One beauty editor for Elle magazine, April Long, travelled to China to see if the beauty craze of eating collagen was actually real… and what she found there is somewhat shocking. 

April recalls how she arrived at a restaurant and subsequently spotted a number of unusual food items on the menu.

Intrigued, she went to talk to the chef about what was on offer. 

"Young women, especially, come here to eat donkey hide," the chef told her, adding: "they believe it keeps them beautiful". 

The tradition of consuming certain foods to rejuvenate the complexion is a very old one in China, with the practise of ingesting donkey skin dating back to the first century BC.

The theory behind the tradition is that eating something that has a lot of collagen in it will then produce collagen in their own skin as well. 

But does it actually work? 

Heaps of Chinese and Japanese women absolutely swear by it, with pharmacies and supermarkets in that part of the world filled with fruit-flavoured shots, collagen-infused marshmallows and even a collagen beer called Precious. 

They consume an average of 5g of collagen per day. In contrast, in this part of the world we're used to eating skinless and boneless everything, so our diets are virtually devoid of collagen.

April remarked after her trip that "we're only beginning to understand the difference it makes". 

But will women living on this side of the world buy into the trend?

Even though there is no hard evidence supporting the craze, Chinese and Japanese women often look much younger than their years – something plenty of Western women would love to tap into.

We're a bit undecided on this one – but don't be surprised if you begin to spot donkey hide in your local health food cafe sometime soon!