Collagen - an important set of proteins found throughout the human body, making up 25% to 35% of ALL the proteins in your body, mainly in connective tissues.
Collagen plays an important role in our skin, hair and nails but also joints, ligaments, muscles, digestive track, vessels and even pelvic floor area keeping the tissues elastic, strong and healthy. Unfortunately the amount of collagen in our bodies is declining starting from our 20's - by the time we reach our 80’s our body produces over 4 times less than it did in our 20’s. This is why we have the visible signs of ageing:
Wrinkled skin
Sagging skin with cellulite
Brittle hair and nails
Grey hair and thinning hair
Stiff joints
Poor mobility
Weak muscles including pelvic floor muscles
Poor eyesight
Leaky gut and digestive issues
Less flexible blood arteries
One of the fascinating things about collagen is its ability to keep things lubricated, flexible and elastic, the name collagen comes from a Greek word "col" which means a glue. This is why it’s so important for your ligaments and cartilage. Collagen is a natural moisture barrier, which means that it prevents your skin, ligaments, and tendons from losing water. And when your body’s no longer making collagen on its own, collagen supplementation has shown to increase collagen density in the dermis, skin elasticity, and hydration.
There is 20 types of collagen in our body and every type plays its own role, this is the list of the most popular collagens:
Collagen Type I: Supports Healthy Skin, Nails, Teeth, Tendons & Ligaments
This is by far the most prevalent type of collagen protein in the female body. It clocks in at nearly 90% of your entire collagen makeup and is responsible for some very important areas of your body. It helps maintain strong bones, thick lustrous hair and nails, healthy teeth, and even your tendons and ligaments. It’s a must-have in any collagen supplement. This type of Collagen helps to tighten vaginal tissue.
Collagen Type II: Maintains Healthy Joints
Every single joint in your body contains cartilage that can degrade and become damaged over time. This is why so many people over a certain age end up with hip replacements and knee replacements. Type 2 collagen is a large part of what makes up the cartilage in your joints keeping you healthy and active!
Collagen Type III: Supports Pelvic Organs Including Uterus, Intestines & Arteries
It’s the second most common collagen in your body and it helps maintain the pliability of your organs, your arteries, and your skin. This particular collagen is important because it helps maintain your organs and that includes your pelvic floor organs, your vagina, your bladder, and more.
Collagen Type V: Involved in Healthy Hair & Elastic Skin
Type V collagen is found on the surface of your skin, helping elasticity and it’s also found directly in your hair as well and it can help your hair become fuller, healthier, and far less brittle over time. It’s also the kind of collagen found in the placenta. Placental collagen has long been used as a skin hydrating, lifting, and firming agent. So we had to add Type V collagen to this powerful formula.
Collagen Type X: Keeps Bones & Tendons Strong
It’s responsible for bone strength and bone formation. It’s also an important component of the cartilage that keeps your joints and tendons flexible and strong. Studies have shown that Type X collagen can help prevent some of the more common conditions of “aging” like arthritis and osteoporosis. It’s most commonly found in chickens and the membrane inside chicken eggs (which got it the nickname “eggshell collagen”) It’s vital to helping with your aging.
We need some nutrients which help in collagen production in our bodies but also there are some conditions which can damage it.
The most harmful for collagen are:
X Eating too much sugar and refined carbs. Sugar interferes with collagen's ability to repair itself, it causes also so called protein "glycation" which damages collagen.
X Getting too much sunshine. Ultraviolet radiation can reduce collagen production.
X Smoking reduces vitamin C amount in our bodies, an essential nutrient needed for collagen production.
X Some autoimmune disorders, such as lupus, can also damage collagen.
The best nutrients need for collagen production are:
Vitamin C
It is the most vital nutrient needed for collagen synthesis. The structure of collagen comes primarily from three amino acids: glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. Hydroxyproline is synthesized from proline, and this process requires vitamin C. The sign of not enough vitamin C can be bleeding gums, poor wound healing or muscles weakness, at the more advanced stage scurvy.
Vitamin A
A specific form of vitamin A, called retinoids can help to protect your collagen from breakdown and enhance the production of new collagen proteins. In part, this may be due to vitamins As the ability to induce angiogenesis -- the production of new blood vessels.
Zinc
Zinc helps to upregulate the protein production pathway that your body needs to make collagen. Zinc plays a role in the activity of an enzyme called collagenase. Collagenase helps your body break down or turn over old or injured tissues to make way for healthy collagen production. Animal research shows that zinc deficiency can lead to a reduction in collagenase activity by up to 80%.Zinc place a role in the activity of over 100 enzymes and supports protein production, DNA synthesis, and cell division and it is very important to maintain an adequate amount of zinc in your body.
Copper
Copper plays an essential role in collagen structure through its involvement in the activity of an enzyme called lysyl oxidase. When lysyl oxidase is activated, it cross-links collagen with other supportive tissues and creates the scaffolding surrounding your organs.
Manganese
Manganese plays a role in collagen production through its involvement in the activity of the enzyme prolidase. Prolidase is required for the liberation of the amino acid proline from larger molecules. As mentioned above, proline and hydroxyproline are two of the amino acids that play a crucial role in the structure of collagen. Some of the best sources of manganese are shellfish, hazelnuts, pecans, brown rice, spinach, pineapple.
Silica
On the skin, it is suggested that silicon is important for optimal collagen synthesis and activation of hydroxylating enzymes, improving skin strength and elasticity.
Glycine
This amino acid is a building block of collagen, you may find in in the some protein rich food like legumes, fish, dairy products, and meat but one of the best sources is a long cooked broth.
The best food for collagen production
One of the best way to provide collagen to your body through nutrition is a cooked broth - you can make it out of chicken legs, thighs or wings but also beef bones or for a variety make a fish broth - which is also delicious. It is important to cook the broth slow and for a longer period of time in order to extract the collagen into the broth - you will notice it while taking it out of the fridge that the structure becomes jelly like - then you can make sure the collagen is in there.
Another food ingredient which supports collagen is gelatin - this is produced from collagen while cooking.
Shall we supplement?
Why supplementing with collagen it is worth looking what type of collagen you might need at the certain moment - whether you need more skin, hair or joints support. Some supplements contain collagen nucleotides which cover more than one type of collagen.
If collagen is hydrolyzed it means that the amino acid chains have been broken down into smaller units making it easier for the body to digest. In other words, it is a more bioavailable form of collagen - so if you are considering using collagen for specific health reasons look out for supplements containing the hydrolyzed form.
Additionally having food rich in above mentioned nutrients like vitamin C, zinc, copper, vitamin A or manganese is also crucial for the synthesis of collagen in our body but there might be also a need for additional supplementation.
If you are looking for support for your skin with any skin problems like acne or eczema but also how to prevent skin ageing I will be more than happy to support you.
Please book with me an introductory call at the provided link.
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