Collagen & Supplements: The Wonder Food

Celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Busy Phillips swear by it for better skin, stronger hair, nails, and bones, and anti-aging benefits, and there’s no shortage of collagen recommendations & supplements on TikTok and Instagram.

 “Our body naturally produces collagen, but this amount continuously declines as we age. After 20, the body loses about 1% of collagen per year. Changes slowly begin in the skin, body and hair, and by the time we reach our 50s, we experience a substantial decline in collagen.” Michelle Hawksworth, a Registered Dietician for Muscle and Brawn

This is why people look to adjust their diets and add supplements to their daily routine to help make up for this loss.

Collagen in Diet

According to Juliana Tamayo, Nutritionist, MS & editor for FitnessClone.com “Eating foods that are high in protein will almost always lead to more collagen absorption, such as egg whites, chicken, seafood. The best source for collagen that is also extremely easy to obtain is bone broth. Since you make bone broth using bones, it is a high source of amino acids and collagen. Some of the most important ones include proline, lysine, arginine, and glycine. While you can buy store-made bone broth, making it at home is much cheaper and ensures there is no excess sodium or anything else.”

Benefits of Collagen

Reda Elmardi, Dietician, certified nutritionist, certified strength and conditioning specialist Personal Trainer, and senior editor at thegymgoat.com shares her input on why collagen is considered a wonder food with all its benefits

Improves and reinforces your hair skin teeth and nails –Wrinkles looser skin stretch imprints and cellulite can be generally the aftereffect of lower collagen. At the point when you eat a greater amount of it, your skin will look firmer and smoother.

Helps fix defective stomach –If you have a broken stomach where poisons can go through your intestinal system into the remainder of your body it can unleash devastation on your whole framework. Collagen can assist with fixing your digestion tracts and recuperate cracked stomachs. Assuming you experience the ill effects of provocative gut sickness of any sort collagen might help your processing.

Decreases or forestalls joint agony and goes about as a calming – Collagen works similarly to the oil in a motor: it assists tendons ligaments and joints with floating without a hitch. Less collagen can mean enlarged firm and excruciating joints. Collagen has been displayed to assist with letting osteoarthritis torment.

Expands your digestion and bulk –The amino corrosive glycine found in collagen assists convert glucose into energy and increment with inclining muscle. More fit muscle implies quicker digestion since muscle consumes a greater number of calories than fat. Taking vitamin C alongside collagen helps this cycle.

Helps support your liver and detox frameworks –Glycine shields your liver from poisons and can assist with fixing any liver harm.

Secures your heart and cardiovascular wellbeing-Proline one more part of collagen might assist with fixing veins and clear fat stores from them. It’s additionally been displayed to diminish pulse.

She further adds “Vitamin C is essential in the absorption of collagen, so eating fruits like grapefruit, berries, and oranges will boost your collagen.”

Collagen Supplements: an option

it’s recommended to choose the supplements with the cleanest and simplest ingredients. Make sure the collagen you’re using has type 1, 2, or 3 collagen in it. This is because the collagen we already naturally produce in our body is either type 1, 2, or 3, and we want to be supplementing exactly those types. It’s best to make sure you’re getting hydrolyzed collagen. This collagen has been broken down into more easily dissolvable amino acids, making it easier for the collagen to be absorbed into the bloodstream.

The recommended dose for collagen supplements is 2.5g-15g a day.

How to choose a collagen supplement

One of the decisive factors while choosing any supplement is the form. You can pick from pills, liquids, or powders. Any of which is suitable for you. You should also check how much carbs and sugar are in your collagen supplements. 

“Well it’s always better to choose food over supplements generally no matter what; there has been a moving trend towards collagen supplements that are oral coming in various forms shapes and sizes including shakes, foods, and drinks. This also includes canceling such as vitamins and supplements that may be taken. “According to Dr. Anna Chacon, a board-certified dermatologist

 Several types of collagen supplements are gaining popularity including hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin. Gelatin is created when collagen is cooked. These have already broken large proteins down into smaller peptides which are more easily absorbed in the body.

 Adding 10-20 grams of a collagen protein supplement to your daily routine can go a long way towards building your skin, hair, and nails.

There are 5 types of collagen, make sure you choose one with the help of your doctor or dietician to avoid any side effects. Opt for the non-flavored ones. Flavored supplements mostly have added sugars to enhance the flavor so, refrain from choosing those. 

In the end, as shared by Erum N. Ilyas, Board Certified Dermatologist, CEO & Founder, AmberNoon “The real question that comes up is how effective these products can be.  The collagen is of course ingested, spends time in the acidic environment of the stomach, and theoretically needs to be absorbed and transferred to the skin to boost the skin’s support.  Whether or not this process actually happens and to the extent that we would like it to occur is very difficult to say for certain.  There are some limited studies that show the potential for some products to potentially help to some extent, however, these are in marketing studies primarily and there are so many products and formulations of hydrolyzed collagen on the market, it is difficult to say which actually has the ingredients that may work and which are just using the word “collagen” as a buzzword to push sales.” 

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