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Collagen is an essential protein found in the body, and one that’s vital and brings huge benefits.
Collagen is an essential protein found in the body, and one that’s vital and brings huge benefits. It’s considered to be a ‘building block’ for the body, and underpins so much of our overall health from basics like our bones, gut and muscles as well as our skin, hair and nails too.
Collagen is naturally produced in the body when we are young, but production slows down as we get older and by the age of 50, you will have lost almost 50% of your collagen levels. Your early to mid-20s are a great time to think about starting to supplement with collagen and consider taking collagen supplements as part of your diet and daily routine.
Collagen is an essential protein found in the body, and one that’s vital and brings huge benefits. It’s considered to be a ‘building block’ for the body, and underpins so much of our overall health from basics like our bones, gut and muscles as well as our skin, hair and nails too.
Collagen is naturally produced in the body when we are young, but production slows down as we get older and by the age of 50, you will have lost almost 50% of your collagen levels. Your early to mid-20s are a great time to think about starting to supplement with collagen and consider taking collagen supplements as part of your diet and daily routine.
What are the benefits of taking collagen tablets or supplements?
Collagen supplements are often praised for various potential benefits including the health and structure of your skin, hair, nails and joints. After you take a collagen supplement, your digestive system breaks it down into amino acids, and your body then puts these amino acids together to form new proteins.
Your body can see benefits from collagen, including:
Skin health
Collagen can hugely benefit our skin including improving our skin elasticity and hydration. It can also reduce the appearance of any fine lines and wrinkles, as well as enhancing our skin firmness and texture.
Hair and nail health
Brittle nails and hair breakage can be signs that our bodies need more collagen, and taking a collagen supplement can leave us with stronger nails and thicker and healthier hair.
Joint health
As the ‘building block’ in our body, collagen can help alleviate joint pain and stiffness, as well as improving flexibility and mobility, making for easier movement and feeling more supple.
Gut Health
Collagen isn’t just for our outer health, it can help our inner health too, including maintaining a healthy gut lining and promoting beneficial gut bacteria.
Bone health
As we get older our bone density and strength decreases, and taking a collagen supplement can help to strengthen our skeleton and support healthy bones.
Muscle Health
Collagen can promote the synthesis of muscle proteins such as creatine, as well as stimulating muscle growth and repair after exercise.
Tissue Repair
When tissues are damaged, they need extra collagen and other structural proteins to begin to heal and repair the wounded area. Collagen in wound healing helps by attracting fibroblasts, which are the cells within your connective tissues that produce collagen.
What’s the best way to take collagen?
Collagen supplements are available in various forms, including capsules, tablets, powders and liquid. How you take your collagen supplement is down to individual preference and what works best for you and your lifestyle. Collagen powders can be easily mixed into beverages like water, juice, or smoothies, whilst capsules and tablets offer a straightforward way to take a controlled dose.
In addition to taking collagen supplements, maintaining a balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrients, staying hydrated and adopting a holistic approach to health and wellbeing is important too.
Research shows that taking 2.5 to 15 grams daily of hydrolysed collagen is considered safe. A smaller dose benefits your joints and skin, whilst a larger amount may help with body composition and muscle mass.
Taking a collagen supplement if you’re vegan
As naturally occurring collagen comes from animals, people following a strict vegan lifestyle cannot have it. Yet there are still choices for vegans, and alternatives to traditional collagen supplements have been created by scientists including a plant based option called Vollagen®.
Vollagen® is designed to deliver the complex of collagen amino acids for the body, whilst stimulating it to make more. Created from plant based ingredients, it delivers the benefits of collagen without using animals.
Taken in addition to a healthy diet and taking a regular vegan supplements, Vollagen® can also help the body, without meaning a compromise on veganism either as they use plant based ingredients such as amino acids, ceramides, minerals (like copper), and antioxidants like vitamin C which help to fuel collagen production.
