements on Amazon, and has achieved over 50,000 reviews at the time of writing this article.
The average review rating is 4.5/5 stars, but the product receives a “D” rating on FakeSpot, which is a software tool that detects potentially fraudulent Amazon reviews. Many collagen brands (even Vital Proteins) have similarly poor FakeSpot ratings and we’re unsure what to make of that.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “LECIA YOUNG” who claims the supplement is superior to a competitor:
“I was using another brand and I thought it was good but then I saw this brand listed as #1 on a survey so I decided to buy this one. Within 2 weeks of taking this, my very dry skin went away.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is from a user named “A. Nicole” who claims that there were quality control issues with one of their purchases:
“Upon opening the new bag I was hit with a very strong unpleasant smell that wasn't present in the first bag. I figured as long as it still dissolved well and is tasteless I'll ignore the smell. It dissolves fine but the taste was unbearable.”
Live Conscious Beyond Greens Review
Live Conscious also sells a green powder supplement called Beyond Greens which is another one of their most popular products.
All of the active ingredients in this formulation meet our standards. The product contains plants like matcha leaf which are rich in phytonutrients, and other botanical ingredients like chlorella that are nutrient-dense. The dose per serving is only 3.8 g, which is relatively low for a green powder.
We cannot recommend this product because it contains natural flavor. We recommend avoiding all supplements with flavoring agents, because this class of compounds may be unhealthy depending on the specific chemical compounds used.
A medical review published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal documented toxicity concerns with some flavoring agents. Since this class of compounds provides no nutritional value, it seems logical to avoid it.
Overall this is a better green powder formulation than many we’ve reviewed on Illuminate Health, and we would recommend it if not for the inclusion of natural flavor.
Our Green Powder Recommendation
The green powder product we recommend is called Green Superfood Powder and is sold by a brand called Naked Nutrition. This product contains 7 g of green powder per serving, which is around twice the amount in Live Conscious Beyond Greens.
The main reason we recommend this product is because it's free of any questionable additives like natural flavor, but it’s also one of the best-priced green powders on the market per gram.
Beyond Greens costs $31.99 for a one-time purchase and provides 113 g total of green powder. This equates to a per-gram price of $0.28. Naked Nutrition Green Superfood Powder costs $31.99 for a one-time purchase and provides 245 g total of green powder. This equates to a per-gram price of $0.13.
Interested consumers can purchase Naked Nutrition’s green powder at this link.
Live Conscious Pros and Cons
Here’s our take on the pros and cons of Live Conscious as a brand:
Pros
- Great prices
- Generally well-formulated supplements
- Very affordable collagen peptides product
Cons
- Greens product contains natural flavor
- Greens product is expensive per-gram
- Questionable Amazon reviews
