Table of Contents
- What Is Collagen?
- What Is Collagen Deficiency?
- What Is Collagen Used For?
- Why You Need More Collagen
- How Long Does It Take To See Visible Results With Collagen?
- What Is Collagen’s Recommended Daily Intake?
- Is Collagen Good For Skin?
- Could Collagen Prevent Age Spots?
- What Is Collagen Loss And What Causes It?
- Will Collagen Help Reduce Uneven Skin Tone?
- Does Collagen Reduce Wrinkles?
- What Is Collagen’s Benefit For Grey Hair?
- Does Collagen Help Regain Lost Hair?
- Will Collagen Make Your Weak, Brittle Nails Stronger?
- What Is Collagen’s Role In Building Stronger Muscles?
- How Does Collagen Support Healthy Bones And Joints?
- Can You Take Collagen On A Limited-Ingredient Diet?
- What Is Collagen’s Recommended Daily Intake?
- Are There Side Effects To Using Collagen Daily?
- Can You Take Too Much Collagen?
- Does Collagen Make You Gain Weight?
- What Do Collagen Supplements Taste Like?
- What’s The Best Time Of Day To Take Your Collagen Supplements?
- Can You Cook With Collagen?
- What Collagen Supplements Are Best?
What is collagen, and why have anti-aging supplements and cosmetic beauty procedures always been such hotly-debated talking points when it comes to collagen ingredients?
Collagen received a lot of negative press back in the 1970s and 1980s because it was used as “wrinkle fillers”, stretching and smoothing out the skin to appear less lined and aged. The results of some of these botched jobs are still the basis for funny memes today, but back in their day, they had their place.
The quality and packaging of collagen has much improved since then, as has the science behind collagen’s proven health benefits for skin, hair, nails, joints, muscles, gut health, and weight loss.
While implants and filler injections don’t always go the way we want them to, there are natural ways to keep your skin looking younger for longer, while boosting your immune system and overall health at the same time.
Starting With The Definition of Collagen
Collagen; from the Greek κόλλα (kólla), meaning “glue”, and γέν, or -gen, meaning “to produce”
Collagen is used in reconstructive surgery, as a healing aid for burn victims, bone reconstructions, dental procedures, and more. Collagen used in some of these medical procedures is drawn from cow-, horse-, or pig- fat, and is known collectively as mammalian collagen.
In addition, a patient’s own fat and collagen reserves may also be used. Where necessary, human collagen is donated by organ donors who have passed away, and has been screened and tested to have low reactivity in immune systems.
Collagen is also derived from fish bones, scales, and skin. Known as marine collagen, the bioavailability of this product (versus bovine collagen, for example), makes it an affordable, effective, and sustainable alternative.
Marine collagen also has lower gelling and melting temperatures than mammalian collagen. In addition – and perhaps most importantly – marine collagen is extracted from everyday and common fish species like cod, mackerel, and herring. This makes it suitable for vegans and other lifestyle eating habits.
At its most basic, collagen is protein. And regardless of its source, collagen is collagen because the same proteins are used, whether mammalian or fish.
Collagen makes up 25-35% of all the protein found in your body, and is in fact the biggest protein present in our body. Despite this, collagen is actually quite a simple protein.
Collagen is a structural protein that strengthens tendons, and supports the skin and internal organs. When mineral crystals are added to collagen, bones and teeth begin to form.
What Is Collagen Deficiency?
Collagen deficiency diseases are best known as “connective tissue” diseases and were previously known collectively as Collagen Vascular Diseases, an autoimmune disorder that includes arthritic and inflammatory diseases and quite specific conditions such as:
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Scleroderma
- Lupus
- Dermatomyositis
Your skin is often the first to reflect a deficiency in essential minerals, vitamins, or supplements and can indicate a collagen deficiency. Symptoms may differ from disease to disease, but can include common signs such as:
- unexplained or chronic skin rashes
- extreme tiredness or fatigue
- muscle weakness that includes general aches and pains
- joint pain
What Is Collagen Used For?
