When to start taking collagen supplements
THE TRUTH ABOUT COLLAGEN SUPPLEMENTS... A Biochemist's Perspective
hey guys my name is kena and welcome
back to my youtube channel so today's
video is a very hot topic and very
highly requested so today we're talking
all about supplemental collagen
so that would be collagen that you take
either as like a powder form or capsules
and you're taking it orally as part of
your diet so if you're interested to
learn about the skincare effects of
taking oral collagen then just keep
watching
okay I'm just gonna start by covering
like what is collagen so collagen is a
protein it is the main structural
protein in the extracellular matrix in
connective tissue things like cartilage
and in your skin and there's a bunch of
different types of collagen I think
they've now found like 28 different
types but I'm mostly gonna be talking
about type one which is present in your
skin so collagen is made up of mostly
glycine proline and hydroxyproline and
these are all non-essential amino acids
that your body can actually make itself
you can also get them from your diet but
it has been found that for most mammals
actually the amount of these essential
amino acids is not exactly adequate and
it is good to be supplemented from your
diet for these non-essential amino acids
as well so because collagen is made by
mammals and some other animals like fish
and birds that's kind of the best source
to get it so you can get it from things
like cows chicken fish if you're a vegan
legumes such as soy and tempeh do also
have the essential sorry the
non-essential amino acids that would
make up collagen and so these are good
dietary sources of those non-essential
amino acids to kind of boost the amount
that you have within you and promote
healthy collagen biosynthesis so there
is a lot of kind of randomized
double-blind placebo studies done on
oral collagen supplementation and
generally collagen supplements are going
to be made up of hydrolyzed collagen so
this is going to be peptides and dye
peptides which is basically so collagen
is like a huge protein molecule and they
hydrolyze it which basically chops it up
into little small peptide chunks that
can be uptaken in your digestive tract
and then it goes into your bloodstream
and it can go to the places that it
needs to like in your joints and to your
skin so there's a ton of clinical trials
and there's a great review that was done
in 2019 so I will link that study or
review of many studies down in the
description box below if you want to do
a little bit more digging and kind of
see how they do these trials to look at
the effects of oral collagen
supplementation on the skin but to kind
of summarize those findings there has
been really promising results with short
term and long term use of collagen
supplements on both the skin and wound
healing so it has been proven to really
improve skin elasticity and also lessen
wrinkle depth oral collagen supplements
have also been shown to improve
hydration so I guess the big question
really is like should I take an oral
collagen supplement and that is totally
up to you I think that if you're not
eating a lot of meat or fish or eggs or
dairy you could definitely benefit from
taking a collagen supplement to improve
the skins the elasticity and just
overall collagen density in your skin
and hydration and all the things that I
mentioned before but if you do have a
really well-balanced diet and you're
eating a lot of meats and you're eating
a lot of eggs and dairy then you're
probably fine without taking an oral
collagen supplement now there is a lot
of different types of oral collagen
supplements they will all be hydrolyzed
collagen but they have different sources
so kind of the main one is from bovine
sources or like cows that's a really
popular one they also do have some vegan
versions that would come from legumes
such as soy lentils and things like that
so it really comes down to personal
preference and if you do find that your
skin is losing its elasticity and you're
experiencing a lot of wrinkles you might
benefit from taking an oral collagen
supplement now I know I'm gonna get this
question in the comments pretty much
asking me what collagen supplement I
recommend because I'm not gonna
recommend you to take any dietary
supplements I am NOT a doctor I'm not a
nutritionist I'm not a naturopath so I'm
not gonna make those recommendations
it's really up to you to do your own
research talk with your physician and
see if that's right for you and of
course you know if you are vegan or
vegetarian you're gonna
for something that is a vegan or
vegetarian source versus most of them
come from bovine which is like the bones
from cows basically there also haven't
been many side effects associated with
collagen supplementation so it is
regarded as jet-like safe some side
effects which I find a little
interesting is like a bad taste in your
mouth or sometimes people do get a
little bit of in digestion but I would
recommend taking your collagen
supplements with food like most direct
hair supplements you know I recommend it
to take with food just to avoid any
upset stomach or kind of indigestion
associated with a large amount of
anything going into your body so that is
pretty much it about or a little
collagen supplementation it is pretty
simple it is pretty tried-and-true there
is a ton of clinical data that is good
like up to good standards so it's
randomized double-blind
placebo-controlled studies involving
humans and they have really shown
promising results so if you are curious
about taking a collagen supplement I
would say you know after talking with
your physician then decide if it's right
for you but there is a lot of results
saying that it could be beneficial to
just again improve overall skin
elasticity hydration and increase the
density of collagen in your skin I am
gonna do a video on topically applied
collagen but that is a little bit more
complicated and I thought I would just
kind of cover the more popular questions
that I have which is surrounding oral
collagen supplementation alright that's
pretty much all I have to say about
collagen again I will link that review
study down in the description box below
so with review studies they will have
references to all of the primary
literature which means these studies
that actually did those trials with
humans and then you can really check out
how they did that you know how many
patients where it was done how it was
performed and I do find that very
interesting so if you're into science
literature then I definitely recommend
checking out this review and looking at
the references and learning more about
how these trials are done PS I know many
of this questions so I will just answer
it now I don't take
a hydrolyzed collagen supplement I do
eat a lot of fish and eggs so I feel
like I'm kind of okay there and I don't
really feel like I need it at this point
in my life my skin is very supple and
soft and I don't experience deep
wrinkles my good skin hydration so it's
just not something that I've
incorporated into my routine so I just
wanted to cover that because I know I
would get a question about if I'm taking
an oral collagen supplement and I'm just
not so there's that all right that is it
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and thank you guys so much for watching
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