Collagen is the nutrient du jour. Within the limitless seek for good pores and skin, girls all over the world have gotten extra aware of collagen consumption. Dietary supplements are in every single place, from natural co-ops to Goal, and you’ll be able to even order collagen-infused chilly brew and smoothies at many cafes.
Collagen complement gross sales surpassed $1.8 billion in 20221, and so they present no signal of stopping. However based on Dr. Joseph Mercola, Board Licensed Household Medication Osteopathic Doctor (DO) and Creator of Your Information to Mobile Well being, most Individuals nonetheless aren’t getting the quantity they want.
“Few Individuals get anyplace close to the quantity of collagen required for optimum well being,” he says. “As we speak, the common collagen consumption is alarmingly low — most individuals devour lower than 5 grams per day, and lots of get just about none.”
An absence of collagen isn’t simply dangerous information on your crow’s ft. In keeping with Mercola, a collagen deficiency can result in every part from poor joint well being to a decline in metabolic perform. “Many individuals assume collagen dietary supplements are only for pores and skin well being, however collagen is important for way more than that,” he says. “It helps your whole connective tissue system, together with bones, joints, tendons, and even the integrity of your intestine lining.” In brief, the well being advantages of collagen are way more far-reaching than we’ve been led to consider.
What Is Collagen and Why Do We Want It?
Collagen is a particular kind of protein, a necessary constructing block in every part from cartilage to bones, tendons, and ligaments. For a lot of our early lives, we’re our personal finest supply of collagen, explains Dr. Amy Myers, a two-time New York Occasions bestselling writer and internationally acclaimed practical medication doctor. “Your physique creates collagen day by day,” she says. “It combines amino acids from the high-protein meals you eat, like cage-free hen, grass-fed beef, and fatty fish, and turns them into collagen protein.”
However starting at round age 35, “collagen manufacturing naturally begins to gradual,” explains Myers. “By age 40, collagen begins to deplete sooner than your physique can reproduce it, and by age 60, over ½ of your physique’s collagen has been depleted.”
Pure growing old isn’t the one issue contributing to decreased collagen. Myers cites genetics, tobacco, air air pollution, extreme solar publicity, and dietary deficiencies as a few of the many extra causes that folks could decide to complement their diets with collagen. Collagen supplementation has been clinically confirmed to enhance pores and skin well being, cut back muscle losing, enhance the physique’s means to heal wounds, and cut back signs of arthritis2.
How Do I Add Collagen to My Weight loss plan?
Conventional diets in lots of components of the world are naturally wealthy in collagen. Meals wealthy in collagen contains slow-cooked stews and soups, bone broth, and the aspic (meat gelatin) historically utilized in many pâtés, terrines, or potted meats.
“Our ancestors used to eat all components of the animal together with the organs and bone marrow,” explains Dave Asprey, New York Occasions Occasions bestselling writer of Closely Meditated. “This not solely reduces waste but in addition honors the entire animal.”
For Mercola, this pure nose-to-tail mindset “ensured a balanced consumption of important and conditional amino acids.” However nowadays, he says, “the everyday Western food regimen closely favors muscle meats whereas excluding collagen-rich sources comparable to bone broth, skin-on poultry, or slow-cooked meats with connective tissue.”
Whereas additionally wealthy in protein, muscle meats alone lack the amino acids which are so essential to collagen. “In the event you devour an excessive amount of methionine and tryptophan from muscle meat with out sufficient glycine and proline from collagen,” Asprey says, “you’ll be able to create an imbalance that promotes irritation, suppresses thyroid perform, and accelerates growing old.”
Complete Meals Sources of Collagen for Pores and skin
In keeping with Mercola, one of the simplest ways to reverse this development is to give attention to entire meals sources of collagen. Some examples of those pure sources of collagen embrace do-it-yourself bone broth constituted of beef or hen bones, or gelatin-rich meats wealthy in connective tissue like oxtail or lamb shank.
And there’s a cause why collagen is such a sizzling subject on the planet of skincare. Analysis exhibits that sources of bovine collagen like beef bone broth help pores and skin elasticity and hydration3, whereas marine collagen from fish pores and skin is right for pores and skin well being. Analysis means that marine collagen could assist defend pores and skin from UV injury and preserve wrinkles from forming, and it has additionally confirmed helpful for these with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis4.
