Collagen – Skin Ultimate Structural Support

Side Bar for CandyLipz Users: If you like to make the appearance of your pout last longer, in this article, you will learn how to increase water holding capacity, prevent collagen degradation, and boost collagen deposits. Naturally.

Collagen is what keeps your skin perky, firm, plump and smooth. Researchers had described human collagen fibers as having incredible  tensile strength like that of steel cables!   An analogy of how collagen support your skin can be equated to a building structural framework. Look at the impressive construction of a building below. The erected structure is held up by steel cables. If these cables are distorted or damaged, the whole structure can crack and collapse . Your skin is no different. When collagen fibers are distorted in your skin, you get wrinkles and sagging skin!

YOUR SKIN

All cells in the body are programmed to stop producing at some point. They have expiration dates just like a female’s reproductive capability. A female’s fertility peaks in her teens up to the age of 25 and after that it gradually declines. It happens to be that your collagen producing machinery also starts to drop by 1% each year after you hit your mid 20s! The image below illustrates the collagen structural support found in healthy, plump, youthful skin.  Your supple skin is held up by 75% of dense, springy, and perfectly aligned collagen fibers. As the skin ages, your  collagen fibers become progressively deformed with each subsequent year. In the later years, your collagen fibers may look like a messy pile of limp, twisted and fragmented left over pasta.  These attributes inevitably produce coarse, dehydrated, loose  skin with deep  furrows and wrinkles. 

In general for a healthy individual, there are 2 ways you can lose collagen:

1) Natural Aging:  If you have not read our article on “The 11 most shocking things people do to slow aging,” you should read this article because your skin has stem cells. Your stem cells are responsible for making new collagen producing cells. If they won’t, you get wrinkles.
2) Environmental Factors: Your diet and lifestyle activities can accelerate the degradation of your collagen supporting structure and prevent new collagen from being made!  For example, the combined effects of a poor diet (such as consuming sugary drinks and sweets), stressful lifestyle, smoking, and/or sun bathing/tanning can destroy your collagen framework. If you avoid these factors, you can eliminate premature skin aging. Take a look at what UV-radiation and smoking could do to your face!

UV radiation can penetrate glass windows and can severely damage the skin. Take a look at the 69 years old man below. He was a truck driver for 28 years. The side that was exposed daily to sunlight through the driver-side window aged tremendously compared to the other side of his face! A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine discovered that different parts of the body produces different amount of collagen. They found that sun-damaged skin on the forearm produce 56% less collagen than unexposed UV skin- such as the buttocks.

Take a look at the images below of a set of twins aged 52- the one on the left is a non-smoker and the one on the right is a smoker. The twin on the right looks 10 years older than the one on the left. Smoking produces thousands of toxic chemicals. Once in the body, they destroy your skin rapidly. You can read more about the damaging effects of smoking here.

WHY COLLAGEN IS A WRINKLE BUSTER

Some individuals inject collagen into the face to erase wrinkles and some address their wrinkles via a dietary route or take oral collagen supplementation. The question is, “Does oral collagen intake work?” Some said collagen will be degraded by the stomach so by administering collagen the oral route may not work. Wrong! Researchers discovered that collagen is absorbed by the digestive tract and travels to the skin where it is deposited for up to 96 hours! There are also a number of human clinical trials which show that the oral intake of specific collagen reduces skin wrinkles, increases skin elasticity, and skin hydration. In animal studies,  we have evidence that oral collagen supplementation boosts production of collagen producing cells, production of collagen, and prevents skin dehydration/photoaging.

IMPORTANT  STUDIES

Researchers speculate once in the intestine, the digested components of collagen travel to the skin where cells make new collagen. They also discovered that the diameter of the collagen fibers were wider which filled in furrows and lines.

Year	Location	# of Participants	Age	Collagen (mg/day)	Weeks	Improvements
2008	Tokyo	33	40-60	10 (high dosage)	8	91% increase in skin hydration, suppleness, and resilience
2008	France	30	35-55	10	12	41% less furrowing, less wrinkles, more resilient and increased water holding capacity
2013	USA	114	45-65	2.5 (low dosage)	4	Increased skin elasticity

Tips: To avoid collagen degradation and improve skin plumpness, avoid the following collagen killers

1. Avoid UV-radiation between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wear clothing that protect your skin when you are out. According to the latest research, sunscreen may cause skin cancer. Should you use sunscreen? To learn more about this topic, read more here.

2. Do not smoke!

3. If you do not smoke, why smoke your foods? Avoid grilled or charbroiled foods.  They are laden with carcinogenic chemicals. These toxic byproducts can adversely affect collagen production.

4. Sugar is as bad for your skin as smoking and UV radiation. We know sugar ages you because we can look at individuals with diabetes.  It is widely known that diabetic individuals age prematurely due to the ravaging effects of sugar. The sugar permanently hooks itself to the collagen in your skin.  It causes your skin to stiffen through a process known as glycation.  When your skin stiffens up, toxins accumulate- this vicious cycle causes deformity in your collagen support structure.  Avoid sugary drinks, sweets, and  high glycemic foods including ripe fruits, bread, and pasta.

5. Eating the wrong fats may cause skin sagging. Scientists found that when pigs, poultry, and cattle fed with dietary vegetable oils such as soy, corn, or canola oils instead of animal fats such as lard (pork fat) or tallow (beef fat), the animals produced softer fat and softer muscles. Why? Vegetable fats tend to be liquids and not solid as animals fats. Researchers found that meat products from animal fed vegetable oils also go rancid quicker. Could eating the wrong fats age you?

6. Cortisol is the primary hormone that our bodies secrete when we are under stress. This hormone stimulates degradation of  skin collagen! 

HOW TO STIMULATE COLLAGEN PRODUCTION IN YOUR BODY NATURALLY

If you ever made chicken soup with chicken skin and bones, you will discover the next day that your soup has turned into jelly as seen in the image below? Well, that is collagen! Collagen is mostly found in tendons, ligaments, bones, and skin.  Do you know why bone soups are so good for you? Bones and skin not only contain collagen but they are rich  in stem cells, vitamins, minerals, and healing properties. Their digested components can stimulate your body to heal and promote tissue renewal. This is why some  athletes praise the magical powers of bone broth soups. It is well-known in the sports world that Kobe Bryant’s staple diet for the past 3 years is bone broths. He consumes it whether he is preparing and training or recovering from his events. He said, “I’ve been doing the bone broth for a while now… it’s great – energy, inflammation. It’s great.” People who consume bone broths all their lives can testify that bone broth reverses signs of aging better than any pill or  serum!

In Japan, many people are eating chicken skewers suspended in collagen jelly blocks with soy sauce to erase wrinkles.

It is very common to see the elderly Asians eat duck, chicken, and pig feet,  cartilage, tendons, and ligaments as their main sources of dietary collagen.  Some braid them in soy sauce, cook them in soups, or eat them boiled in vinegar.

BONE SOUPS

Bone soups are so easy to make. They are good anytime! Watch 2 videos below if you like to make chicken and beef bone soups!

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN BONE BROTH

HOW TO MAKE BEEF BONE BROTH

VEGETARIAN? HOW TO GET YOUR COLLAGEN

COLLAGEN SUPPLEMENTS

We have 28 types of collagen in the body. Type I and III are the main collagen found in the skin. Babies and children have mostly type III collagen. As they age, type III declines which balances out with an increase in type I collagen. After the age of 25, both types of collagen start to decline progressively each year. Collagen supplements are made with either fish, cow, pig, or chicken collagen. It takes 4 to 12 weeks to see your results! We hope you enjoy reading this article.  We thank you for visiting CandyLipz Blog.