Does Collagen Help Anti Aging?- See the Benefits of Collagen to the Skin

You may have noticed that most anti aging skin care products on the market mention collagen in their marketing material and ingredients. The reason for this is that collagen plays a very big role in almost all the organs of the body.

Review of the South Beach SkinCare LifeCell All-In-One Anti Aging Cream

Benefits of Collagen to the Skin

Collagen is located in the fibrous tissues in our body organs like skin, tendons, and ligaments, and to a smaller degree the bones and blood vessels. Collagen’s key strength in skincare is in the strengthening of the skin dermis which gives your skin its elastic qualities. You could look at collagen being like the structure supporting your skin and so the stronger it is the tighter your skin looks. As we age, this framework weakens and the skin starts to sag in different areas.

If you are wondering how collagen helps in anti aging, here is an infographic showing the difference in structure between a younger skin and an aged skin due loss of collagen with age.

Collagen membranes help cells in the skin layers to hold together, giving the skin firmness, depth, and even hydration.

Unlike a child, when you pinch an elderly person, the skin takes a long time to bounce back into shape, and this is all due to the loss of collagen in the grandma or grandpa.

The area most prone to collagen breakdown is under and around the eyes. This comes in the form of saggy skin, fine lines, and crow’s feet. The skin in that area is very thin so it’s the most sensitive to a slowdown in skin collagen production. It makes sense to invest in a good quality anti aging eye cream that will help to rejuvenate the collagen in that area.

Sources of Collagen- How to Regain Elasticity in Skin

1. As collagen breaks down the older we get, it makes it one of the most popular vitamins that require topping up. Collagen supplements, like the natural collagen supplementby LifeCell, or collagen capsules, can help nourish your collagen to prevent its breakdown.

Collagen is truly the “glue” that keeps us together, so to speak. Collagen keeps your skin tight and firm and is the holy grail in terms of skincare products when you’re looking at ingredients.

There are many collagen products on the market and they come in various forms. It can be taken as a capsule or ingested in liquid form. There is no harm in adding it to your daily nutritional intake.

2. It goes without saying that a good diet goes a long way to keeping your skin healthy and collagen levels high than if you don’t eat properly. It’s a proven fact that grains like wheat and sugar, will break down the proteins (collagen) in your body and accelerate aging. Processed foodstuffs can speed up the effects of aging on your skin as it’s likely to break down collagen and the natural proteins in your body. Another thing that should be avoided is sodium as it causes water retention in the skin making it appear saggy.

Major Causes of Collagen Loss

i.) One of the biggest dangers to our skin is overexposure to the sun. The sun’s UV rays will speed up the degradation of collagen over time. A good example was the publishing of pictures on Huffington post that showed a long distant truck driver, Bill McElligott, and how much the left side of his face had aged more than the right side due to the left side being directly exposed to the sun for many years.

Bill McElligott, a truck driver, photographed in 2012 to show how the left side of his face had aged much faster than the right side due to direct sun exposure to the left side
Bill McElligott, truck driver, photographed in 2012 to show how the left side of his face had aged much faster than the right side due to direct and prolonged sun exposure to the left side

ii.) Aging- skin collagen is produced by cells known as fibroblasts. But these decrease over time, leading to a decrease in the collagen, elastin, and other components that promote youthfulness of the skin. However, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), intrinsic skin aging contributes to only 3% of the overall aging of the skin, so you always have control of the 97% extrinsic influence.

iii.) Cigarette smoke- exposure to free radicals from cigarette smoke impairs the synthesis of collagen in the skin and it also causes degradation of the collagen matrix.

iv.) High sugar diets and excessive animal products and simple carbohydrates have also been linked to faster degradation of skin health. Conversely, fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates such as nuts and legumes are known to prevent inflammaging thus improving skin health.

v.) Stress- stress is known to increase free radicals in the body while impairing antioxidant production, and this will ultimately contribute to the aging of the skin.

LifeCell All-In-One Anti Aging Cream

Considering the above a healthy diet and avoidance of the sun must be crucial to a healthier-looking skin. That is all fine but you can do more and you should. To support your collagen levels you can also apply anti-wrinkle creams. Anti wrinkle creams such as the LifeCell anti wrinkle moisturizer by LifeCell, have proven to help keep your collagen levels healthy.

LifeCell cream uses deanol and hyaluronic acidDeanol is the only ingredient that is proven to help improve your natural production of collagen. Deanol sinks through the outer layer of your skin and works beneath the dermis to provide nourishment for your collagen.

Hyaluronic acid has been shown to support natural collagen as well. Using anti aging treatments will add to your efforts to keep your skin healthy.

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