Mercola says these entire meals sources of collagen “are ideally suited as a result of they supply a spread of bioavailable vitamins alongside collagen, together with minerals and important cofactors that help tissue restore and metabolic well being.”
No matter collagen-rich meals you select to eat, Myers says it’s essential to recollect your physique wants vitamin C to “totally energy collagen manufacturing.” For a holistic method, pair your favourite collagen sources with meals wealthy in vitamin C like berries, broccoli, and leafy inexperienced greens.
Collagen Dietary supplements Might Be a Extra Bioavailable Possibility
In the event you’re having a tough time getting sufficient collagen out of your food regimen, dietary supplements could also be a good selection. “In the event you aren’t usually consuming pores and skin, tendons, or broth constituted of bones, a high-quality collagen complement is usually a sensible method to fill the hole,” says Mercola.
For Asprey, collagen dietary supplements may very well be a greater method to up your consumption of this important nutrient. “Collagen protein dietary supplements are hydrolyzed,” he says, “which means they’re damaged down and extra absorbable by your physique.” In keeping with a 2024 examine in Dermatology Analysis and Follow, hydrolyzed collagen can enhance pores and skin, scalp, and hair well being in simply twelve weeks5.
Asprey additionally notes that dietary supplements make it simpler to maintain observe of simply how a lot collagen per day you’re getting. “Collagen powder gives a constant quantity of collagen, in contrast to bone broth the place the collagen content material can differ,” he says.
Myers recommends looking for out bovine and marine collagen dietary supplements, which she says are extra bioavailable than collagen from hen or eggshells. She additionally suggests choosing collagen peptides, that are derived from smaller items of protein and are thus extra bioavailable than common collagen.
The Draw back of Collagen Dietary supplements
Supplementing can nonetheless have one draw back: decreased transparency. As with most protein powders, Asprey explains, “there’s a threat that your collagen comprises excessive ranges of heavy metals if it isn’t top quality.”
“Contamination is an actual concern, particularly with lower-quality dietary supplements,” echoes Mercola. “Collagen is usually sourced from animal bones and connective tissues, which may accumulate heavy metals, pesticides, and different toxins if the animals have been raised in polluted environments. That is notably true for collagen derived from conventionally farmed animals, the place publicity to antibiotics, hormones, and environmental contaminants is larger.”
You should definitely supply your collagen dietary supplements from a good model, and select grass-fed bovine collagen every time potential. “Bonus factors if the model gives lab testing for every batch,” says Asprey.
“When sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised animals, collagen dietary supplements is usually a sustainable means to make use of each a part of the animal whereas minimizing waste,” Mercola agrees. “I like to recommend in search of dietary supplements that prioritize moral, regenerative farming practices. This additionally lowers the chance of contaminants within the closing product.”
The Risks of Too A lot Collagen
It’s at all times potential to be getting an excessive amount of of factor, and this holds true with collagen. “Most individuals assume ‘if one thing is sweet, extra have to be higher,’” says Asprey. “That isn’t true with most issues, even collagen.”
An excessive amount of collagen has been proven to have destructive repercussions on the intestine microbiota, based on 2020 analysis printed within the Journal of Purposeful Meals6. Overconsumption of collagen may improve oxalate ranges within the physique, based on Asprey. “You don’t need too many oxalates floating round, as a result of they bind to calcium and kind razor sharp crystals that may deposit themselves in your tissues,” he provides.
So how a lot collagen per day ought to you’ve got? Asprey recommends getting not more than 20 grams of collagen a day and being conscious of consuming too many different high-oxalate meals like spinach, almonds, raspberries, beets, candy potatoes, and kale. For Mercola, the very best method is to get about 15% of your day by day energy from protein, with a few third of this protein being within the type of collagen.
In the end, it’s essential to do not forget that most Individuals aren’t getting anyplace close to sufficient collagen. No matter the way you select to include collagen into your food regimen, whether or not via entire meals sources or dietary supplements, you’re possible off to begin.
Sources:
- https://www.pharmiweb.com/press-release/2024-03-13/collagen-supplements-market-to-surpass-usd-70-billion-by-2032-with-rising-demand-for-cosmetic-appli
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8620403/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5707681/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8780088/
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2024/8752787
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464620305028
