Your skin has a tough job, so it must be tough too.
Think about it: your skin must keep the outside world outside. It must therefore endure extremes of hot and cold, the radiation of sunlight, smoke, pollutants, radiation, water, dry and humid air, rough and abrasive surfaces, and much more.
At the same time, it must remain flexible. It can't be rigid like a turtle's shell. We need to move and stretch.
So, skin must somehow shield us from the world, yet remain plastic. It must stay resilient, snapping back into position.
The Major Component of Skin
That's collagen - and you've probably heard of it because it's incredibly important to maintaining your skin's youth and beauty.
Collagen comprises 70% of your skin's subsurface layer by weight.
It's the structural support of your skin. You could think of it as your skin's support bra. Or its internal scaffolding. Your skin's girders. Or the rebar embedded in the concrete of your skin.
Without collagen, your skin would practically be a pool of jelly at your feet.
With collagen, your skin has cohesion and firmness, yet is flexible and elastic.
As you probably know, your skin loses collagen as we grow older. Starting about age 25, we lose around 1% per year.
The collagen that remains can stiffen, thereby losing shape.
Of course, we all know the result - in other people if not ourselves.
Visible skin aging: thinning skin, wrinkles, sagging, fine lines, crow's feet, cellulite, facial grooves and the general appearance of growing older.
In addition, our nails - which also require collagen - grow weak and brittle.
Unfortunately, many people accelerate loss of collagen by smoking, having high levels of sugar in their blood and by exposing their skin to excessive UV radiation.
What is Collagen
It's a protein. Like all the other proteins our bodies make, it comes from eating and digesting the small components of protein molecules - amino acids.
Our bodies know how to manufacture collagen from the amino acids we all eat.
You eat all the amino acids you need - probably a lot more - or your main concern would be constant hunger, not beautiful skin.
That's why spending your money on collagen supplements doesn't make sense.
Unless you're starving, your skin doesn't lose collagen because of a shortage of amino acids.
Also, it's not clear that collagen taken by mouth survives the digestion process. It's probably broken down into amino acids. And even if it does get through, does your body use it to strengthen your skin?
But science has been experimenting with supplements of collagen peptides - and the results appear promising.
What are Peptides
They're strings of amino acids which your body makes to manufacture proteins.
So they're like the middle level between smaller amino acids and larger, complex proteins such as collagen.
I can't find any agreed-upon explanation for why collagen peptides appear to work. My guess is, by beginning the process of manufacturing collagen a step later than simple amino acids, having more peptides stimulates your body to complete the process - making more collagen.
Which is then made available to your skin and nails. (And joints, tendons and muscles too - all connective tissues - by the way.)
But in animal studies, scientists found that partially broken-down (hydrolyzed) collegen peptides stimulated the creation and activity of collagen.
They also reduce the enzyme metalloproteinase 2, which breaks down collagen.
Skin Benefits of Collagen Peptides
In one study, researchers gave collagen peptides to 114 women for eight weeks. Aged 45 to 65, these women received 2.5 grams per day.
At the end of the first four weeks, they had a 7.2% reduction in their eye wrinkles.
At the end of the eight week study, the women taking the peptides had a 20.1% reduction in eye wrinkles - compared to the control group.
The scientists also measured the structural proteins in the dermal matrix of the study participants. The ones who took the peptides had a 65% increase in collagen.
In 2019, a journal published a review of 8 different studies on collagen peptides. The review found that during the studies, both skin elasticity and skin hydration improved.
They had a combined total of 800 participants who were given three different forms of collagen peptides. These included collagen hydrolasate, collagen dipeptide and collagen tripeptide. The collagen used came from fish and pigs.
The doses in the studies ranged from 2.5 grams to 10 grams per day. The studies lasted from one to three months.
In other words, it's hard to compare the studies to each other. Nobody yet has figured out what is the best source of collagen peptides? What is the best form of collagen peptides? What is the best daily dose of collagen peptides?
And are there any long-term effects to taking collagen peptides?
Erasing Cellulite
In a study, scientists found 105 women aged 25 to 50, with visible cellulite - and gave them 2.5 grams of collagen peptides daily for six months.
At the end of the study, the women taking collagen peptides had reduced cellulite by 9% - and decreased thigh waviness by 11.1%.
However, this affected ONLY those women with a BMI of 25 - normal size - and below.
Women with a BMI over 25 experienced no improvement in their cellulite.
And, surprise surprise - that little detail is not always mentioned when collagen peptide marketers want you to buy their products.
Clearly, taking collagen peptide supplements are showing interesting results, but nobody has yet gone from looking 65 to 25.
And that will be harder yet if you refuse to take care of your skin.
Stop smoking and stay away from secondhand smoke. Avoid excessive UV radiation. Eat a healthy diet. Maintain good skin circulation with regular moderate exercise. Sleep 7-9 hours per night.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30681787/
https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2021/8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5h6l_479Hc
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-are-peptides
https://www.healthline.com/health/copper-peptides#copper-peptides-for-hair-growth