Imagine if you could make your skin, hair and nails behave like younger versions of themselves – plumper skin, lustrous hair and strong nails. It’s time you discovered the beauty secret that could do just that: collagen.
It is the most abundant protein in your body, found mostly in tendons, ligaments, cartilage, skin and bone. It’s responsible for giving your skin that lovely firmness of youth, but collagen production declines with age.
After the age of 20, you produce around 1% less collagen in your skin each following year. This means your skin becomes thinner and is more likely to develop wrinkles.
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German researchers found a ‘statistically significant’ improvement in skin elasticity, and a positive influence in skin moisture and hydration levels, in those who took hydrolysed collagen supplements. Another study in the journal Skin Pharmacology and Physiology found a 20% reduction in eye wrinkles after eight weeks of taking collagen supplements.The exact biological mechanisms aren’t yet known, but scientists say collagen’s wrinkle-fighting abilities could be due to the fragmenting of collagen into small chains of amino acids and peptides.
When your body breaks down collagen in the digestive system, the fragments of amino acids and peptides are absorbed into the bloodstream. This then triggers the body’s natural production of collagen within the skin.
While much of the studies carried out have been in relation to skin, there’s some evidence that collagen supplements could also help improve our hair and nails.
A trial published in the Journal of Nutrition & Food Sciences found that taking a daily supplement containing peptides, lipids, hyaluronic acid and collagen may improve nail strength and reduce nail cracking and brittleness by nearly 80%, and boost hair’s natural softness and lustre over eight weeks.A longer trial conducted over 60 weeks revealed that after only nine months, 100% of participants saw an improvement in hair dryness, hair dullness, and nail peeling.
The authors concluded that, ‘beauty nutritional supplementation with peptides and lipids – the building blocks necessary for healthy skin, hair and nails – as well as hyaluronic acid and collagen… provides rapid, measurably significant, and long-lasting results.’
Adding collagen to your beauty regime could be particularly beneficial in winter, when cold weather and central heating play havoc with our hair, skin and nails.
Most of us tend to cut back on fresh fruit and veggies during the winter too, meaning we could be missing out on essential nutrients like vitamin C – which helps the body produce collagen – making a supplement even more useful.
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https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/skin/Pages/Keepskinhealthy.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206255/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23949208
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24401291
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.12174/full
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/a-nutritional-supplement-formulated-with-peptides-lipids-collagen-and-hyaluronic-acid-optimizes-key-aspects-of-physical-appearance-in-nails-hair-and-skin-2155-9600.S5-002.pdf