Collagen is the nutrient du jour. Within the countless seek for good pores and skin, girls around the globe have gotten extra acutely aware of collagen consumption. Dietary supplements are in every single place, from natural co-ops to Goal, and you may even order collagen-infused chilly brew and smoothies at many cafes.
Collagen complement gross sales surpassed $1.8 billion in 20221, they usually present no signal of stopping. However in accordance with Dr. Joseph Mercola, Board Licensed Household Drugs Osteopathic Doctor (DO) and Creator of Your Information to Mobile Well being, most People nonetheless aren’t getting the quantity they want.
“Few People get anyplace close to the quantity of collagen required for optimum well being,” he says. “Right now, 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 dangerous information to your crow’s toes. Based on Mercola, a collagen deficiency can result in all the pieces from poor joint well being to a decline in metabolic operate. “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 complete 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 consider.
What Is Collagen and Why Do We Want It?
Collagen is a particular kind of protein, an important constructing block in all the pieces 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 creator and internationally acclaimed useful drugs 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 gradual,” explains Myers. “By age 40, collagen begins to deplete quicker than your physique can reproduce it, and by age 60, over ½ of your physique’s collagen has been depleted.”
Pure getting older 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 individuals could decide to complement their diets with collagen. Collagen supplementation has been clinically confirmed to enhance pores and skin well being, scale back muscle losing, enhance the physique’s potential to heal wounds, and scale back signs of arthritis2.
How Do I Add Collagen to My Weight loss program?
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 creator 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 everyday Western weight-reduction plan 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 case you eat an excessive amount of methionine and tryptophan from muscle meat with out sufficient glycine and proline from collagen,” Asprey says, “you may create an imbalance that promotes irritation, suppresses thyroid operate, and accelerates getting older.”
Complete Meals Sources of Collagen for Pores and skin
Based on Mercola, one of the best ways to reverse this pattern is to give attention to entire 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 purpose why collagen is such a sizzling matter 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 could assist defend pores and skin from UV harm and preserve wrinkles from forming, and it has additionally confirmed useful for these with osteoporosis and osteoarthritis4.
Mercola says these entire meals sources of collagen “are supreme as a result of they supply a variety 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 strategy, pair your favourite collagen sources with meals wealthy in vitamin C like berries, broccoli, and leafy inexperienced greens.
Collagen Dietary supplements Could Be a Extra Bioavailable Choice
In case you’re having a tough time getting sufficient collagen out of your weight-reduction plan, dietary supplements could also be a good selection. “In case you aren’t commonly consuming pores and skin, tendons, or broth created from bones, a high-quality collagen complement is usually a sensible strategy to fill the hole,” says Mercola.
For Asprey, collagen dietary supplements may very well be a greater strategy 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.” Based on a 2024 research in Dermatology Analysis and Apply, 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 range,” he says.
Myers recommends looking 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 however 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 prime quality.”
“Contamination is an actual concern, particularly with lower-quality dietary supplements,” echoes Mercola. “Collagen is commonly sourced from animal bones and connective tissues, which might 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 greater.”
Remember to supply your collagen dietary supplements from a good model, and select grass-fed bovine collagen each time doable. “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 last product.”
The Risks of Too A lot Collagen
It’s all the time doable to be getting an excessive amount of of a great factor, and this holds true with collagen. “Most individuals suppose ‘if one thing is nice, extra should 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 revealed within the Journal of Useful Meals6. Overconsumption of collagen also can enhance 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 type 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 strategy is to get about 15% of your every day energy from protein, with a couple of third of this protein being within the type of collagen.
In the end, it’s essential to keep in mind that most People aren’t getting anyplace close to sufficient collagen. No matter the way you select to include collagen into your weight-reduction plan, whether or not via entire meals sources or dietary supplements, you’re seemingly off to a great 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
