The new beauty secret weapon on everyone’s lips right now is ‘collagen’. There’s always been pressure to be ageless in Hollywood, but today’s celebrities are combining the usual topical remedies and invasive procedures and treatments with ingestible collagen AKA collagen drinks.If we dive into the history of collagen drinks, it turns out this fountain of youth has been popular in Japan for 10+ years, and only recently have they started generating real buzz among women in the West, where celebrities as well as the rich and famous are jumping on the collagen drink bandwagon.Superstars like Drew Barrymore, Lady Gaga, and the Kardashian sisters swear by these nutrient-rich beauty drinks. Among the many brands, Taut® Premium Collagen Drink – rated as the “Bentley” of collagen drinks – has been featured in Cosmopolitan, New Beauty, and other leading magazines. This tiny bottle shot (50mL) of “liquid gold” is considered to be the most luxurious, premium and expensive liquid collagen drink on the market. So why are more and more celebrities and women who want to turn back the hands of time drinking liquid collagen and even swearing by it?First, your skin needs collagen and here’s why:Most people don’t know that Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It is a major structural protein, making up about 75% of our skin. Skin that has healthy collagen levels looks smooth, plump, firm and youthful. Collagen gives the skin its strength and youthful appearance – so it’s crucial to protect and promote collagen growth. Around age 25, unfortunately, collagen production slows dramatically, and you start to lose approximately 1-2% of collagen each year. This breakdown and gradual loss of collagen causes your skin to get thinner and leads to the formation of fine lines, wrinkles and worst of all, sagging skin!Collagen Peptides – the new technologyThe Collagen molecule is the largest molecule in the human body, and stronger than steel by weight, and is often called a “super-molecule”. In its native state, the collagen super-molecule is simply too big to penetrate the skin’s surface when applied topically, or too strong to be broken down and absorbed into the bloodstream when ingested. This applies also to Collagen protein derived from the ‘collagen-rich’ foods we eat – the molecule is just too large and too strong for our body to break down and absorb efficiently.Fortunately, this problem has been solved thanks to a process called ‘hydrolysis. The hydrolysis technology was invented and patented by the Japanese. In simple terms, it uses high-pressure steam to break down the collagen molecule (original size - 300,000 Daltons) into tiny collagen fragments called ‘peptides’ (average size - 5,000 Daltons) that are small enough to be absorbed efficiently when applied topically or ingested. This breakthrough enabled the development of a variety of collagen products, including high potency collagen drinks, loaded with a powerful concentration of hydrolyzed collagen peptides with low molecular weight that can be easily digested, absorbed, and distributed throughout the body.Similarly with topical collagen products, while traditional collagen serums only penetrate the top layer of the skin, hydrolyzed collagen is more easily absorbed by the body and can thus boost collagen in the deeper layers of the skin.Can drinking or taking collagen supplement help turn back your clock?Not all Liquid Collagen drinks are created equal – their collagen peptides come from different sources and in various concentrations. To state the obvious, the purity and concentration of this key active ingredient will deliver different outcomes. Clinical studies of ingestible collagen peptides demonstrate the therapeutic level for demonstrable results is 10,000mg/day. Benefits of drinking a good quality liquid collagen supplement include: 1. Smoother skin2. Minimizes wrinkles and fine lines
3. Improves skin firmness4. Helps heal acne and scars
They say a picture is worth a thousand words – well, here are some of amazing ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures from renewalliance.com real collagen drink users. No wonder ‘collagen’ is the new buzz word and is showing up everywhere!So how do you pick the best collagen drink (or collagen supplement) to get these amazing results? There are so many to choose from, here are the 7 tips to buy the best collagen supplement and collagen drink 1. Type of collagen – make sure it is Type 1 for skin and NOT type 2 (for joints)
2. Collagen peptides vs amino acids – you want collagen peptides that are ready to be used in the body, not the smaller amino acids which have to be reassembled in the body before they trigger collagen production. 3. Source of collagen peptides – marine collagen (especially from red snapper fish) is hands-down the best. Animal (non-fish) sources (chicken bones, bovine and pork) don’t even compare. 4. Potency – more is better. Minimum 10,000mg/serving. The ‘Bentley’ version – Taut® Collagen drink delivers 13,000mg marine collagen per serving – highest available. 5. Formulation and ingredients – look for products with a proprietary formulation and added anti-aging ingredients that can help boost collagen production. 6. Good sugar vs bad sugar – some cheaper collagen drinks use fructose or artificial sweeteners (sucralose). Opt for a collagen drink with sweetened with healthy plant sugar (Stevia leaf extract). 7. Powder, pill or drink – Pills and powders are less expensive, but the trade-off is lower concentration of collagen (less than the recommended 10,000mg/day) and slower/lower absorption when consumed. Because they are essentially pre-digested when they reach your stomach, Collagen drinks deliver the highest rate of bioavailability (the amount of a substance that can be absorbed into your bloodstream when ingested), and therefore the best results.
![Skin care product [Illustrative] (photo credit: PIXABAY)](https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/q_auto/c_fill,g_faces:center,h_537,w_822/432604 "Skin care product [Illustrative]")