Photo Credit: Adrienne Andersen via www.pexels.com
A few facts are unavoidable in life — we all age and that aging becomes more and more evident with our skin as time passes. But with the best collagen supplements, you can slow down the effects of aging on the skin. There are some wonderful products out there that are clinically proven to promote healthy skin. Let’s examine how.
Why Should You Care About Collagen?
If you’ve even paid passing attention to skincare products lately, the word collagen is one you’re probably familiar with. Naturally produced by the body, collagen plays a fundamental role in the aging of skin. From fine lines and wrinkles to the outright sagging of skin, decreased collagen is right there playing a key part. Increased collagen, however, leads to healthier and stronger skin with fewer signs of aging.
Unfortunately, decreased collagen levels are what most of us face after the age of 25 when the natural production of collagen in the body slows significantly. Other factors also play a part in our loss of collagen. Too much time in the sun, smoking cigarettes, and even exposure to pollution can all contribute to a breakdown of collagen in the body. It’s estimated that after the age of 40 we lose about 1% of our body’s collagen each year, every year.
It’s a natural fact — this loss of collagen can just simply make us look older. That’s the bad news. But there’s also good news! Some of the best collagen supplements can counter many of the negative effects of collagen loss.
How do the Best Collagen Supplements Work?
A protein that maintains the structure of connective tissues, collagen helps these tissues, including skin, to stand up to stretching by giving them elasticity. As collagen makes up about 80% of skin, maintaining good collagen levels is fundamental to maintaining healthy-looking skin. The best collagen supplements work very simply: they replace lost collagen to give you healthier skin, plus better joint and bone health.
Taking collagen supplements is an incredibly efficient way to deliver replenishing collagen directly to the skin. A study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry explains how the pathway of collagen goes from the bloodstream right to skin tissue, giving it a near-immediate influx of hydration and elasticity.
Should You Believe the Collagen Hype?
The research is solid. Reviewing eleven different studies on collagen supplements, the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology concluded that taking daily collagen supplements improves skin hydration and elasticity. Having skin that’s more elastic and better hydrated will certainly improve your looks.
These benefits can be enjoyed no matter your age, but the results are particularly striking with older users of collagen supplements. Findings from a study done by the University of Auckland’s School of Pharmacy suggest that oral collagen supplements improve skin’s hydration and elasticity and that these improvements were most dramatic in participants over the age of 50.
Collagen Goes from Outside to Inside
From face cream and eye cream to all types of topical ointments, skincare products with collagen have been with us for a while. But there’s a problem with that approach: the collagen molecule is a large one that doesn’t penetrate the skin. So while skincare products with collagen won’t harm your skin, they aren’t likely to produce dramatic results.
This shortcoming of topical collagen has brought us to the more effective method of collagen supplements, a relatively new approach to getting younger-looking skin. Collagen supplements are easily absorbed by the bloodstream and then efficiently distributed through the body, stimulating the production of more collagen along the way.
The results are evident in clinical trials. Findings published by Skin Pharmacology and Physiology looked at a study in which more than 60 women took collagen supplements for either four-week or eight-week periods. Participants who took the supplements, compared to those who took a placebo, showed significant improvement in the elasticity of their skin.
It’s unlikely that any of us will ever fully get back the collagen-rich skin we enjoyed in our teenage years. But that doesn’t mean that beautiful skin isn’t attainable. The best collagen supplements are waiting to bring new life to your skin, and a healthier new look to your life.