The collagen tissues support the formation of bones, tendons, and cartilage that form depending on the level of mineralization. However, an individual can lose collagen components in the body due to exposure to ultraviolet light, tobacco, excessive intake of sugar, and aging.
Caffeine inhibited collagen biosynthesis in a dose-dependent manner. The mechanism of this process was found at the level of prolidase activity.
What Hurts Your Collagen Levels? Besides time, three main things will lower your collagen levels: sunlight, smoking, and sugar. Too much exposure to ultraviolet light makes its fibers unravel. This can lead to sun damage, such as wrinkles.
Simple Carbs
Foods like white rice, white pasta, rice cakes, white bread, popcorn, and other simple carbohydrates are quickly converted to glucose, just like sugar. This causes your blood sugar to shoot up while the glucose attacks the collagen in your skin.
Eating foods that contain vitamin C and antioxidants, avoiding smoking, limiting caffeine intake, and protecting the skin from sunlight may all help preserve collagen or boost its production.
Initial results from collagen restoration treatments are usually visible immediately. However, new collagen growth can take anywhere from four to 12 weeks to complete. Keep in mind that while certain procedures can be very effective at restoring and replacing collagen, these results aren't permanent.
So caffeine is a collagen killer and we should steer clear? Not exactly. "It's worth remembering that coffee doesn't destroy collagen, it inhibits its production," says nutritional therapist at the Pulse Light Clinic, Lisa Borg.
Free radicals damage collagen — “they are our skin's enemy,” says Dr. Zeichner. Environmental factors (like UV rays or pollution), bad lifestyle habits (smoking), and a poor diet (for example, one high in sugar) all create free radical formation, which speeds collagen breakdown.
Collagen, according to dermatologist Dr. Anna Palabyab-Rufino, is the building block of protein that gives one baby skin. But due to pollution, stress, sun exposure and other toxins, the body's capacity to produce collagen starts to deplete at age 30.
Alcohol depletes collagen
Unfortunately, alcohol depletes your body's vitamin levels. Fewer vitamins mean less collagen production. By depriving your body of collagen, alcohol deprives your body of collagen's numerous health benefits, notably the health of your hair and skin.
You can naturally support the collagen production process by using topicals such as vitamin C and retinol, collagen peptide supplements, eating a nutrient rich diet, and avoiding habits that damage the collagen (such as poor sleep and sun exposure.)
Just five minutes a day of regular tapping:
encourages lymph drainage which helps eliminate the damage from free radicals; enhances our skin's ability to breathe by improving the flow of oxygen; plumps the face and smoothes wrinkles by stimulating collagen production; normalizes the activity of oil and sweat glands.
How vitamin D deficiency leads to accelerated skin aging isn't fully understood. However, some experts suspect it has something to do with vitamin D's protective and antioxidant properties on the skin.
It helps to stimulate the production of collagen (the most abundant protein in the body) and elastin (highly elastic protein in connective tissue that helps the skin to resume it's shape after stretching or contracting. The elastic part of the skin)
Eat a balanced diet that includes an adequate amount of protein. “High-protein foods contain amino acids that are critical for collagen synthesis,” says Garshick. Lean protein sources include fish, seafood, skinless chicken breast, and lean cuts of beef and pork.
Which Fruits Have The Most Collagen? Citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit are known for being foods high in collagen-producing properties.
The good news is, though you may not be able to bring back the lost collagen, there are ways to help get things moving and slow further loss. With the right skin care products and treatments outside and in, there's so much you can do to get back that spring back in your skin.