While collagen offers many medical benefits, it also offers the everyday Jane immense health benefits. For instance, did you know that collagen smooths the lining of the gut (just as it does for skin) to aid in digestion?
The gut is the seat of the human immune system, the birthplace of all cells, antibodies, and disease-fighting molecules. Just like the human immune system cannot function without essential vitamins and minerals, collagen requires that we boost our mineral and vitamin intake to function optimally, too.
Collagen’s triple-helix structure forms when an abundance of proline, glycine, and hydroxyproline amino acids are present. Known as protein-builders, these amino acids are also sometimes referred to as protein genes. Collagen fibres contain thousands of molecules, bound together by polypeptides or strings of amino acids.
Most known for the structural role it plays in our body, collagen is found in large quantities in connective tissue, providing ligaments, tendons, and joints with tensile strength. In research, much larger focus groups are needed before scientists can document all the health benefits of collagen, and why we need collagen supplements.
Why You Need More Collagen
Collagen is one of the most important nutrients your body needs to protect and repair your skin, hair, nails, tendons, cartilage, joints, muscles, and bones.
A natural source of protein, collagen supplements your diet to infuse your cells with essential nutrients, creating a glow from within that everyone can see – with no cosmetic procedures involved.
How Long Does It Take To See Visible Results With Collagen?
How we view our bodies is subjective, and this may prevent you from seeing all the changes your friends and family have been noticing.
While we certainly can’t claim that you will see an overnight improvement in your health or skin, we can assure you that you will see the Correxiko Difference in as little as 30 days.
What Is Collagen’s Recommended Daily Intake?
Long before you notice the changes, your friends and family will begin telling you how great you look. You may begin to notice that your skin is softer, less baggy or saggy and that the fine lines that bothered you no longer seem to.
Hair will be thicker, more luscious, full of body and shine. Hair follicles are strengthened and hair fibres are stronger and better able to support your ageing process than before. You may also notice fewer grey hairs than before, or that your hair doesn’t seem to be as thin as it may once have been.
White spots on your nails (commonly linked to a calcium or zinc deficiency) may begin to disappear after 4 weeks, leaving beautiful pink nails in their place.
Is Collagen Good For Skin?
In skin, collagen is responsible for elasticity, strength, texture, resilience, hydration, and appearance. In fact, collagen weighs about 75% of your skin’s dry weight!
Collagen is mostly found in the dermis – the second layer of skin. Interestingly, two different types of collagen connect the dermis to the hypodermis below and the epidermis above.
However, a steady production of healthy, high-quality collagen depends on your age, and whether your body can manufacture more collagen over time.
Could Collagen Prevent Age Spots?
The benefits of collagen also include the prevention of the appearance of age spots, premature balding and greying, and collagen is also extremely beneficial for the production of elastin (another powerful protein). Collagen peptides are short chains of amino acids used as collagen building blocks. High levels of collagen peptides may stimulate new collagen formation.
Amino acids help to protect the body’s existing collagen supply by functioning as antioxidants, where they block the action of enzymes that break down collagen. This in turn can prevent the development of premature wrinkles.
Marine Collagen from Correxiko is a 100% pure collagen powder made from wild-caught fish, harvested in pristine Canadian waters. Unlike other, cheaper alternatives, Correxiko’s Marine Collagen is made from fish skin rather than fish scales and therefore contains a higher collagen concentration.
Correxiko products are also completely free from heavy metals, pollutants and other harmful ingredients and contain no sugar or additives, and is suitable for diabetics, too.
What Is Collagen Loss And What Causes It?
One of the benefits of collagen is the fact that it can help in repairing the damage caused by time. As we age, our bodies shed dead cells. Exfoliation can remove the dead skin cells, but not rejuvenate them or heal damaged cells. The older we get, the less collagen we produce.
Collagen supplements like marine collagen capsules support skin tone and elasticity, giving skin a radiantly youthful appearance. In addition, marine collagen repairs and replenishes collagen in cartilage, tendons and bones for superior joint flexibility and bone strength.
