Eight earth-shattering reasons you should be taking collagen.
Collagen will change your life?
I’ll explain.
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Collagen is one of the latest buzzwords in the health community.
You see influencers not so casually posing with their collagen drinks,
you see miracle creams, and potions at the grocery store, and they all have one thing in common,
all promising a more youthful appearance for many years to come.
So what is collagen?
Is it only good for your skin?
Can collagen help build muscle and reduce your risk for heart disease?
Today we’re going to be discussing the top eight biggest benefits for using collagen.
Hey everyone, I’m Doctor Jordan Wagner.
I’m an emergency room doctor who treats everything from COVID to gunshot wounds, burns, you name it.
I’ve created this video series to help answer your questions
and the questions that I get from patients each and every day, like you.
If you find this video helpful please hit that subscribe button
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Before we get into the top eight reasons you should be using collagen, it’s important to know
what collagen is and why it plays such a major role in our lives.
Ready?
Let’s get sciency for a second.
What is collagen?
Collagen has many uses, from food to medications to even musical instruments and manufacturing.
But collagen is also the most abundant protein in your body,
accounting for about a third of your body’s protein composition.
Yep, it’s a major building block of bones, skin, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
And it’s also found in many other body parts such as your blood vessels,
corneas, and even your chompers.
That’s why today I am dishing up the top eight biggest benefits of using collagen.
Number one: Your Skin
As you age, your body produces less collagen and overall lower-quality collagen.
So as you produce less collagen you may start to notice that your skin is dryer
and more alarming you may notice more wrinkles as this happens.
Here’s the good news though, in this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial,
to which I'll link to below, 69 women aged 35-55 years were randomly received either collagen
hydrolysate (CH) composed of specific collagen peptides or a placebo once daily for eight weeks.
Here’s what happened.
Skin elasticity, skin moisture, transepidermal water loss,
and skin roughness were objectively measured before the first oral product
application and at various stages throughout the eight-week trial.
At the end of the study, skin elasticity in the collagen dose
groups showed a statistically significant improvement compared to the placebo group.
After four weeks of follow-up treatment, a statistically significantly higher skin
elasticity level was determined in elderly women within the group.
And taking collagen supplements may even promote the production of other
proteins that help structure your skin, including elastin and fibrillin as well.
Don’t have wrinkles yet and worried about acne?
Well, there are also many anecdotal claims that collagen supplements
help prevent acne and other skin conditions as well.
Number two: Joint Pain
Collagen helps maintain the integrity of your cartilage, which is the rubber-like tissue
that protects your joints in places like your knees, ankles, elbow.
So in other words collagen may be crucial in relieving overall joint pain in your body.
So as the collagen in your body decreases as you age,
as does the increased likelihood of one developing some sort of joint problem like arthritis.
In a clinical trial that lasted 24-weeks,
researchers gave athletes 10 grams of collagen daily while other athletes in
the trial were given a placebo, aka fake pill, to see what their results would be.
At the end of the study, the athletes who were treated with the actual collagen
experienced a significant decrease in joint pain compared to the group taking the placebo.
Sucks to be those guys.
And this is not the only study with such findings.
There are many new reports that are finding similar successes with taking collagen
and overall improved joint pain.
Not only does collagen seem to help maintain the integrity of your cartilage
but it also leads to lower inflammation and better overall support of your joints.
Which means more pain-free days for you.
Number three: Preventing Bone Loss
Did you know that your bones in your body are made from collagen?
Helping to give them their structure and strength?
So, just like cartilage breaks down over time.
The bones in your body also lose mass and density as you age.
Man, it sucks to get old.
That’s why if you want to prevent things like osteoporosis, a bone disease that
occurs when the body loses too much bone, researchers are seeing super
promising effects with adding in collagen to a bone-supporting supplement regimen.
For instance, in several studies, women took either a calcium supplement combined
with 5 grams of collagen or a calcium supplement and no collagen at all daily for 12 months.
By the end, the women taking the calcium and collagen supplement combined power pack
had significantly lower blood levels of proteins that promoted bone breakdown
than those taking just the calcium alone. I’ll say that more clearly,
collagen and calcium had way better results than no collagen on the brittle bones.
Number four: Boost Muscle Mass Awww yeah, looking to bulk up
or increase your muscle mass without going to more umm shall we say non-doctor approved ways?
Great!
What if I told you that taking collagen could not only stimulate muscle growth after exercise
but may also promote the body synthesis of muscle proteins like creatine in your body.
Here’s the deal, upwards of 10% of muscle tissue is composed of collagen.
Meaning it's pretty dang important when it comes to keeping your muscles strong
and functioning properly.
In one study frailer men were placed into a 12-week daily exercise program,
half of the group were given 15 grams of collagen while participating,
while others were not given collagen while working out.
Compared with men who did not take collagen, the frailer men
who worked out daily and took collagen significantly gained more muscle mass
and had increased strength compared to the non-collagen group.
Number five: Overall Heart Health
Collagen provides structure to your arteries,
which are the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body.
Without enough collagen, arteries may become weak and fragile.
Without enough collagen in your body, you may experience narrowing of the arteries which could,
in turn, lead to major problems down the road such as heart attack and stroke.
Taking collagen daily has been shown to not only reduce
artery stiffness but also increase the amount of good cholesterol or HDL in your body.
Which in turn could help or reduce your body’s risk of serious
future injury from heart attack and stroke.
All right, number six benefit of taking collagen?
Making hair and nails stronger and longer.
Treating intestinal permeability, in other words, gut health may improve by taking collagen.
Brain health. If you struggle from anxiety,
collagen may boost overall mood and lead to less symptoms of the stress-inducing condition.
Lastly weight loss goals and overall improved metabolism.
Collagen is believed to be beneficial when it comes to promoting a faster metabolism
and other positive benefits when it comes to your diet.
All right, so you’re feeling optimistic on the health benefits of taking collagen,
and wanna know where can you get collagen naturally?
Turns out that collagen protein has a unique set of amino acids found only within the
skin and tissue of animals, and this amino acid combination does not naturally occur in plants.
So things such as bone broth and certain animal products like fish and pork skin
are packed with collagen.
But if you're thinking well dang doc I'm a vegetarian or vegan that doesn’t really help me.
Here’s the deal: although plants don’t technically contain collagen, there are
certain foods that are higher in vitamin C would help increase our body’s own collagen production.
So if you eat plants that have higher vitamin C,
you could see skin, mood, muscle improving benefits as well.
Things like citrus fruits, berries, red and yellow vegetables,
white teas, leafy greens, There are a number of foods you can eat
to try and encourage a vegetarian-friendly production of collagen but surely
it is not as directly beneficial as consuming straight collagen packed products and foods.
I’ve got a really good collagen supplement that we take in my very own household
that I'll link to in the description below.
All right, that's been a quick collagen conversation with me, Doctor Wagner.
Let me know in the comments if you take collagen and what for?
Have you seen any improvements?
As always, make sure to subscribe and hit that bell notification.
Thank you so much for watching, until next time, stay healthy my friends.
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