Stimulating your skin to produce more collagen

Stimulating collagen synthesis in aged skin was shown to reduce wrinkles and improve skin texture. 

The benefit of stimulating your own collagen production is that collagen is deposited in an orderly, structured manner and that there is no risk of allergy, immune reaction or injection-induced infection. Furthermore, many ingredients useful in stimulating collagen synthesis are relatively inexpensive and safe.

What Happens to Collagen as We Age?

Like many of the body’s natural systems, our production of collagen starts to back off in middle age. We produce less of it, and what remains becomes weaker and degraded. You can imagine an old building slowly starting to crumble, or a tennis net gradually becoming torn, stretched, and saggy.

This is not only a natural process, however. In addition to aging, exposure to the sun and other environmental assaults damages the collagen in skin, weakening the support structure and causing skin to sag. As that collagen weakens, we see the following results:

A.    Fine lines

B.     Wrinkles

C.     Sagging

D.    Dark circules under the eyes

E.     Hooded eyelids

F.      Turkey neck

BENEFITS OF COLLAGEN?

Benefits of collagen to your health are collagen helps to prevent and treat certain medical conditions, such as:
 

1. Arthritis

2. Heart disease

3. Gum issues

4. Premature aging

Benefits of collagen to your appearance are Collagen has anti-aging properties and is beneficial to your beauty:

1. It helps to keep your skin youthful and glowing

2. It helps to make your hair strong and shiny

3. It helps to prevent loose, sagging skin

A nutritious diet of Collagen

Eating the right foods and getting good sources of antioxidants from fruits and vegetables is very important for collagen production. Brightly coloured produce such as tomatoes, grapefruit and watermelon contain the powerful antioxidant lycopene, which helps prevent collagen degeneration. Fruits such as oranges, strawberries and red peppers also contain Vitamin C, something that is key for the optimum condition of the skin. 

Vegetables such as broccoli, leafy greens and cauliflower provide our skin with glucosinolates, which fight the free radicals that attack our collagen. Also key to skin health is the omega-3 fatty acid known as eicosapentanoic acid or EPA, which has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects to help protect and heal the skin. Omega-3 is readily available from food sources such as oily fish and spirulina. 

Avoid starchy foods and sugary substances; this helps reduce inflammation which interferes with the body's natural collagen production processes.