Other factors that accelerate collagen loss include factors like stress, pollution, smoking and a high-sugar diet. Collagen supplements work best when taken in conjunction with a protein-rich diet, a healthy lifestyle, and a good skincare routine to preserve collagen.
Will Collagen Help Reduce Uneven Skin Tone?
An uneven skin tone can be caused by many things, including the sun, pimples or acne scars, insect bite spots, burns, old age, hormonal imbalances (such as melasma during pregnancy), injuries to the skin (like when you take a tumble), and genetics.
The amino acids found in collagen help keep your skin looking smooth, even, and healthy. Amino acids are what’s left after collagen (protein) production in your body is completed. These left-over amino acids are then reused by the body to produce more protein.
Does Collagen Reduce Wrinkles?
As collagen levels drop in the body, you may start seeing more wrinkles, stiffer joints, weaker muscles, and a few digestive system problems. As your skin takes on the brunt of the loss of collagen, the signs of aging can increase, leading to premature wrinkles.
If you are over 30 and already have wrinkles on your skin, it is very likely that your body is producing less collagen. To keep your skin looking its best, collagen supplements can add a layer of protection to your skin and overall health.
What Is Collagen’s Benefit For Grey Hair?
Thin grey hair and hair loss in women is caused by environmental factors like stress, hormone imbalances, diet deficiencies, and scalp damage and are referred to as epigenetic factors. Genetic factors may also play a part in thinning hair and hair loss in women, where a family history of hair loss or premature greying may be an indication of a hereditary reason for your hair to be thinning or greying.
Female patients consistently relate their experiences of hair loss as being the most traumatic part of getting through chemotherapy, and a further 29% of hair loss in women aged approximately 50 is linked to depression and low self-esteem. Thinning or greying hair in women can happen in specific spots on the scalp or develop in patterns all over the head.
Whilst the average hair care product may give your hair a superficial feeling of being nourished, collagen hair supplements nourish the hair follicle and scalp more effectively from the inside. Collagen also feeds hair follicles the nutrition they need to fight thinning hair, weak hair, greying hair, slow-growing hair, dull and lifeless hair, or hair loss caused by nutritional deficiencies and medical conditions.
Does Collagen Help Regain Lost Hair?
A natural part of growing older, thinning hair and premature baldness could be caused by a number of hair loss factors, some preventable and some not. Understanding the causes behind your thinning hair is important if you’re going to avoid losing any more hair.
Environmental factors that can also impact your hair health and lead directly to thinning hair or premature hair loss include:
- exposure to harmful UV rays
- air pollution and smog
- harmful chemicals in hair treatments
- genetics
- stress (that causes hair shedding)
- health and nutrition
- diet deficiencies
- unhealthy lifestyle choices
Will Collagen Make Your Weak, Brittle Nails Stronger?
Often overlooked when it comes to nail care, your hands and nails perform thousands of unnoticed activities automatically every day – without any input or thought from you. Dry and brittle nails can also be caused by diet, age, overuse of nail polish and false nail products, as well as our lifestyle choices.
Taking time out to nourish and care for ourselves is critically important to how well we function throughout this day and the next, and that includes taking care of our hands and basic nail care. Neglected fingernails can tell you a lot about a person’s lifestyle, habits, preferences, and overall health.
Collagen supplements support healthy nail growth and provide the body with many additional health benefits.
What Is Collagen’s Role In Building Stronger Muscles?
Active people understand that diet plays an important role in the amount of energy you have available to manage the task at hand. As you get older though, your body tends to use less of what you put into it. An active lifestyle keeps your body performing at its best for longer.
Maintaining an active lifestyle as you get older also gets a little harder because your body produces less collagen, which results in damage and atrophy to connective tissue. This damage can be seen in wrinkled skin, aching joints, weak or brittle bones, and decreased muscle mass and strength.
How Does Collagen Support Healthy Bones And Joints?
Studies conducted on collagen supplements have consistently shown that daily use can reduce inflammation and stimulate collagen synthesis in the human body. This promotes pain relief for those with joint disorders like osteoarthritis, and other joint-related pains or conditions.
