What Women Need to Know About Collagen
You’ve probably heard about women taking collagen as a beauty aid or seen it on the shelves of your local health food store. Ladies, if you’ve ever wondered what it is, why people take it, or if there’s a vegetarian source of collagen, we’ve got answers.
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a component of connective tissue, which provides structural support to your other tissues and organs. Connective tissue is kind of like rebar — those steel bars that keep concrete from falling apart — for your insides.
Sadly, collagen production declines with age, starting as early as your mid-20s. Things get worse post-menopause. In the first five years after “the change of life,” women may lose as much as 30% of the collagen stored in their bodies.[1] Yikes! That’s why many folks take collagen supplements.
Why Does Collagen Matter?
Collagen strengthens your skin and keeps it snappy, so it fights sagging, fine lines, and wrinkles. It’s not just a skin lover though. Collagen also contains amino acids your body needs to make keratin, the main component of hair and nails. That’s why collagen keeps your locks, fingernails, and toenails from becoming brittle, protects your hair follicles, and helps your nails grow faster.[2],[3]
Who Needs Collagen?
Anyone who wants smoother, more youthful-looking skin and strong hair and nails can benefit from supplemental collagen. Yep, you too, guys!
Where Does Collagen Come From?
Collagen supplements are typically made from the scales, hides, and bones of fish, chicken, pigs, or cows. That means they’re off limits to vegetarians. But to be honest, it’s not just vegetarians that find the idea of ingesting boiled animal hides unappealing. Plenty of everyday folks can’t get over the ick factor. Are you among them? Well then, we’ve got good news!
How Can You Get More Collagen?
Because your body already knows how to make collagen, there are ways to spur it to manufacture more. You just need two important nutrients.
- Vitamin C. It’s not just for immunity anymore! Vitamin C is crucial for the production of collagen. In fact, scurvy — the disease in which your tissues basically fall apart — results from vitamin C deficiency. Most fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamin C, so fill your plate with bell peppers, citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, and all your other favorite produce to up your intake of this critical nutrient.
- This mineral is not quite as well-known as vitamin C, but it’s just as important. Your body cannot produce collagen without it. Silica is not as ubiquitous as vitamin C, but bananas, brown rice, green beans, leafy greens, and oat bran all contain it. You can also take a silica supplement.
Which Silica Supplement Is Best?
Most silica supplements are synthetic or made from sand. Florasil by Flora is different. This highly rated silica supplement provides plant-based silica from the spring horsetail plant. (That just seemed more natural to us than chowing down on chemicals or sand.)
The spring horsetail plant is so named because if you use your imagination, it looks like a horse’s tail, with one central stem and a bunch of needle-like leaves spraying out like a scrub brush. Horsetail loves water. It grows along the banks of rivers and creeks, where it soaks up minerals from the clay. In addition to silica, horsetail contains an impressive 30 naturally occurring trace minerals and flavonoids that aid silica absorption.
Florasil is made from the horsetail herb using a gentle, non-chemical extraction process developed at the University of Paris to preserve all the helpful bioflavonoids and minerals. Count on Florasil to help you make the collagen you need for supple, elastic skin; strong nails; and luxurious locks. No pig skin or sand needed.
Right now, use the code COLLAGEN15 to save 15% off FloraSil now through 5.16.22 at florahealth.com.
References
[1] Marshall L, Nazario B. Collagen: ‘Fountain of youth’ or edible hoax? WebMD. 2019 Dec 12. https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/news/20191212/collagen-supplements-what-the-research-shows
[2] Elliott B, Arnarson A. Top 6 benefits of taking collagen supplements. Healthline. 2020 Feb 19. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/collagen-benefits
[3] Streit L. 5 evidence-based ways collagen may improve your hair. Healthline. 2019 Jan 23. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/collagen-for-hair#TOC_TITLE_HDR_1
