Is it truly useful to eat collagen?
In the eyes of beauty lovers, collagen is usually sacred. It can not only soften the skin, but also delays aging and counter-aging growth. It is simply omnipotent and omnipotent. However, is it truly so magic?
Protein digestion begins in the stomach. Pepsin breaks down proteins into small peptides, which are digested by trypsin and enteropeptidase, eventually becoming individual amino acids that are absorbed by the body. Of course, small peptides can also be absorbed directly into the bloodstream by the body, which is often cited as evidence that "small molecules of collagen" work for the body. But don't forget, even if you eat the whole collagen, you end up with "small molecule collagen" in your small intestine. So at best, this product takes the digestion out of the way, and the absorption rate may be higher, but it all ends up in the body the same thing.
Once inside a cell, peptides or amino acids are the basic "parts" of the cell factory that reassemble proteins. The "parts" that make up the new collagen can come from any protein we eat or from the breakdown of the body's own proteins. So, the peptides and amino acids that you get from eating collagen, and the peptides and amino acids that you get from eating other proteins, the cell uses them equally. This amino acid/peptide is made from collagen, so let's use it to make more collagen. That doesn't happen in the world of cell.
Wrinkles on the face are indeed associated with a lack of collagen, but this involves the ageing mechanism of cells, a complex process. But for sure, there's no shortage of free amino acid "parts" for aging skin cells. But cells may lose the ability to assemble this pile of "parts" into collagen. Just as a factory's machinery ages, you're constantly buying more parts, which doesn't make it faster to assemble.
So, at least at this moment, it is extremely exaggerated and irresponsible for consumers to advocate the effectiveness of collagen without sufficient evidence. At the very least, even if collagen does work, there is not much difference between the collagen peptides absorbed into the body by eating what the companies call "small molecule collagen" products and eating pig's feet and beef sinews.
Protein digestion begins in the stomach. Pepsin breaks down proteins into small peptides, which are digested by trypsin and enteropeptidase, eventually becoming individual amino acids that are absorbed by the body. Of course, small peptides can also be absorbed directly into the bloodstream by the body, which is often cited as evidence that "small molecules of collagen" work for the body. But don't forget, even if you eat the whole collagen, you end up with "small molecule collagen" in your small intestine. So at best, this product takes the digestion out of the way, and the absorption rate may be higher, but it all ends up in the body the same thing.
Once inside a cell, peptides or amino acids are the basic "parts" of the cell factory that reassemble proteins. The "parts" that make up the new collagen can come from any protein we eat or from the breakdown of the body's own proteins. So, the peptides and amino acids that you get from eating collagen, and the peptides and amino acids that you get from eating other proteins, the cell uses them equally. This amino acid/peptide is made from collagen, so let's use it to make more collagen. That doesn't happen in the world of cell.
Wrinkles on the face are indeed associated with a lack of collagen, but this involves the ageing mechanism of cells, a complex process. But for sure, there's no shortage of free amino acid "parts" for aging skin cells. But cells may lose the ability to assemble this pile of "parts" into collagen. Just as a factory's machinery ages, you're constantly buying more parts, which doesn't make it faster to assemble.
So, at least at this moment, it is extremely exaggerated and irresponsible for consumers to advocate the effectiveness of collagen without sufficient evidence. At the very least, even if collagen does work, there is not much difference between the collagen peptides absorbed into the body by eating what the companies call "small molecule collagen" products and eating pig's feet and beef sinews.
