Dermatologist Debriefs

Unveiling the Science Behind Collagen Supplements

• Stefanie Williams

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Unlock the secrets to healthier, more resilient skin with Dr. Stefanie Williams, the no-nonsense dermatologist who demystifies the science of collagen in skincare. Ever wondered why your skin starts losing its youthful glow after your mid-20s or why post-menopausal changes hit so hard? Dr. Stefanie breaks down the roles of different types of collagen, explaining how they contribute to your skin's strength, repair, and stability. She also tackles the impact of lifestyle choices, like sun exposure and sugar consumption, on collagen degradation. And if you've been slathering on collagen creams hoping to rewind time, get ready for a reality check and learn which ingredients actually hold the power to stimulate collagen production.

Speaker 1:

Dermatologist debriefs. Join no-nonsense dermatologist Dr Stephanie Williams as she debunks myths and shares her professional insights, separating facts from fiction, in just a few minutes banking.

Speaker 2:

So today I thought we should really speak about collagen itself, because I don't think people understand collagen properly, and I'm going to tell you just some background about the molecule in general and about its role in our skin. So collagen constitutes about 70 to 80 percent of the dry weight in human skin, which makes it the most abundant protein in our skin, and out of that, type one collagen, with about 80 or even 90 percent, is the most prevalent type of collagen in the skin, and it provides strength and elasticity to the dermis. And the second most common type of collagen in our skin is the type 3 collagen, and it's the types 1 and 3 collagen that are primarily involved in skin repair and scar formation, and a higher ratio of type 1 to type 3 collagen is associated with more severe scarring. Interestingly, fetal wounds heal without any scarring and have been found to contain more type 3 collagen than adult skin. What most people don't realize, though, is that there are 28 or let's say at least 28 different types of collagen identified in the human body. Another really important one for our skin, for example, is the type 4 collagen, which is a crucial component of the basement membrane. It forms the foundation of the dermo-epidermal junction, or DEJ. So this dermo-epidermal junction is a very complex structure between the epidermis, the outer layer of our skin, and the dermis, the middle layer of our skin, and this connection is really important and it starts off when we're young as a kind of wavy structure, but then as we get older, unfortunately, it flattens and becomes less stable. So I already mentioned type 4 collagen being very important for the basement membrane, and then the other really important collagen for this area of our skin is type 7, which forms the anchorine fibrils, which forms the anchoring febrils. So those connect the epidermis to the dermis, so they play a really vital role in skin stability. So while type 1 and type 3 collagen are the most common types weight-wise, there are others that play really crucial roles in our skin that we shouldn't ignore when talking about collagens and how we can increase collagens in our skin.

Speaker 2:

Our body continues to make new collagen throughout its life, but unfortunately the rate of production decreases as we get older and specifically that's around the age of 20 to 25 when collagen production begins to decline. After that, collagen production decreases by about 1%, or some sources even say 1.5% each year, which of course contributes to visible signs of aging on our skin. So by age 40, the collagen production will have decreased significantly During menopause, or let's say, after menopause. Women are expected to lose about 30% of collagen in the first five years after menopause, which is, of course, quite dramatic, and then, after menopause, collagen continues to decrease at a rate of about 2% per year. So this is the new production of collagen that we just talked about.

Speaker 2:

However, collagen can, of course, also prematurely be degraded and there are environmental factors that can contribute to that, uv damage being one of the major factors to contribute to collagen degradation, plus smoking. Stress can also enhance that. And, interestingly, sugar consumption also damages our collagen, and that's through a process called glycation, which leads to the formation of so-called advanced glycation end products or AGEs. These AGEs are harmful compounds formed when sugar attaches to proteins or fats to form cross-links, causing damage to tissues and contributing to aging and also various diseases. The half-life of collagen in our skin is approximately 15 years. Our skin is approximately 15 years. This means it takes about 15 years for half of the body's entire collagen to be naturally replaced, and it's really interesting to understand that this, although it sounds long, it is very significantly shorter than the half-life of elastin, significantly shorter than the half-life of elastin, which is at least 40 years. Some sources even say 70 to 74 years.

Speaker 2:

So now let's get to the interesting part. What can we do about this? What can we do about the natural decline of collagen in our skin? It's a very attractive concept of applying collagen topically to the skin and thinking that this may increase our skin's collagen levels. Unfortunately, that does not work. So, topically applied collagen in skincare products does simply not work, and the reason is that it is a very big molecule and its molecular weight is simply too large to be able to penetrate the skin barrier, so all it does is it will lie on top of the skin, and it may contribute to maybe protecting the skin to some extent, but certainly it will not penetrate the skin, and even less so all the way down to the dermis, where our natural collagen actually lives.

Speaker 2:

So, unfortunately, we have to forget about applying topical collagen to the skin. What we can apply topically, though, is vitamin C, and that helps to some extent. So vitamin C is actually essential for our skin's natural collagen synthesis, is actually essential for our skin's natural collagen synthesis. It acts as a cofactor for enzymes that hydrolyze proline and lysine into collagen molecules and vitamin C, which is L-ascorbic acid, or there are also some derivatives that are useful can penetrate the skin after topical application because it's not such a huge molecule as collagen and there are studies that show that concentrations of 5 to 15% of vitamin C are able to have a positive impact on collagens 1 and 3 in our skin. So that's really great news and that's why I always advocate to apply vitamin C every single morning after cleansing your skin.

Speaker 2:

And the other topical ingredient that is very useful for collagen stimulation are retinoids. Retinoids are vitamin A derivatives and they are very effective at stimulating new collagen production in the dermal layer of our skin. So again, as I always say, use a retinoid in the evening. This is, and the type of retinoid and the concentration depends very much on your personal circumstances, what type of skin and what skin condition you have, but in general, I do recommend using a retinoid in the evening as tolerated, so that might not be every evening, but every little helps.

Speaker 2:

So after we established that topical collagen is can't penetrate the skin, how about collagen supplements? So there are studies that have shown that collagen supplements can, in fact, improve skin hydration and elasticity and firmness and reduce wrinkling of the skin. So that's really good news. And how that works is different, though, in what most people think how collagen supplements work. So when we eat or drink collagen or collagen supplements, they will, of course, be digested into amino acids, or into small groups of amino acids called peptides, and those then flood the blood with collagen-typical amino acids, and that is what makes our skin think that there must have been a collagen breakdown, and what the skin does in response is to increase its natural collagen production using the building blocks that we supplied with our supplements. So the collagen supplements we eat or drink do not end up as a hole in our skin, but they're broken down, and then your skin uses those building blocks to build its own collagen, and that has been shown in studies.

Speaker 2:

So collagen supplements do work. However, we need a good source of collagen, so my favorite source is bovine, which works much better than other types, and we also need a decent amount of collagen, and most collagen supplements, unfortunately, are underdosed, because what you really need is about 10 to 15 grams of collagen per day. So that's 10,000 to 15,000 milligrams of bovine ideally collagen every day. So I'll leave you with this. I hope this makes sense and I will speak to you again soon.