Avoid Lockdown Ageing By Packing More Collagen Into Your Diet

Is it just us or do you feel like you aged a thousand years during lockdown? The daily happy hours, comfort food, lazy skincare routines and more time spent glued to our devices left us with dull skin and more lines than before. With another quarantine on the horizon, avoid lockdown ageing by packing more collagen into your diet…

Lockdown ageing is officially a thing. Research from Glowday, found that over a quarter of women in the UK (27 percent) felt lockdown aged them. Of the 2000 women surveyed, this rang most true for the 25-34 year old demographic, of which 44 percent said this was the case for them.

So with another lockdown looming, how do we make sure we stay looking like the freshest versions of ourselves, ready for our next Zoom close up?

“We can start by supplementing our diet with a little extra collagen to strengthen hair, harden brittle nails and give us glowing skin”, explains Dr Dissanayake from Correxiko. But first of all, what is collagen?

What is collagen?

Collagen, is a structural protein, from the Greek kolla meaning ‘glue’ and gen ‘to produce’, that quite literally holds our faces together. Without it, our skin loses elasticity and sags.

From injecting our faces with it (a cosmetic procedure known as ‘BellaFill’ where collagen is extracted from the skin of cows and injected under our skin), to slathering on creams infused with it, it seems we will do almost anything to get our collagen fix. But is it all in vain? Possibly. If you buy in to the expensive creams that is, where the collagen molecules are too large to be absorbed. You’re far better off ingesting the stuff, here’s how…

How to get more collagen into your diet

Take a Marine Collagen supplement

The easiest way to pack in the collagen is by taking a dietary Marine Collagen supplement. Sprinkle Correxiko‘s powder into your morning smoothie or breakfast bowl to boost your skin, hair and nails – seriously, our nails are SO good after using it – no more gels. It’s also great for your joints, bones, digestive health and supports skin tone and elasticity, giving skin a radiant youthful appearance. The supplement nourishes the hair follicle for new growth, repairs and replenishes the collagen in cartilage, tendons and bones for superior joint flexibility and bone strength.

Their Marine Collagen is sourced from wild-caught deep sea fish from Canada (never farmed) – and only uses the fish skin, which is naturally rich in collagen, as opposed to the cheaper fish scales.

While bone broth supplements result in gelatin, which can be further broken down by organic food grade acids into collagen peptides, Correxiko‘s collagen goes a step further. They use specialist enzymes to break it down to make smaller highly absorbable collagen peptides, which is why the product is faster acting and more effective.

What about collagen powder in our coffee?

This is surely an ideal way to incorporate more collagen into our diets. But wait a minute, isn’t collagen destroyed by heat?

“While the collagen molecule falls apart with temperature, collagen powder doesn’t” explains Dr Dissanayake. “Collagen powder is actually hydrolysed collagen, it’s enzymatically snipped into its constituent peptides, which are heat stable. So you can add it to your morning coffee and even bake with it” he says.

Collagen cupcakes anyone? Seriously, Correxiko‘s powder is odourless and tasteless meaning you can add it to practically anything with no fishy aftertaste.

Is bone broth a good source of collagen?

Contrary to popular belief, chicken and fish fillets are very low in collagen, “eating chicken cartilage and skin, fish skins in particular” on the other hand, “are naturally rich in collagen”, explains Dr Dissanayake.

Bone broth is often touted as a great source of collagen but while it contains a variety of collagen-specific amino acids in the form of gelatin, bone broth is unlikely to provide reliable concentrations of collagen compared with supplemental sources of collagen.

Bone broth is however a great source of minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, manganese, zinc and sodium.

Drinking collagen in cocktails and smoothies?

Gin with added collagen? Yes please. We couldn’t quite believe our luck when we heard about CollaGin but being an alcoholic drink, it’s not going to do you any favours with anti-ageing, nor will it roll back the years.