As one of the most important proteins, collagen is responsible for various biological functions, from providing support in the connective tissue and muscle, to promoting skin elasticity, bone and joint health. Though our bodies produce collagen naturally, this production starts slowing down when we start ageing. This is one of the main reasons for the appearance of ageing signs, such as wrinkles, as it gets harder for the skin to get back into its shape.
Luckily, apart from making sure you lead a healthy lifestyle, minding what you eat (preferably adding bone broth and gelatine on your menu) and getting in the habit of exercising, you could also seek the help of a collagen supplement packed with potent vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, prebiotics and probiotics. A word of caution when deciding to implement it in your diet is to pay attention to the specific ingredients it has. If you are allergic to eggs or shellfish, it’s best to look for vegan supplements to avoid any unwanted side effects.
Improve Skin Health
When buying supplements, make sure they don’t have any artificial flavours, colours, preservatives or additives in their composition. Boost your diet with powders, tablets or capsules that can help improve your skin’s elasticity, add to its moisture and radiance, and of course reduce the signs of ageing.
You can make powders must-have ingredients for your favourite juices, smoothies or even desserts if you have a sweet tooth. To make them easier for the body to absorb, most collagen supplements undergo through the process of hydrolysation, i.e. they are broken down to peptides and that’s why they prove to be so efficient.
Boost Muscle Mass
The great thing about choosing to enrich your diet with a collagen supplement daily is the fact that it won’t only do your skin good, but your health in general, starting with boosting your muscle mass. You’d be able to notice positive results by having an exercise regime that’d you’d stick to because the collagen positively affects both muscle mass growth and strength growth by stimulating the synthesis of muscle proteins.
Improve Joint Health
The cartilage (the smooth flexible tissue that keeps the motion of joints fluid) tends to wear off with age so it’s only natural for joints to break down and bones to rub against each other. Both of these processes lead to inflammation, pain and a bigger risk of developing disorders such as osteoarthritis. By using collagen supplements, you can prevent the deterioration of the cartilage. They can also help reduce joint inflammation and pain if you already have them or are dealing with osteoarthritis.
Prevent Bone Loss
Bone mass tends to deteriorate with time, just like collagen. It is present in bone structure and it’s responsible for maintaining bone strength, which is why there’s a bigger risk of osteoporosis among the elderly. Low bone density often leads to a higher risk of fractures and a fracture is never good as it can affect the quality of life considerably to the point of leaving the elderly bedridden. When you boost your diet with these supplements, you can improve your bone mineral density, thus improve the bone strength too; in other words, collagen replacement supplements can slow down ageing.
Improve Heart Health
Collagen is also important when it comes to your heart’s health because it provides the structure of the arteries. When there isn’t enough collagen, they narrow down, which leads to an increased risk of developing atherosclerosis. This is a type of arteriosclerosis that’s responsible for cardiovascular issues such as strokes and heart attacks. For this very reason, taking a collagen supplement can turn out to be of great use.
Additional Benefits
It’s important to note the following benefits even though they haven’t undergone through the same amount of studies as the previous to be certain on their effectiveness.
Gut Health and Digestion – When you take supplements which contain probiotics and prebiotics, you may experience positive results with your gut health and digestive tract.
Nail and Hair Health – If you want to stimulate nail and hair growth, then you could give collagen a try.
Weight Loss – The way collagen is essential in this aspect is by making people feel full longer, given that it’s a protein. To get a low-calorie content, look for supplements that are organic and don’t contain any sweeteners.
Quality of Sleep – This is owed to the amino acid glycine present in collagen supplements which promotes sleep quality, elevates the level of serotonin, and reduces the symptoms of insomnia.
Blood Sugar – Glycine may also be helpful with managing the blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes; that is, as long as the supplements don’t have a high sugar content.
