More collagen is the Number One goal of most skincare products and supplements.
That's simply smart. Collagen is the most important component of your skin. It forms 70% (some say 80% to 90%) by weight of your skin's dermis.
It's considered the concrete walls, or scaffolding, comprising - and physically supporting - your skin.
Although other parts of our skin also deteriorate with age, the weakening of our collagen is the primary cause of wrinkles, sagging flesh, flabbiness, and other forms of visible aging.
As we add on the years, we lose collagen. We also lose the capacity to produce it ourselves. That declines around 1% to 1.5% per year.
Other factors that increase the rate at which you lose collagen in your skin: are smoking, menopause, lack of sleep, excess sun exposure, and alcohol.
What is Collagen?
It's a tough protein. It's not only 70% of your skin, it's 30% of your body's entire protein. It's especially important as a connective tissue: skin, yes, but also within tendons, cartilage, bones, intestines, blood vessels, and ligaments. It provides strength to all these tissues and organs.
Our own body's production does go down with age. Therefore, taking in collagen seems an obvious solution to the problem.
However, collagen is a large protein. When we consume it - either as a supplement or in the foods we eat - our digestive system breaks it down into smaller molecules. Therefore, supplements of collagen peptides are pretty much a waste of money. (Even experts don't agree on this.)
Health and Beauty Benefits of Collagen for Your Skin
It helps:
* Grow new skin by forming fibroblasts in your dermis
* Clot your blood
* Replace dead skin cells
* Increase your skin's elasticity and youthful appearance
* Protect your internal organs
Plus, in addition to skin, collagen is important for maintaining healthy hair and nails.
Collagen Supplements
Some skincare companies add collagen to their products. This seems logical. Your skin needs more collagen, so just rub it on.
Unfortunately, the simple options for getting more collagen into your skin don't work well in real life.
There is evidence that some consumed collagen peptides may wind up inside you. However, so far anyway, nobody has yet demonstrated improvement in skin beauty or aging as a result.
Plus, there's another problem with collagen supplements.
Because they're already-finished collagen, their ingredients are . . . gross.
* Kangaroo tails
* Fish scales, skins, and fins
* Hides, plus bones, hooves, and cartilage from cattle, pigs, and chickens
You get the picture. Already-formed collagen must come from the connective tissues of animals.
Some gurus recommend bone broth. It's a rich source of dietary collagen, but much of it also contains lead.
We need to ask an important question:
We already make collagen, so what do we need to make MORE collagen?
Eat more pro-collagen.
That is, plant compounds that help your body produce more of its own collagen.
That way, you don't have to worry about safety - or about your body's ability to digest the large molecules or peptides. Or about where your body will put whatever amount of collagen it does manage to digest - and whether that will actually bring a benefit to your skin.
Plant-Based Pro-collagen
Because so many people are queasy about swallowing capsules of kangaroo tails and rubbing fish scales onto their skin - and because the benefits range from negligible to controversial - the personal care industry has investigated alternatives.
That's good. Scientists are discovering how we make collagen naturally, so we can make more for longer - also naturally.
In effect, good plant-based pro-collagens are supplements that mimic actual collagen because they're precursors. They stimulate your skin to produce more collagen.
The Major Problem
We can't "force" our bodies to produce collagen - which your body makes by assembling the proper amino acids in order.
However, scientists have found three inducing compounds to help the supplement deliver amino acids in the correct order to come up with collagen.
* Gotu kola leaf extract
* Vitamin C
* Ginseng root extract
In a laboratory study, human skin fibroblast cells were given amino acids and those three inducing compounds. (Human skin fibroblasts are the ones mainly responsible for collagen synthesis.)
After just 48 hours, the collagen in the fibroblasts increased 135%.
That's a lab result, but it's still promising.
Two Human Studies of Plant-Based Pro-collagen
The pro-collagen given to these participants had exactly the same amino acid profile as type 1 collagen - the type most abundant in human skin.
1. Adults took 5 grams of the pro-collagen every day for four weeks.
At the end of that time, they had:
* 16% less redness of the skin
* 14% fewer wrinkles
* 16% higher density of collagen
* 7% increase in hydration of their skin
* 16% less rough skin
2. 90 adults for eight weeks
Thirty of them took 5 grams of fish collagen.
Thirty of them took 5 grams of plant-based pro-collagen
Thirty of them took only a placebo.
They were all measured at the beginning, the middle (four weeks) and at the end of the eight weeks.
Results of the plant-based group:
* 8% higher density of collagen in skin
* 6% increase in skin moisture
* 14% fewer skin wrinkles
* 13% more smoothness of their skin
* 6% more skin elasticity
Some of the participants who experienced reduced wrinkles had an incredible 33% average reduction.
These results were published in 2024 in the Journal of Functional Foods.
How great would you look if your wrinkles were 1/3 smaller?
Safety of Supplements
Plants are powerful, and so if you have any allergic or other reaction to any plant-based supplement, discontinue its use.
As with all supplements, poor and unhygienic manufacturing processes can create a problem for even the safest of ingredients. Buy only from reputable companies.
All other things being equal, there's a much greater chance of kangaroo tails and cow hides becoming dangerously contaminated than plant sources.
The One Most Important Food to Eat for More Collagen
According to food scientist Kantha Shelke, it's leafy green vegetables. They contain the various vitamins (especially Vitamin C) and minerals (especially zinc) our bodies need to produce collagen.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464623005558
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/23089-collagen
https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2024/8/revitalize-skin-with-vegan-procollagen
https://foodinsight.org/collagen-supplementation-is-it-all-hype
https://www.peta.org.au/living/what-is-collagen-and-can-it-be-vegan/