The body naturally produces a lot of different types of proteins. These proteins are useful in the function of health and maintenance beyond just muscles, which is what most people assume. While they do help muscles they are the building blocks of a lot of our bodily functions. That’s the reason if you have low protein levels, doctors recommend high quality collagen powder to boost proteins in your body. (Image Credit: Romina Farías/Unsplash)
One particular protein produced by the body is known as collagen. This protein is most notable for its effects in skin, joints, and bones health. Collagen is well known because of cosmetic procedures but it is growing in popularity in less invasive treatments for specific conditions, and these are some of the ways in which collagen supplements are useful for health now.
Skin Elasticity
The most notable purpose for collagen supplements are the benefits to skin elasticity. As you age, your skin starts to lose its naturally occurring collagen production, which prevents it from being malleable and able to regenerate, which leads to wrinkles. There is more info here on how important collagen is to skin elasticity, and why it is so valuable as an “anti-aging” supplement. Now that collagen is available in different forms, like digestible capsules or powder, it is increasing in popularity and cost from the previously available injections. In any case, skin elasticity is a primary purpose for collagen supplement consumption.
Joint Health and Maintenance
It comes as no surprise that the body’s functions start to become harder to maintain in naturally occurring methods. Joint pain and joint health is a common occurrence in aging and elderly folk, and this can lead to some serious complications, like arthritis (osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid arthritis) as the body grows older. Collagen helps repair cartilage in the joints, which is responsible for the movement and placement of joints. Without cartilage, the joints can begin to grind against each other and this leads to damage to bone. Maintaining healthy joints late into your life will keep you active, allowing you to possibly prevent other musculoskeletal issues.
Heart and Artery Health
Collagen supplements have some surprising results in the area of heart health as well. When it comes to the structure of the heart, arteries are incredibly vital to maintain because they represent the passageways for blood and oxygen. Without the proper maintenance of these passageways, heart attacks or strokes can occur. Collagen helps provide the building materials for the walls or lining of arteries, which gives them flexibility and keeps them from becoming too narrow, which leads to those serious conditions. A surprising but altogether welcome benefit that collagen supplements can have on the body.
Muscle Mass
While collagen is not the primary protein used in the building and maintenance of muscle, it is still very valuable in this area for health benefits. Collagen is a connective tissue building protein that is present throughout the body, which means muscles as well, and when skin ages and loses its elasticity and health it can be harder for muscles to grow too. Building the connective tissue for muscles means recovery is a must due to microtears both on the skin and beneath it, and collagen helps build and repair. As the body ages too, the collagen production decreases so it is important that you can keep it at a stable amount so that muscle degeneration does not occur as fast. This keeps you active much longer and promotes a healthier body long term.
Bone Loss Prevention
In a similar way that collagen helps with joint maintenance, these supplements have the potential to help prevent bone loss. Because collagen is the protein that helps create connective tissue, it is also in the bones themselves. Bone mass loss can lead to serious problems, like osteoporosis, which is the weakening and lightening of bone density that causes fractures or breaks. Stimulating the prevention of proteins that break down bone mass density is one way that collagen might be an effective long term solution to the aging process regarding bone health. These supplements have shown promise and can improve the body’s ability to stave off bone loss later into life, a significant effect on our health without a doubt.
Collagen is often thought of as a cosmetic procedure. The rich and famous get collagen injections to look young or something along those lines, but the truth is that collagen is much more than that. While it does have restorative and health properties for the skin, it goes beyond skin deep, literally. Bone health, joint health, muscles, and even heart functions can benefit from this naturally occurring protein. The best news is how collagen is available in non-invasive supplements now which makes its benefits available for more people.
