The word is spreading aboutcollagen, an important nutrient important for a healthy, vibrant body.
But collagen isn’t anything new. You’ve been making it your whole life. The Cleveland Clinic reports that collagen is “the most plentiful protein” in the human body, spread throughout “muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, organs, blood vessels, skin, intestinal lining, and other connective tissues.”
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So, why the need to promote collagen on store shelves? Is it something you should be buying? Not necessarily. First, consider if your body is already making enough collagen on its own.
When Your Collagen Levels Decrease
There is no blood test or other way to measure the amount of collagen in your body; however, researchers determined a way in 2018 to measure it in human cells using a chemical assay.In the meanwhile, there are ways to tell when your body doesn’t have enough.
As you age, your body naturally makes less collagen. The slow-down can start in your mid-to-late 20s. That causes a variety of conditions that we usually accept as part of getting older. Signs of collagen loss include wrinkled skin due to elasticity loss and stiff joints.Additionally, collagen is directly related to gut health, with less of the protein causing ulcers and digestive problems.
Aside from aging, however, the top reason people don’t have enough collagen is poor diet.Your body can’t make collagen if it doesn’t have the necessary elements, namely amino acids, and the nutrients to process them.
How Your Body Makes Collagen
During that collagen repurposing process, your body uses vitamins and minerals, specifically vitamin C, zinc, and copper.These nutrients are part of a typical, healthy diet. You may consume plenty of them naturally in the foods you eat. Citrus fruits, red and green peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, and greenssupply vitamin C. Meats, shellfish, nuts, whole grains, and beans aregood sources of minerals.
As you age, however, your body may no longer absorb nutrients as well or synthesize them as efficiently. To make sure your body has enough ingredients to make collagen, you may need to change what you eat ortake dietary supplements.
The Best Foods for Building Collagen
Along with noted foods,bone brothextracts the collagen from beef, chicken, or fish bones through a low, slow brewing process. Good recipes are plentiful. Most will involve simmering bones in water for 12 to 48 hours either on the stove or in a crockpot.
If you can, try to buy organic bone broth—or cook broth from the bones of only organically raised animals. You want to minimize the residue of pesticides, antibiotics and other contaminants in your broth.
Like collagen, gelatin is another great foodto boost your body’s ability to make collagen. Gelatin comes from collagen, so it naturally has what your body needs to turn it back into collagen form.
When to Take Collagen Supplements
Getting nutrients from eating fresh, organic foods is best. It’s what your body is made to consume and digest naturally. But collagen supplements are second best, according to Harvard’s School of Public Health.
If you want to take a collagen supplement, opt for thepowder form. Hydrolyzed collagen (or “collagen peptide”) powder usually has no flavor and dissolves easily in beverages, smoothies, soups, and sauces.
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Nourishing Your Skin
Your skin is an outer reflection of your inner health, so it makes sense that the same way you nourish collagen stores throughout your body will nourish your skin too.
Note, however, that the number one cause of skin damage isn’t lack of collagen. It’ssun exposure. Replenishing collagen may not be able to undo years of sun damage.
It’s Easy as One Cup a Day
If your body has ample stores of collagen, then you are increasing your likelihood of having firmer skin, smoother-moving joints, and other signs of a healthy, youthful body.
Dr. Bradley is the Medical Director of the Center for Functional Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
7 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cleveland Clinic.The best collagen-rich foods.Stoilov I, Starcher BC, Mecham RP, Broekelmann TJ.Measurement of elastin, collagen, and total protein levels in tissues.Methods Cell Biol. 2018;143:133-146. doi:10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.08.008Naked Nutrition.How to identify collagen deficiency symptoms.Further Food.Is collagen good for gut health?Cao C, Xiao Z, Wu Y, Ge C.Diet and skin aging—from the perspective of food nutrition.Nutrients. 2020;12(3):870. doi:10.3390/nu12030870Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Collagen.Aaptiv.Why protecting collagen protein is more important than consuming it.
7 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Cleveland Clinic.The best collagen-rich foods.Stoilov I, Starcher BC, Mecham RP, Broekelmann TJ.Measurement of elastin, collagen, and total protein levels in tissues.Methods Cell Biol. 2018;143:133-146. doi:10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.08.008Naked Nutrition.How to identify collagen deficiency symptoms.Further Food.Is collagen good for gut health?Cao C, Xiao Z, Wu Y, Ge C.Diet and skin aging—from the perspective of food nutrition.Nutrients. 2020;12(3):870. doi:10.3390/nu12030870Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Collagen.Aaptiv.Why protecting collagen protein is more important than consuming it.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Cleveland Clinic.The best collagen-rich foods.Stoilov I, Starcher BC, Mecham RP, Broekelmann TJ.Measurement of elastin, collagen, and total protein levels in tissues.Methods Cell Biol. 2018;143:133-146. doi:10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.08.008Naked Nutrition.How to identify collagen deficiency symptoms.Further Food.Is collagen good for gut health?Cao C, Xiao Z, Wu Y, Ge C.Diet and skin aging—from the perspective of food nutrition.Nutrients. 2020;12(3):870. doi:10.3390/nu12030870Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Collagen.Aaptiv.Why protecting collagen protein is more important than consuming it.
Cleveland Clinic.The best collagen-rich foods.
Stoilov I, Starcher BC, Mecham RP, Broekelmann TJ.Measurement of elastin, collagen, and total protein levels in tissues.Methods Cell Biol. 2018;143:133-146. doi:10.1016/bs.mcb.2017.08.008
Naked Nutrition.How to identify collagen deficiency symptoms.
Further Food.Is collagen good for gut health?
Cao C, Xiao Z, Wu Y, Ge C.Diet and skin aging—from the perspective of food nutrition.Nutrients. 2020;12(3):870. doi:10.3390/nu12030870
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.Collagen.
Aaptiv.Why protecting collagen protein is more important than consuming it.
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