The phrase “collagen” comes from the Greek phrase for glue, and that’s a useful manner to consider the function collagen performs in your bodily well being. In your skeleton, tendons, muscle groups, pores and skin and even your tooth, collagen is a structural protein that binds cells and tissues collectively whereas serving to them keep form and integrity.
However your physique produces much less and fewer collagen as you age. And a few supplement- and food-makers are advertising and marketing collagen merchandise as a option to increase your physique’s ranges of it.
“Collagen is basically the sale of amino acids,” says Dr. Mark Moyad, director of preventative and various drugs on the College of Michigan, and creator of The Complement Handbook. Amino acids are protein’s constructing blocks, and dietary supplements and meals which have collagen comprise chains of collagen-derived protein amino acids—or generally simply the amino acids themselves, separated from their bonds, Moyad says. There are several types of collagen; some are derived from animal bones or pores and skin, and others from animal cartilage.
It is sensible that consuming further animal-sourced collagen—whether or not as a complement powder or in a meals like bone broth—might assist the physique replenish its shops of diminished collagen. And a few analysis helps this concept. “There are many preliminary trials showing potential benefits for everything from osteoarthritis to skin improvement,” Moyad says.
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One 2008 examine from Penn State College discovered that athletes who, for six months, took a hydrolyzed collagen complement—principally collagen proteins which have been damaged down into simply digestible amino acids—skilled much less joint ache throughout exercise and at relaxation. Related research have linked collagen dietary supplements to decrease charges of again ache or decreased knee ache amongst folks with osteoarthritis.
In the meantime, analysis has additionally linked collagen dietary supplements to improved pores and skin elasticity and pores and skin moisture.
However Moyad emphasizes that each one of this analysis is preliminary. “The studies are weak in general,” he says—that means small in scope, quick in length or not but replicated by follow-up experiments.
Additionally, it’s under no circumstances clear that consuming collagen will increase your physique’s ranges of it. As diet researchers have proven again and again in terms of dietary fats, simply because a meals accommodates one thing doesn’t imply your physique will take in or produce extra of it.
Moyad says he additionally worries about contaminants in collagen dietary supplements and meals. “Since this stuff comes primarily from ground-up animal parts, I would want to know the heavy metal content of these supplements, and also the creatinine content,” he says. Dangerous heavy metals like copper and arsenic have turned up in meat merchandise, and creatinine is a poisonous breakdown product that comes from muscle tissue.
“I do not want heavy metals or creatinine in my body,” Moyad says. He provides that he’s additionally seen collagen dietary supplements linked to unintended effects like nausea, diarrhea and different gastrointestinal points.
It isn’t but clear how a lot collagen, or precisely which kind, is handiest. Moyad says that low cost grocery retailer gelatin—which is derived from animal collagen—could also be simply pretty much as good on your joints and pores and skin as expensive complement powders. “But no one’s done the studies, so we don’t know,” he says.
He says he doesn’t see any main dangers in somebody making an attempt a collagen complement for a pair months to see whether or not it really works for them. However cease in case you expertise any unintended effects or have any GI points.
In case you’re going to present collagen a go, Moyad says he’d additionally need you to contemplate the life-style selections that injury collagen as you age. These embody smoking, excessive blood sugar, solar publicity, a sedentary way of life and weight achieve.
“If you are taking these [collagen] supplements but not making lifestyle changes, that’s kind of like putting premium gas in your car but not changing the engine oil or doing anything else to maintain it,” he says.
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