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Have you ever pinched a child's cheek? You pinch the soft skin and it feels like a pillow under your fingers. Imagine doing the same with an 80-year-old's cheek. The skin is loose, and the layer of a pillow seems to be increasingly missing. What then accounts for this difference? The answer is collagen. Collagen (collagen peptides) is a protein that has many important functions in our bodies.
Collagen is a protein that makes up 1/3 of all protein in the human body.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the entire body, and after water is also the most abundant substance in our bodies! Collagen is the "glue of the body", and without this protein you would more or less collapse
As important as collagen is for beauty and a beautiful skin, it is also just as important for the body's other organs to function optimally.
Collagen is a type of fibrous protein, and provides strength and cushioning to many different parts of the body. More specifically, collagen is found in various types of connective tissue, such as e.g. cartilage, tendons, ligaments and bones, etc.
Hydrolyzed collagen means that collagen (which is a protein) is broken down into peptides, so-called. collagen peptides. Peptides are in turn shorter chains of amino acids. In other words, hydrolyzed collagen and collagen peptides are simply two different names for exactly the same thing. So to speak, hydrolyzed collagen peptides are actually a bit "wrong".
The structure of collagen
If we could look closely at a collagen fiber, we could see that its structure resembles that of a rope. Each individual fiber of collagen is made up of many small fibers, called macrofibrils, all bound together. And all the macrofibrils are even made up of even smaller components, called microfibrils. This structure accounts for the strong nature of collagen. Collagen, like a rope, has great tensile strength and can be pulled apart without breaking.
Collagen makes the skin elastic.
While collagen is a strong fiber, it is also very flexible. This allows certain parts of the body to be very flexible without injury. An example might be squeezing the skin on the arm and moving it around. The skin here is very flexible. When you release the skin, it immediately returns to its normal state, without being damaged. This is partly due to the collagen found in the deeper layers of our skin.
Collagen is found in the connective tissue, which in turn consists of a material called matrix (the substance that exists between the cells, called extracellular matrix), with cells embedded in it. In addition to collagen fibers, the extracellular matrix also contains other substances, such as e.g. hyaluronic acid which fulfills many functions. Among other things, the hyaluronic acid acts as a moisturizing lubricant and shock-absorbing filler between the collagen fibers. Visually, let's imagine that the extracellular matrix is a jelly, and that the cells are blueberries that lie inside the jelly. Now add coconut to represent the collagen fibers. Now if you try to pull the gel apart, the coconut will hold it together. The same applies to collagen in the connective tissue.
Sometimes collagen bundles are arranged in a very regular pattern. This is, for example, the case in a tendon. Feel the back of your ankle just above the heel, and you'll find your hamstring. The strength of tendons comes from the parallel arrangement of collagen fiber bundles. Consider a single rubber band representing a collagen bundle. If you pull on it, it stretches quite easily. Imagine pulling on a hundred parallel rubber bands at the same time. This is much harder to stretch! It is bundles of collagen that give the tendons this tough and elastic property.
In other types of connective tissue, collagen can be arranged in a more irregular manner. In our skin there are collagen fibers, but they are not arranged in the same way as in tendons. You can feel the difference by touching your hamstring and then pulling the skin on your arm. The skin is softer and much looser. Although collagen is present in both, the structure is quite different.
A fibroblast is a cell that makes and maintains connective tissue, the structural network of cells that support the organs of the body. Fibroblasts secrete fibrous proteins and other substances, which together form the extracellular matrix that forms the basis of connective tissue.
Depending on where in the body the fibroblasts are and what type of connective tissue they build, fibroblasts can secrete several different types of fibrous proteins, of which collagen is one of these proteins, but also e.g. elastin is a fibrous protein.
Collagen, which is a strong fibrous protein, gives all your organs and tissues their strength. If you removed the cells from one of your organs, a collagen "skeleton" of that organ would be left behind. Collagen is the main component of your tendons and ligaments, and like the hard backing of a carpet, collagen supports your skin. When you have an injury to your skin, collagen is the protein that forms the scar. Connective tissue has many different tasks in the body, which requires the fibroblasts to know "how" to make all the different types of collagen that exist.
There are many different types of collagen (around 30), of which types 1, 2 and 3 make up the largest part of the body's collagen. Type 1 collagen further makes up approximately 90% of all collagen found in the body.
Collagen can also be added to the body in other ways and just like hyaluronic acid, collagen is used in fillers (injections with syringes) to make the skin look younger, as well as in various creams that can be applied to the skin!
After reading about all of collagen's benefits, you're probably wondering where you can get collagen? The good news is that your body already naturally produces collagen. The bad news is that your body's collagen production declines as you age, in fact as early as age 25. Therefore, you should consume a collagen supplement if you feel that your body could benefit from the increased intake.
Although it is not absolutely necessary to take collagen, overall it is very beneficial. It is not only good for a youthful appearance, but also good for mental health, digestion, as well as for your musculoskeletal health. Plus, a good night's sleep will keep fatigue at bay and ensure your muscles get the recovery they deserve to build muscle!
