Hydrolyzed Collagen: for hair, skin & nails

Hydrolyzed Collagen: Did you know that 1/3 of the body's protein is made up of collagen protein?

The disclaimer: this blog post is written with the intention of provoking thought and that is all!

Collagen had been one of those supplements, only now coming to the limelight. When we hit the age of about 25, our body starts to produce less and less collagen. Also, unlike in our families before, we don't consume as much collagen production inducing foods .eg. bone broth, chicken/fish skin, organ meat etc.. funny enough, it's frowned upon to be seen chewing chicken bones, for example, but that is one of the places where collagen is found.

In comes hydrolyzed collagen... so first of all supplementing of collagen is just as the terms says, supplement = adding to or complimentary to, your diet. Hydrolyzed = broken down into smaller sized, building blocks of collagen forming amino acids (proline, glycine & hydroxy proline). So you are not outright replacing collagen for collagen as in a transplant, but ingesting smaller sized building blocks which encourage the body to produce collagen.

What do we need collagen for?
Referencing back to the first paragraph, if collagen protein makes up 1/3 of the protein found in the body, it must have a pretty significant "role to play"
> joints, muscles, ligaments & gut health
> skin firmess, hair volume, nail strength
> protects the organs

There are several different types of collagen, that come in different forms (liquid, powder, capsules), that target different areas of the body. But as the theme of the blog goes, we love chatting beauty and so Collagen type 1 & 3 are the skin, nails, hair supporting types. And in order to ensure absorption, needs to be taken with vitamin C.

Things like excessive sun exposure, poor diet, smoking and medical conditions can affect the body's ability to produce collagen. So when you notice your skin sagging, wrinkles and possibly painful joints these are some of the indicators of collagen being compromised

Examples of foods that can assist with collagen production, are things like:
> meat
> bone broth
> leafy greens
> oysters
> citrus fruit

This is literally the tip of the iceberg, there is so much information out there on this subject. Different sources of collagen for example, bovine, fish collagen, plant, gelatin etc... certainly well worth the research.

I'm about to embark on the collagen supplement journey as curiosity has really gotten the better of me. Have you used collagen peptides powder before? Did you notice a difference with anything? Please let me know in the comments below..