Collagen is essential for your bones, gut, skin, nails and hair, but you make much less of it during the menopause. Adding more collagen to your diet could help with a range of menopause symptoms, from aching joints to dull skin.
Menopausal estrogen deficiency and aging-related changes to the skin are directly connected. As it turns out, one of the effects of taking estrogen via topical estriol creams or MHT is that it can increase your collagen levels even after menopause.
Type of collagen:
Type 1 collagen is considered the best type of collagen for menopause due to its role in supporting skin, hair, and nail health, as well as promoting bone strength and joint flexibility.
It Can Help to Protect Against Bone Loss
Bones are mostly made of collagen, so when our body ages and loses collagen, bone mass and bone strength suffer. Adding in a collagen supplement, along with other bone strengthening exercises and supplements, can help to prevent bone breakage.
Once seniors reach the age of 65-70, collagen production starts to decline at about 30% per year. But, it's never too late for collagen! Collagen is absolutely for seniors 55+. Data shows that those 55+ see dramatic benefits from collagen across the board — especially in their bones, joints, and overall inflammation.
Collagen can help to reverse signs of skin aging by boosting elasticity in the skin. Drinking collagen powder can also help repair damaged skin and scarring, which seniors are more prone to than younger individuals.
To reap the benefits for skin health, the research recommends that you take between 2.5 to 5 grams of collagen per day (2). This amount is shown to increase skin elasticity and hydration in elderly women while reducing the depth of existing skin wrinkles in middle-aged women.
Collagen is essential for your bones, gut, skin, nails and hair, but you make much less of it during the menopause. Adding more collagen to your diet could help with a range of menopause symptoms, from aching joints to dull skin. 2.5-15g of daily collagen is safe and effective.
Marine collagen supplements, in particular, thanks to their smaller particle size compared to other types of products, are considered more effective for women over 50s. Due to their superior bioavailability, these supplements are in fact easier to absorb by our bodies (up to 1.5 times more than other sources).
Collagen is a protein that serves as one of the main building blocks for your bones, skin, hair, muscles, tendons, and ligaments. "Collagen is what keeps our skin from sagging, giving us that plump, youthful look," says dermatologist Dr. Ohara Aivaz.
Collagen supplements may not be safe for: People with fish, shellfish, or egg allergies (collagen supplements may contain these allergens as ingredients)16. People with a Kosher or Halal diet. People with a vegetarian or vegan diet.
You may choose to begin taking collagen as early as your twenties or wait until your natural collagen levels start to decline a little more at menopause. Although it's never too late to begin collagen supplementation, people with certain lifestyle habits and choices might benefit from starting sooner.
Eat Your Antioxidants
Collagen gives your skin its youthful plumpness and keeps your skin tight. As your estrogen levels drop, so does the collagen in your skin. Eating foods with antioxidants may help make your skin stronger from the inside out.
Studies have consistently shown a positive correlation between collagen and estrogen levels. That means the more collagen you have, the more estrogen you're likely to have.
Does Collagen Help with Menopause? The short answer is, yes! Taking supplements to rebuild the natural collagen in your body can ease many of the symptoms that come with the menopause. Many skincare brands add collagen to their products in order to tackle collagen production from the outside, in.
Collagen is considered to be well tolerated with no major side-effects. Minor side-effects include: a feeling of heaviness in your stomach. mild diarrhoea.
Another common concern women experience during menopause is lower hair density and the loss of hair shine. Collagen helps to address hair thinning and hair loss by targeting follicle damage and by releasing amino acids that can help to build hair fibres. This promotes a healthier, shinier head of hair.
To ease crepey skin from within, you should ingest collagen from food sources. "Collagen-rich foods can significantly support skin hydration and elasticity," board-certified family physician and functional medicine expert Alejandra Carrasco, M.D., once told mbg.
At this time, there isn't enough proof that taking collagen pills or consuming collagen drinks will make a difference in skin, hair, or nails. Our bodies cannot absorb collagen in its whole form. To enter the bloodstream, it must be broken down into peptides so it can be absorbed through the gut.
If the powder is easy to mix in either temperature, then it's been fully hydrolyzed. Hydrolyzed collagen has been shown to have great anti-aging benefits.