Collagen is the hot topic on everyone’s lips.
It’s safe to say that it can be confusing when it comes to what we should be doing. How we should be taking it. When we should be taking it.
So we sat down with Pharmacist and Co-Founder of INGENIOUS, Pupinder S.Ghatora, to get to the bottom of all your collagen questions.
What are the benefits of collagen?
Great question, there are too many positives to list, to be honest.
As Collagen is one of our main structural proteins, its benefits extend all over your body, ranging from your joints to your skin, to your hair and even to your nails. The effects can be an improvement in the overall health and integrity of these structures.
There are creams, serums, tablets, powders – how should we be using collagen?
Oral dosage forms are the only ones that are likely to be absorbed and even then, you must be very careful to ensure the product you are taking is going to withstand degradation from your stomach.
This will lead to the collagen being less effective and variable, resulting in random rates of absorption. The best way to take a collagen supplement is in the form of a special enteric capsule.
You must also consider if the product’s formulation has been independently clinically proven to work. Many brands use their active ingredient supplier data, this will often be different in a final formulation so should be taken with a ‘pinch of salt’.
Tell us about the different types of collagen!
This is a red herring, the type of collagen refers to the source protein and there are 28 different types of collagen.
But, once they have been hydrolysed (split), the source has no relevance as the smaller structures’ original source cannot be identified as a smaller fragment. Think of this as a small combination of building blocks from a large house structure.
Even if you have three different houses, the small fragments of the bricks will appear to be the same, and may even have the same structure. You should not be misled by brands claiming to use certain types of collagen.
Once hydrolysed, it makes no difference. The important thing is to go for marine collagen peptides over bovine as our research has shown marine to be cleaner and more bioactive than bovine.
When should we start taking collagen?
We start to see a decline in collagen levels from the age of 25, it would be sensible to begin supplementation then.
Think of collagen reduction as a leaky bucket with a hole that is gradually increasing in size. You cannot stop the increase in ‘leaking’ but you can continue to top up so the levels can be improved.
A great way to test your approximate collagen levels, based upon age and gender, is with the INGENIOUS Collagen Calculator.