The popularity of nutritional supplements containing collagen has increased recently, but do our bodies actually require more of what they naturally produce?
The most prevalent protein in animals is likely collagen. Four percent of our body weight is entirely due to it. All of the collagen fibres in our body, if they were joined together, would be around 100 trillion (1014) metres long. This is such a long distance that it would take us almost four days to travel it at the speed of light.
Dietary supplements containing collagen have become more and more popular in recent years. Although collagen is a really outstanding protein, is it really necessary to use it as a dietary supplement? We must comprehend collagen's functions in the body as well as its production in order to respond to this.
The presence of collagen in our bodies is not a coincidence given that it plays a significant role in maintaining the structural integrity and tensile strength of our tissues.
This is due to the fact that collagen is the primary component of the extracellular matrix, a group of fibres, enzymes, and sugars that connects all of the body's cells and gives tissues structural support, a growing medium, and other benefits.
Collagen plays a function in this matrix that is somewhat comparable to the function that steel rods play in concrete in contemporary structures. Collagen fibres can actually be 5–10 times stronger than steel and can be stretched up to 50% of the way without rupturing.
Collagen fibres are constructed from smaller protein chains, just like many other proteins. These chains create a triple helix made up of three collagen units, and the helices are twisted together to produce incredibly robust braiding.
Even though the basic units have a length of 330 nanometers (billionths of a metre), a single collagen fibre can have a length of several millimetres, which is a very large size for a single molecule.
All of the body's tissues contain collagen, but those that require a lot of structural support, such the skin, bones, teeth, tendons, muscles, and blood vessels, have a concentration that is particularly high.
It should come as no surprise that collagen is crucial to the mechanisms involved in damage healing given its function in these tissues. Collagen strands, for instance, are cut and rearranged to mend damaged tissue when we have a skin wound.
However, the healing process is not without error, and an accumulation of extra collagen in the skin may result in scarring.
Collagen buildup in internal organs can result in a condition known as fibrosis where, similar to scar tissue, collagen fibres displace healthy tissue, impairing organ function. Numerous bodily systems, particularly the liver, heart, lungs, and kidneys, can be impacted by fibrosis.
Dietary supplements containing collagen have become more and more popular in recent years. We do not require exogenous collagen augmentation since, like all other proteins in our body, collagen is made in our tissues as needed throughout the development or regeneration of those tissues.
Even if we had such a need, the supplements' protein content is extremely low, if not entirely negligible, and would have no noticeable impact on how well our bodies functioned.
The good news is that this supplement cannot hurt us for the same reason that fibrosis develops since excess collagen is normally broken down to its fundamental components under normal conditions.
When collagen is utilised in creams for cosmetic purposes, it serves a different purpose than when it is absorbed by the skin; instead, it acts as a water adsorbent to keep the cream wet and enriched as a result.
This function is shared by other compounds besides collagen, including as derivatives of vitamins, lactic acid, different alcohols, and other substances.
The collagen in these supplements just won't get there since it will be broken down long before it does, and that is the really crucial issue.
It was discovered in the late 1970s that collagen, like other proteins, is broken down into its component amino acids in the digestive tract. As a result, ingesting collagen is identical to eating any other protein in food.
Furthermore, collagen does not have a very high concentration of important amino acids; so, even if we are missing in the protein building blocks, there are much more readily available supplies in the food we consume.
Additionally, only few collagen supplements actually contain collagen in its entirety. Since collagen is a very large protein, as was already noted, it cannot pass through the walls of the intestine, where it is intended to be absorbed (it would be very bad if that could happen).
Because collagen is a relatively big protein, it cannot pass through the walls of the intestine, where it should be absorbed (it would be very bad if that could happen).
Manufacturers disassemble collagen into its fundamental components, such as individual amino acids or brief protein fragments known as peptides, to facilitate its absorption. Similar to how glass shards cannot perform as the plate they once formed, although these pieces can be absorbed by the body, they are not collagen.
Because of this, there is no benefit to consuming amino acids and peptides obtained from collagen instead of amino acids and peptides derived from any protein-containing meals.
The global market for beauty supplements is anticipated to increase to seven billion dollars by 2024, so producers have a strong incentive to create new products. Despite this, the supply of these supplements is continually expanding.
Doctors from the United States conducted an independent assessment on 176 dietary supplements and discovered that the majority of these products had out-of-date dietary recommendations and made unsupported medical claims.
The researchers stressed in their analysis that the relatively lax regulation of dietary supplements, as opposed to medical treatments, which are subject to far stricter regulations, allowed the companies to publish such claims.
The researchers also pointed out that even though these are merely dietary supplements, they still carry certain dangers and must still be examined for things like potential impacts on unborn children and drug interactions.
The situation of collagen supplements is discussed in some detail in a review conducted by the Harvard Medical School, which also highlights the significance of independent research. According to the research, collagen supplement makers themselves financed the majority of the studies that have been written about the effectiveness of collagen supplements to yet.
The independence of the study's authors, or the lack of a bias toward a certain outcome, is one of the most crucial aspects of the validity of scientific research.
There is a worry that a study on a dietary supplement that is funded by the company that makes it will be fundamentally biassed because it is obvious that the manufacturers have a strong interest in the success of their products. This is especially true if the company is actively involved in this research.
In fact, many of the studies' lists of authors contained firm workers, and one research even gave credit to the CEO of the organisation. However, research on collagen supplements was unable to establish a distinction between consuming collagen and eating a variety of proteins as part of a balanced diet.
Therefore, our body functions like a well-tuned metabolic machine. As a result, it is able to break down ingested proteins into the amino acids that serve as the building blocks for all of the body's proteins.
Even though collagen is exclusively found in foods of animal origin, there is no indication that a vegan diet, as long as it contains the right ratios of necessary amino acids, has any effect on the body's ability to produce proteins and collagen.
The contribution of science to our understanding of the world is enormous. Nevertheless, because science is a byproduct of human activity, it too contains prejudices. Therefore, conducting scientific research in a transparent, truthful, and independent manner is crucial.
The evident lack of independent investigations in a profession with such strong financial incentives is very aggravating and does not augur well for the necessity of these dietary supplements.
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