In addition, consuming collagen supplements daily also reduces the risk of bone disorders (like osteoporosis) by increasing bone mineral density (or BMD).
Can You Take Collagen On A Limited-Ingredient Diet?
Correxiko Premium Collagen Supplements are Keto and Paleo-friendly, integrate very well with the Mediterranean Diet, and is suitable for limited-ingredient diets, including pescatarian (for those who eat fish products, too), and semi-vegetarian.
What Is Collagen’s Recommended Daily Intake?
There’s no real easy way to answer this. How much collagen you take depends on a number of factors, including:
- your weight
- your activity levels
- your age
- your specific need (i.e. skin)
- your levels of collagen deficiency
- a good feel for what amount starts to actually make you feel great! again
- your health practitioner’s sound advice
It’s important to note that there are different dosages for different supplements, and you should read the label carefully to make sure the dosages have not changed, especially when packaging sizes have changed.
Are There Side Effects To Using Collagen Daily?
Collagen is a supplement suitable for most adults, and can be served to younger eaters when used in cooked foods, smoothies, or juices.
As with all collagen research, many more human trials are needed on a much larger scale than has been done to date, to determine the efficacy of collagen and other nutraceuticals on children’s overall health.
Considering that we only begin to age in our early 20s, that would be a great time to start using collagen. You are, of course, never too old to start taking collagen!
Can You Take Too Much Collagen?
Even if you took one scoop of collagen with 10 cups of coffee per day, your body would only be able to use what it could. Once maximum bio-availability is reached (the maximum amount your body can absorb and use), the balance of residual collagen left in your body is quietly eliminated through your body’s regular waste removal process.
Does Collagen Make You Gain Weight?
Correxiko’s Type I & Type III Collagen Peptides protein capsules deliver enhanced results for your skin. Type I collagen formulation promotes incredible anti-ageing benefits that:
- minimize fine lines and wrinkles
- support skin structure
- help to lessen dark stretch marks
- reduce cellulite and belly fat
Type III ingredients pack a punch that delivers visible and long-lasting results:
- healthy muscles, joints, bones, and cartilage
- promotes muscle recovery
- lessens existing muscle pain
- aids in mobility and increases joint strength
- strengthens bone density to prevent bone loss
Correxiko’s Marine Collagen Peptides protein capsules contain hyaluronic acid, zinc, vitamin C, manganese, and selenium (which play a critical role in metabolism, healthy thyroid function, and also protect your body from oxidative stress and damage). Manganese aids in digesting protein and essential amino acids (as found in all Correxiko collagen products), and metabolizes carbohydrates and cholesterol efficiently.
Additional benefits from using Correxiko’s Marine Collagen range daily include:
- builds lean muscle
- promotes a healthy metabolism
- encourages joint repair and strong bones
- aids in appetite control and weight management
- helps maintain ligaments and cartilage
What Do Collagen Supplements Taste Like?
Correxiko Premium Collagen Peptides Powder products are unflavored, leave no residue or film in your beverages, and have no impact on the taste of foods you add them to.
What’s The Best Time Of Day To Take Your Collagen Supplements?
For gut issues (such as IBS ~ irritable bowel syndrome) the best time to take your collagen supplement is early in the morning on an empty stomach. For better rest, take collagen supplements before going to bed.
Can You Cook With Collagen?
Yes, you can.
Collagen can be added to smoothies, juices, blends, coffee, tea, cocoa, hot chocolate, and fortified drinks. It is not recommended that you mix collagen with alcoholic beverages.
In foods, collagen can be added to mayonnaise, gravy, salad dressing, soups, and sauces. Enhance your bone broth and create collagen boost your body will thank you for!
What Collagen Supplements Are Best?
Not all supplements are created equal, and not all equal supplements work the same way. Collagen supplements work to fill the gaps your specific and unique body needs because no two people’s levels of collagen or amino acids are the same at any given time.
To maximize the benefits of collagen, ensure the product you choose contains the best nutrients that will increase collagen production in your body. Check the product FAQs, read the labels, and ask questions.
Interested in finding out which collagen is best for you? Take the quiz!
