Collagen is hot these days. It seems like everyone is using collagen to improve the look of their skin and make their joints feel great. But our instincts were telling us that there were so many other benefits to supplementing with collagen—so we took a closer look into what the research was saying.

What is collagen, and what can it do?

Collagen is the most abundant source of protein in your body—it’s like the “glue” that holds you together. But your body’s collagen stores begin to decline in your 20s. That’s why it’s so important to supplement with collagen, because collagen can provide so many benefits throughout your body:

• Collagen supports healthy skin by improving skin texture, enhancing facial skin moisture and elasticity¹.
• Collagen supports joints & muscles by helping you recover from injuries more quickly² and can help improve your physical performance³.
• Collagen can improve bone mineral density and reduce bone degradation⁴. Plus, there’s some evidence to suggest that collagen can even help to increase calcium absorption within the gut.
• Collagen supports cardiovascular health by reducing arterial stiffness, a marker of cardiovascular disease in the elderly⁵.
• Collagen supports a healthy gut by acting as a prebiotic and preventing dysbiosis (an imbalance of gut bacteria) in animal studies⁶. Other animal studies have also found that collagen can help to heal and strengthen the gut lining⁷.

Why supplement with collagen?

You should supplement with collagen if…

• You want to improve your hair and nail quality and growth
• You want to lessen the visible signs of skin aging
• You want to support your body for sports or fitness activities
• You want to shorten the recovery time of sports related injuries
• You have low bone density or want to improve your bone density
• You want to support and protect your cardiovascular function
• You need relief from joint pain
• You want to look and feel great

Choosing a collagen supplement

Genuine Health is committed to making products that make a difference for you, for us, for our planet, and all that call it home. What we put in the bottle matters and how we treat this planet matters. Like every product at Genuine Health, we wanted to make the best collagen supplement we could.

1. We wanted clean collagen to be sustainable and consciously sourced, so we found clean collagen sources that were by-products of other industries that would otherwise be unused:
   • clean collagen is sourced from pasture raised, grass-fed USDA cattle and is non-GMO, hormone-free and antibiotic free.
   • marine clean collagen is sourced from wild-caught cold water fish in the North Atlantic, and is non-GMO.

2. We wanted clean collagen to work. So we formulated clean collagen with a therapeutic dose of easily absorbed collagen in every serving. Each serving of clean collagen gives you 10 grams of easily absorbed collagen peptides (many of the studies on collagen are between 5 and 10 grams).

3. Finally, we wanted to make it easy for you to take clean collagen. That’s why we made clean collagen in two sources: marine and bovine, each in unflavoured (to add to coffee and recipes) and lightly flavoured (to add to water).

Taking clean collagen can provide so many supportive benefits to your body. We think that clean collagen is a product that we ALL should be using. And doing it the Genuine Health way means that it’s high quality, consciously- and sustainably-sourced, absorbable and easy to take. I can’t wait for you to try it.

By Stewart Brown

References:
¹ Genovese, et al. An Insight into the Changes in Skin Texture and Properties following Dietary Intervention with a Nutricosmeceutical Containing a Blend of Collagen Bioactive Peptides and Antioxidants. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2017;30(3):146-158
² Lopez, et al. Evaluation of the Effects of BioCell Collagen, a Novel Cartilage Extract, on Connective Tissue Support and Functional Recovery From Exercise. Integr Med. 2015 Jun;14(3):30-8.
³ Zdzieblik, et al. Improvement of activity-related knee joint discomfort following supplementation of specific collagen peptides. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2017 Jun;42(6):588-595
⁴ Konig, et al Specific Collagen Peptides Improve Bone Mineral Density and Bone Markers in Postmenopausal Women-A Randomized Controlled Study. Nutrients. 2018 Jan 16;10(1). pii: E97
⁵ Igase, et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical study of the effect of pork collagen peptide supplementation on atherosclerosis in healthy older individuals. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2018 Feb 15:1-3
⁶ Soniwala S, et al. Oral hydrolyzed type 2 collagen protects against the OA of obesity and mitigates obese gut microbiome dysbiosis. Oseoarthritis Cartilage 2018; 26 (Suppl 1):S173–S174
⁷ Fu, et al. Exploration of collagen recovered from animal by-products as a precursor of bioactive peptides: Successes and challenges. Crit rev Food Sci Nutr 2018 In Press

About the Author: Stewart Brown

Stewart Brown is the founder and president of Genuine Health in Toronto. Learn more about Genuine Health at genuinehealth.com.