Collagen has become increasingly popular in recent years. It has been highly sought after, given its near-miraculous effects. What is collagen, exactly? We are going to go over what it is, as well as the benefits of collagen, so that you can see just how extraordinary it is.
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a protein that helps keep certain cells together. In fact, it is the most abundant one that is produced by your body. You have collagen in your skin, bones, cartilage, tendons, and teeth. It also makes up the connective tissue everywhere in your body.
Collagen keeps your skin appearing youthful and elastic, and also maintains healthy joints. However, as you get older, your body starts producing less of it. Your collagen levels will keep dropping unless you take something like a joint supplement. If you want to prevent wrinkles, achy joints, and dull-looking hair, among other things, then you should consider taking a collagen supplement.
Benefits of Collagen
There are numerous benefits of collagen that make it well worth taking a collagen supplement. The following are some of the most significant benefits you will receive from getting more of it.
Promotes Better Skin
There is a tremendous amount of collagen in your skin. It helps keep it elastic and hydrated. The less you have of it, the drier and more wrinkly your skin becomes. Studies have found that taking a supplement with collagen can reduce the number of wrinkles and dry skin you have.
Collagen supplements can get your body to begin producing more collagen on its own as well, which is quite astonishing. Also, taking collagen will also get the body to produce other important proteins, like elastin.
Reduces Joint Pain
One of the major benefits of taking extra collagen is enjoying a reduction in joint pain. Collagen is a major component of cartilage, which is the material that protects your joints. As you get older, you become more prone to suffering from degenerative joint disorders like arthritis due to having less collagen and cartilage.
There have been studies that have found taking a collagen supplement can reduce the symptoms of arthritis, specifically osteoarthritis, and also lower how much joint pain you experience. Taking 10 grams of collagen every day for about six months has been found to drastically reduce joint pain while you are both mobile and resting.
Prevent Bone Loss
Just like skin and cartilage, your bones are mostly collagen as well. Collagen will provide structure for them, which ensures they maintain their strength. Bone mass drops the older you get due to less collagen being produced by your body. This results in being more susceptible to getting fractured bones.
Studies have uncovered that taking a collagen supplement can block the loss of collagen in bone, meaning it can help you avoid suffering from osteoporosis. Anything that safely improves bone density is definitely something that is worth taking, especially the older you get.
Increase Muscle Mass
Although it doesn’t make up the majority of muscle mass, collagen accounts for anywhere between 1% and 10% of the total mass. Collagen is an essential protein for your muscles, keeping them strong and functioning at their peak performance.
Studies have suggested that taking a collagen supplement will increase the amount of muscle mass, especially in people who gradually lose their muscles as they get older. There is enough evidence now to support believing that taking collagen supplements will increase both muscle mass and strength.
Improves Heart Health
Research has been looking into how collagen affects other organs and areas of the body, including the heart. As it turns out, taking a collagen supplement has the power to reduce the risk of having heart-related issues. If you want to improve the health of your heart, then you may want to consider taking a joint supplement.
What collagen has been found to do is provide structure to arteries. This is important due to the fact that they are the carriers of blood from your heart and throughout the rest of the body. If you do not have enough collagen, your arteries may end up becoming weaker and more fragile as time goes on.
There was a study done that found that people who took 16 grams of collagen for half a year had far less artery stiffness than before they began taking the extra collagen. That is quite an impressive outcome, to say the least.
Taking collagen supplements has proven to be very much worth it, as you can see from all of the benefits listed above.
How to Get More Collagen
There are a few great ways to get more collagen. One method involves making bone broth. This would mean you would have to take something like chicken bones or feet and place them in a slow cooker for around 24 hours, with a shot of apple cider vinegar. This process will coax the collagen out of the bones and feet, providing you with “liquid gold” that will work better than Botox for improving the look of your skin. However, unlike Botox, you won’t be doing anything for your joints or other areas of your body that benefit from collagen.
Collagen by way of a joint supplement or bone brother is an excellent way to get the benefits of collagen. JointFuel360 is a popular joint supplement that contains natural ingredients, including a whole lot of type II collagen. Besides collagen, it also comes packed with anti-inflammatory compounds like black pepper extract and turmeric, which reduce joint inflammation. Antioxidants like resveratrol have also been included to further reduce pain and swelling in the body.
Wrapping Up
Now that you know the benefits of collagen, you can do something about the loss of collagen you have been suffering from for years. Whether you make bone broth yourself or pop a joint supplement every day, you can restore the collagen you have lost, reducing and preventing unwanted joint pain.