Collagen is the nutrient du jour. Within the infinite seek for excellent pores and skin, girls world wide have gotten extra acutely aware of collagen consumption. Dietary supplements are all over the place, from natural co-ops to Goal, and you possibly can 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 in accordance with Dr. Joseph Mercola, Board Licensed Household Drugs Osteopathic Doctor (DO) and Writer of Your Information to Mobile Well being, most Individuals nonetheless aren’t getting the quantity they want.
“Few Individuals get wherever close to the quantity of collagen required for optimum well being,” he says. “At the moment, the typical collagen consumption is alarmingly low — most individuals eat lower than 5 grams per day, and lots of get nearly none.”
A scarcity of collagen isn’t simply unhealthy information on your crow’s toes. In response to Mercola, a collagen deficiency can result in every thing 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.” Briefly, the well being advantages of collagen are way more far-reaching than we’ve been led to imagine.
What Is Collagen and Why Do We Want It?
Collagen is a particular kind of protein, an important constructing block in every thing from cartilage to bones, tendons, and ligaments. For a lot of our early lives, we’re our personal greatest supply of collagen, explains Dr. Amy Myers, a two-time New York Instances bestselling writer and internationally acclaimed purposeful medication doctor. “Your physique creates collagen every day,” she says. “It combines amino acids from the high-protein meals you eat, like cage-free rooster, grass-fed beef, and fatty fish, and turns them into collagen protein.”
However starting at round age 35, “collagen manufacturing naturally begins to sluggish,” 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 among the many extra causes that folks might choose 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 Food plan?
Conventional diets in lots of components of the world are naturally wealthy in collagen. Meals wealthy in collagen consists of 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 Instances Instances bestselling writer of Closely Meditated. “This not solely reduces waste but additionally honors the entire animal.”
For Mercola, this pure nose-to-tail mindset “ensured a balanced consumption of important and conditional amino acids.” However as of late, he says, “the standard Western eating 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 can be so essential to collagen. “If you happen to eat an excessive amount of methionine and tryptophan from muscle meat with out sufficient glycine and proline from collagen,” Asprey says, “you possibly can create an imbalance that promotes irritation, suppresses thyroid perform, and accelerates growing old.”
Entire Meals Sources of Collagen for Pores and skin
In response to Mercola, one of the simplest ways to reverse this pattern is to deal with complete meals sources of collagen. Some examples of those pure sources of collagen embrace selfmade bone broth created from beef or rooster 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 reveals that sources of bovine collagen like beef bone broth assist pores and skin elasticity and hydration3, whereas marine collagen from fish pores and skin is good for pores and skin well being. Analysis means that marine collagen might assist defend pores and skin from UV harm and hold wrinkles from forming, and it has additionally confirmed useful for these with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis4.
Mercola says these complete meals sources of collagen “are splendid as a result of they supply a spread of bioavailable vitamins alongside collagen, together with minerals and important cofactors that assist 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 “absolutely 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 Choice
If you happen to’re having a tough time getting sufficient collagen out of your eating regimen, dietary supplements could also be a sensible choice. “If you happen to aren’t often consuming pores and skin, tendons, or broth created from bones, a high-quality collagen complement could be a sensible solution to fill the hole,” says Mercola.
For Asprey, collagen dietary supplements may very well be a greater solution 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 response to a 2024 research in Dermatology Analysis and Observe, 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 monitor of simply how a lot collagen per day you’re getting. “Collagen powder supplies a constant quantity of collagen, not like bone broth the place the collagen content material can range,” he says.
Myers recommends searching for out bovine and marine collagen dietary supplements, which she says are extra bioavailable than collagen from rooster 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 accommodates 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 might accumulate heavy metals, pesticides, and different toxins if the animals had 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.”
Remember to supply your collagen dietary supplements from a good model, and select grass-fed bovine collagen at any time when doable. “Bonus factors if the model supplies lab testing for every batch,” says Asprey.
“When sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised animals, collagen dietary supplements could be a sustainable method to make use of each a part of the animal whereas minimizing waste,” Mercola agrees. “I like to recommend on the lookout for dietary supplements that prioritize moral, regenerative farming practices. This additionally lowers the danger of contaminants within the ultimate product.”
The Risks of Too A lot Collagen
It’s at all times doable to be getting an excessive amount of of an excellent factor, and this holds true with collagen. “Most individuals suppose ‘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 detrimental repercussions on the intestine microbiota, in accordance with 2020 analysis printed within the Journal of Useful Meals6. Overconsumption of collagen may also improve oxalate ranges within the physique, in accordance with 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 gotten? 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, one of the best method is to get about 15% of your every day energy from protein, with a few third of this protein being within the type of collagen.
Finally, it’s essential to keep in mind that most Individuals aren’t getting wherever close to sufficient collagen. No matter the way you select to include collagen into your eating regimen, whether or not by way of complete meals sources or dietary supplements, you’re possible off to an excellent 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
