Maximize Collagen

Collagen is a type of protein that is found throughout your body, including in your nails, skin, joints, and bones.  Your body makes collagen, but the amount generally decreases with age.  One third of the protein in your body is collagen.  Collagen natually breaks down as you age.  Your diet and genetics both affect the rate your collagen breaks down.  Here’s what you need to know to maximize collagen.

Your body can naturally produce vitamin D from a moderate amount of sun.  But too much sun (UV light), can break down the antioxidants in your skin and decrease the amount of collagen.  Too much sun may also cause you to have a higher risk of developing skin cancer.

Too much stress for too long a time can affect every aspect of your health.  Your body is designed to go into a flight-or-fight response for short periods of time.  But if you stay in that mode for too long, your body can’t perform normal functions well.  This means your body’s ability to produce proteins, such as collagen, may be affected.

Your body breaks down protein that you eat, into amino acids that is uses to build new proteins.   Collagen is one of the proteins that it builds.  You can get protein from meat, fish, eggs, and plants.  Some healthy plant based options are tempeh, beans, peas, and lentils.

In addition to amino acids, your body needs other nutrients to produce collagen.  Vitamin C is used in the production of collagen.  All fruits and vegetables contian vitamin C, but the best sources are cirtrus fruits, peppers, tomatoes, and strawberries.  In addition to helping your body produce collagen, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and can help your body to not break down the collagen you do have.  Another needed nutrient is zinc, which can be found in nuts, seeds, and legumes.  Eating a diet rich in plant based foods will also provide the other nutrients your body needs to produce collagen like copper, iron, sulphur, and vitamin E.

Collagen supplements all come from animal sources like cows, chicken, fish, and pigs.  Your body breaks down the collagen into amino acids that your body uses where it is needed most.  Beware of products that claim their collagen will benefit a particular body part like skin, nails, joints, and bones.  There aren’t any large scale non-biased studies that link collagen supplements to a particular part of your body. There is a lot of interest in collagen, so this could change at any time.  If you take a high quality collagen supplement, you may notice benefits wherever your body needs the amino acids.