Wrinkles - How we can reduce them with Collagen
The years may bring wisdom, but they also bring unwelcome signs of facial aging, perhaps just as life is getting good. If lines and wrinkles don't feature in your plans just yet, you may rightly search for a solution. Is it possible to delay, or even reverse, lines and wrinkles?
What causes wrinkles?
As your largest organ, skin constantly encounters two types of stimuli that influence aging - extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic aging results from external exposures such as ultra-violet light ('photo-aging') and pollution. Intrinsic influences include poor nutrition, alcohol, smoking, stress and chronological aging. Both categories of stimuli create damaging reactive oxygen species ('free radicals') that attack cells. In addition, 'glycation' a chemical reaction between sugars and proteins creates glycated proteins. When 'oxidised' by free radicals, these can form particularly damaging advanced glycation end products, or AGE's.
The primary target of AGE's is your body's collagen. Within healthy skin, the largest component is the extracellular matrix (ECM), a jelly-like substance containing polysaccharides, water, fibrous structural proteins and proteoglycans. Among the structural proteins are 16 types of collagen, primarily type I (~85%), type III and IV - the latter provides basement membrane flexibility. AGE's degrade collagen by cross-linking the proteins, rendering it brittle, breakable and unable to form strong fibres. As if that wasn't enough, senescent (aged) cells produce collagen-degrading metalloprotease enzymes. In summary, when your skin thins and becomes wrinkled, the culprit is reduced collagen.
Effective nutritional wrinkle treatment
Fortunately, nutritional science has been working on the distressing problem of wrinkles. It is known that nutrients like antioxidants and fatty acids delay aging and improve skin integrity. However a less known, but extensively researched, supplement for skin health is collagen hydrolysate. It is also impressively effective. How about these benefits?
- Stimulates production of type I and type IV collagen in the skin
- Suppresses the activity of collagen-damaging metalloproteinases
- Reduces the appearance of wrinkles
- Reduces the effects of UV damage
In our opinion, collagen should be your no. 1 when it comes to protecting your skin from within.
In our next blog we discuss how Puraz Collagen Infusion plays a role in skin health, elasticity and firmness.