Drinkable Collagen: Is it The Fountain of Youth?

What’s the buzz around collagen these days? It seems no matter where I turn the importance of collagen is plastered all over social media, on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and well- basically everywhere I turn. Collagen carries claims such as supporting a healthy glow, enhancing skin clarity and smoothness, increasing the body’s natural moisture levels, helping to maintain firm skin, and improving the overall quality of hair, skin, and nails.

As we age, our collagen levels decline- in fact once we reach our mid twenties, we produce 1% less collagen each year seen in sagging skill, dullness, wrinkles, thinning hair, and brittle nails. Drinking collagen can help to restore and maintain these levels, giving you clear, youthful, glowing skin and lustful locks.I know, I know It sounds too good to be true but as a daily collagen consumer I can attest it fills all of those categories and more! It’s basically the magical fountain of youth- so what exactly is collagen and how does it work?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body; it is a vital building block for our hair, nails, bones, and joints. Collagen contains a mixture of amino acids like proline and glycine, which are found in human connective tissue. It is important to note that in nature, collagen is found exclusively in animal tissue, specifically bones and connective tissue. Collagen protein makes up about 30% of protein in the human body and 70% of the protein in the skin- which is what makes it such an effective supplement for restoring a youthful complexion.

Hydrolyzed collagen powder is the most common form of drinkable collagen. It is the easiest to digest and is typically recommended for those who have sensitive stomachs or digestion issues. This specific form of collagen is so popular because it easily mixes into both hot and cold drinks or food while being tasteless. Some well renowned brands that carry hydrolyzed collagen peptides are Vital Proteins, Sports Research, and Bulletproof!

While collagen carries widespread benefits for the entire body, the most noticeable ones can be seen in the skin! This, again, is due to the aging process. As we get older we produce less collagen, our skin becomes thinner and less elastic (this is due to a process called elastosis), but incorporating drinkable collagen is proven to help minimize or even reverse the effects of aging. That’s why collagen is one of the best natural skin care treatments around!

In fact, in a double blind study where collagen peptides where consumed regularly for 8 weeks it was found that 20% experienced a reduction in wrinkles. Furthermore, the study surprisingly proved that a daily intake of collagen encourages your body to start synthesizing more of its own! It also was noted that consuming collagen daily does in fact increase skin moisture and elasticity.

In addition, collagen is also thought to strengthen your skins acne defenses. It helps to greatly accelerate the healing of old pimples and prevents new scars from forming. Collagen is one of the most important proteins in the body for healing and when it comes to acne it’s no different. When acne attacks it weakens the lower layers of the skin, collagen is able to come in and repair these layers by creating a new barrier. It should also be taken into consideration that collagen helps with both inflammation and controlling blood sugar levels, two other causes that notably cause acne.

Collagen isn’t just beneficial for skin health! Here are a few other ways supplementing collagen may help you:

I have been drinking Collagen peptides for about a year now and have experienced exceptional results. Vital proteins and Sports Research are two of the bigger brands I’ve tried that definitely live up to the hype. When we think of something as anti-aging we don’t typical think of acne or scars but lo and behold, if you think about it- scarring is similar to wrinkles as they are both a depletion of collagen in a specific area.

To be quiet frank, I wasn’t exactly sure if collagen was going to help with my acne but I felt confident enough to buy it knowing it would make a difference in my scarring. Like the claims state, I find that it is tasteless and can be easily mixed into both hot and cold food without irritating my stomach- which was a huge plus for me. Within a few weeks I noticed that my skin texture appeared more plump and tone more even- at that point I knew I was hooked for life!

Overtime it seems my results have increased drastically, I look at old photographs of my skin and can’t believe how much the tone and general clarity has improved. I find that I breakout less (if any at all) my face doesn’t get irritated as easily, and my skin barrier has completely transformed. I used to have exceptionally dry skin but once I started using collagen that changed into a dewy super model complexion. And I ain’t mad about it. I feel so much more confident in my skin now that I don’t even feel the need to wear foundation ( and a majority of the time) makeup at all out in public!