This matter is frequently discussed in health and beauty circles. As far as anti-ageing is concerned, collagen has been the buzzword for quite some time now.
Let’s face it…
Sure, we all want to be healthy, but combatting ageing skin can help us feel younger.
There are many opinions on the topic of this anti-ageing supplement. But let’s dig a little deeper to find out more.
What’s the Collagen buzz about?
According to Dr. David Presbury, a renowned dermatologist practicing in Johannesburg, our bodies produce less collagen as we age. From the age of 30, we lose about 1% of collagen every year.
What does this mean?
Eventually, our skin gets wrinkly, our bones will soften and could easily break. Our joints ‘start giving in’, and one could develop ‘leaky gut syndrome’. This has been been found to be true in studies like this one, published by the National Library of Medicine.
So, producing collagen one of the most essential processes in the human body and our bodies stop doing it efficiently as we age.
What’s the solution?
There’s an easy solution in the form of collagen supplements. These can help counteract environmental effects on the skin, such as ageing, stress, smoking, drinking, pollution, lack of sleep, sugar, and caffeine. And especially UV radiation. But that’s a topic for a future blog post.
So what is Collagen?
It’s the most abundant protein found in our bodies. It’s in our muscles, connective tissue, our skin, bones, nails and hair. Collagen is essentially the “glue” keeping the structures in your body together and intact. Your body’s building blocks, if you will. And this is especially the substance that keeps your skin young.
Normally, your body produces the collagen it needs, but it’s the production process that slows down with ageing. Your body needs vitamins, minerals and certain amino acids to help with collagen production.
Eating a balanced, wholesome diet provides many minerals and nutrients to keep our bodies healthy and while certain foods can help boost our collagen (more on that in a future post) and others may be rich in collagen (cuts of beef, for example), this collagen is not directly ingestible to our bodies.
This is why it is a good idea to give our bodies (and skin) some extra help from the inside.
When collagen is hydrolyzed, it is broken down into more easily digestible amino acids, giving it a high level of bioavailability.
Benefits of Collagen Supplements in Anti-Ageing
Collagen Powders:
- You can easily mix unflavoured powders into any drink of your choice. Some collagen powders can only be used in cold drinks to protect the amino acid bond. The natural collagen flavour is harsher in some of these too. MetaBody Pure Hydrolyzed Collagen can be used in hot or cold drinks (and food) and has a very neutral flavour, dissolves quickly and leaves no clumps.
- The molecules in powdered collagen are broken down and are smaller after the hydrolysis process mentioned above. The peptides are therefore easily taken up into your bloodstream and carried to your skin and other collagen-deficient organs.
- Collagen powder contains as much as 90% protein.
- Collagen powders are easier absorbed in the body than capsules or creams.
- 3 Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, also published by the National Library of Medicine, proved that:
- Skin elasticity in older women statistically improved tremendously after 4 weeks, in comparison to the placebo group.
- The collagen with a higher Pro-Hyp and Hyp-Gly concentration showed significant improvement in skin moisture, wrinkles, elasticity and roughness.
- By taking collagen, subjects also showed significant improvement in skin elasticity, wrinkling and hydration.
The bottom line
Collagen is an essential protein in our bodies and keeps our skin looking young and healthy – but our bodies stop producing it efficiently when we’re in our late 20s – 30 years old. As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”. Supplementing our diets with 10g of collagen daily is a sure way to slow down the aging process.
Make sure you choose good quality collagen from a reliable source.
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