Top 10 Collagen Rich Foods & Its Benefits For Health

All of us look for a perfect skincare routine and use all sorts of creams, face washes or supplements but let me tell you DIET plays amazingly a vital role in the youthfulness and appearance of the skin.

The use of skin care products like anti-aging creams are also an integral part of skin care. As this product significantly improves your collagen and helps to repair the damaged skin.

The component collagen is an anti-aging ingredient, which must be there in your diet and in our skin care routine.

Include collagen rich food like fish, egg white, citrus fruits, bone broth, tomatoes, chicken, dark leafy green vegetables and more in your diet to get the benefits of collagen for skin.

So here we are going to know about the collagen and its top 10 rich foods.

What is collagen?
What is a collagen diet?
10 collagen rich foods
Collagen benefits for health

What is collagen?

It’s the skin's natural protein that is present in abundant form and is found in skin, bones, blood vessels, muscles, tendons and also the digestive system. It gives the skin suppleness stretch and its structure. In simple words, collagen is the substance that holds the body together.

There are different collagen types (normally 29) but our body mainly comprises type 1,2 and 3. Collagen generally comprises a total of 19 amino acids.

Less collagen is produced as we age and this is the reason which leads to thinning of the skin and wrinkles starts to appear.

What is a collagen diet?

In simple words, the collagen diet is a diet that avoids too much of the sugar and contains refined carbohydrates.

10 Collagen rich foods

Eating foods that boosts up the collagen production or the collagen-rich foods helps to create the amino acids(building blocks) that are needed for youthful skin. Proline, glycine and lysine are the three amino acids that are important for the synthesis of collagen. Collagen foods include:

Fish (with skin)

As we all know that fish is rich in amino acids particularly the ones that are needed for the synthesis of the collagen. Have you ever noticed why the skin of the fish is so smooth, it is because of the high amount of Type 1 collagen present in the skin? The absorbance of the fish collagen in the body is 1.5 times more when compared to porcine or bovine sources of collagen.

Fish collagen is also considered as one of the best sources of collagen. Therefore eating fish without removing the skin will add a greater amount of collagen to your skin resulting in a reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits are rich in Vitamin C and this nutrient (Vitamin C) helps to link the amino acids together during the production of the collagen. Vitamin C plays a vital role in the production of a body's precursor to collagen that is pro-collagen.

One medium-sized orange has about 70 mg of Vitamin C. Recommended amount of Vitamin is nearly 75 mg for adult women. Therefore it is critical to get enough of the vitamin C. Not only the citrus fruits but also other vegetables and fruits contain vitamin C.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant whose role is to protect the skin from the sun damage and to inhibit the collagen breakdown. The tomatoes dried in the sun contain high levels of vitamin C and as we have read above vitamin C is also needed to produce collagen. You can eat raw tomatoes or you can add into your pasta. Grape tomatoes also make a healthy grab.

Bone Broth

One of the popular and well-known sources of collagen is bone broth. You can make it yourself by cooking the chicken or the animal bones till all the precious nutrients are drawn out of the bone. This is done to extract the collagen out of the bones.

As the bone broth is made out of connective tissue and bones, therefore it contains collagen, amino acids, chondroitin, glucosamine, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium and many other nutrients. Each bone broth is different depending upon the type and the quality of the bones with other ingredients.

Egg white

Collagen is also said to be found in the shells and the egg whites. A total of 18 amino acids are present in the egg white. The type of collagen present in the egg white provides hyaluronic acid, glucosamine sulfates, chondroitin sulfate and various other amino acids which are necessary for the production of the collagen. Egg whites contain a huge amount of proline that is necessary for the production of collagen.

Studies have revealed that egg whites help to heal the wounds, increases the muscle mass, reduces stiffness or pain and also helps in the building of the connective tissue. Eggshell membranes suppress the aging effects of the skin and also protects the skin from UVB rays.

Dark Leafy Greens

Leafy greens like kale, collard greens, rainbow chards and spinach are well known for having the major nutrients including vitamin C. As we have studied from the school time, the green colour of the veggies is due to the pigment - Chlorophyll. This pigment also increases the amount of the procollagen which is the precursor to the collagen.

Chicken

Since the most abundant protein found in mammals is collagen. Therefore it is found in various protein-rich meats that include beef and chicken. The sources of the meat that includes connective tissues or bones are said to be the richest source of collagen because collagen is the main component of the tissue. Due to the presence of the huge amount of collagen in the chicken neck and the cartilage, it is also used to overcome the problem of arthritis.

Red Bell Peppers

Just remember one point that the primary nutrient involved in the collagen synthesis is vitamin C, and red bell peppers contain a good amount of vitamin C. The older the pepper is, the more amount of vitamin C it contains, making the red one useful for the production of vitamin C.

Spirulina

Around 60 per cent of spirulina consists of the amino acids and we know that amino acids are the building blocks of collagen. Therefore the blue-green microalgae found in both the marine and freshwater is a very good source of collagen. Spirulina containing topical creams have shown to improve the wound healing and cell viability.

Oysters

Oysters are the richest source of zinc. Three ounces of oysters will give you around 33 milligrams of zinc. Oysters are also a well-known source of the collagen-creating copper therefore it also serves as a precursor in the production of collagen.

Collagen benefits for Health:

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Many of the claimed health benefits of collagen are

It promotes the health of the bones
It also reduces the hair loss
It is also healthy for your heart
It strengthens the immune system
It restores the hormone health
It also helps with the weight control
It increases the detoxification and antioxidant effects
It majorly improves the skin tone
It also promotes joint health

Therefore we understood that collagen is generally the structural proteins in the connective tissues and the skin. The decrease in the amount of collagen can lead to hair and skin problems.

Therefore one should always try to add some collagen-containing foods (dietary supplements) or collagen supplements to the diet to cope up with the body's collagen demands.

FAQs

1. Which foods are high in collagen?

Collagen rich foods are Citrus fruits, tomatoes, egg whites, bone broth, green leafy vegetables, chicken, fish and more.

2. How do you increase collagen naturally?

Studies have revealed that hyaluronic acid boosts collagen production. Eating citrus fruits or the foods containing vitamin C increases the levels of hyaluronic acid (no side effects) which in turn automatically increases the collagen in the body.

3. How can I increase collagen in my face?

Facial massage, proper hydration of the body, use of the collagen-containing topical creams, are some of the methods to increase the collagen in the face.