Japan is the leader in inventive technology in all sorts of areas and in recent years – anti aging products have been a big focus.
What starts in Japanese labs often becomes mainstream in Europe and America in no time at all – or at least in the time it takes to get approval from the authorities that count – like the FDA.
For some time now Japanese women concerned about skin aging have been able to buy anti aging food products – collagen marshmallows for instance – that aren’t available from US manufacturers.
Whether you fancy a collagen marshmallow is debateable but an anti aging drink seems to have more potential. After all what is it but an anti aging supplement in another form?
Shiseido The Collagen
Shiseido – the upmarket cosmetic and skin care company – has recently launched an anti aging collagen drink called “The Collagen” into the Japanese market.
Strange name but Shiseido claim that the drink is a non invasive answer to collagen fillers. They also claim that their product is the best collagen drink available and that it will plump out wrinkles in as little as three days.
Marine collagen tastes fishy!
The anti aging drink contains 1000 mg of low molecular fish collagen and is designed to be knocked back like a shot – or a probiotic yogurt drink if that’s your thing.
Although I haven’t tried this – I have tasted other Japanese marine based collagen drinks with this sort of collagen level and they tend to have an undertone of fish which is definitely not pleasant. Knocking the drink back in one hit is probably the best option!
Shiseido’s new anti aging product also contains hyaluronic acid and the amino acid GABA which is used in many botox alternative face serums and creams.
Do collagen drinks work?
So – if you drink collagen will it really produce an anti aging effect on your skin?
Most of us are aware of collagen and it’s role in acting as a support structure in the skin.
You may not know that there are 11 types of collagen – five of which are more important than the others and each of them working in different areas of the body. Collagen I is the collagen that supports the structure of your skin as well as tendons, capillaries, veins, bone and organs. Collagen IV is also important to your skin as it supports the cell membrane.
Collagen is a common substance in the body and vital for the youthfulness of our skin but there is no evidence that drinking collagen – or eating it in any other form can make you look younger.
In fact the science seems to indicate that a collagen drink would not work. Collagen is a protein which we produce naturally within our bodies. We can increase the production of collagen by eating the things that help the process – vitamin C for instance. T
The collagen in a drink or any other food product will be broken down by our digestive juices and absorbed as associated amino acids – it cannot remain intact and be used as collagen by the skin or any other connective tissue.
Drinking collagen and appearing magically younger and wrinkle free sounds like a nice idea but the science is very shaky. Even worse – if you examine the amount of sugar in your collagen drink you may find you are making your wrinkles worse by loading your system with glucose.
Boost collagen production through diet
Changing or improving your diet is the key to getting all the collagen your skin needs to protect you from premature wrinkling.
Antioxidants are the key to boosting collagen production. Take a look at your diet for collagen friendly foods – eat lots of green leafy vegetables, highly colored fruits and vegetables like red peppers, beets and tomatoes and plenty of omega 3 through fish and avocados or an omega 3 supplement.
If you wonder whether the smooth unwrinkled skin of many Japanese women is down to the collagen they drink – take a look at what they eat. Raw fish and lightly cooked vegetables are at the heart of Japanese cooking!
Michelle – glucosamine supplements for joint stiffness are often combined with collagen because it helps regenerate connective tissue. Interesting that you noticed the improvement in your skin. One thing that occurs to me is that you are taking a simple collagen supplement not a collagen drink so the downsides of the added sugar (in the drink) is not an issue. Whatever works for you is always best!
I started drinking liquid collagen for my bad knees, and felt it worked much better that glucosamine. I also noticed my skin looked good. I really like collagen, and as with all supplements liquids seem to work better for me.
Jen – I haven’t heard of this collagen drink but my comments still apply. There is no proof taking collagen orally will work but if the drink is sweetened you are defeating the object due to the effect of glycation on the skin. At 24 you shouldn’t need to worry too much about the effects of aging on your skin but you are right to think about prevention. More important IMO are things like diet (leafy greens, high colored fruits and vegetables, not smoking and getting a good amount of exercise. Taking a high strength fish oil capsule will do wonders for skin moisture levels and preventing premature wrinkles.
hi!! have you heard about the potion IVI collagen drink? i have read some research and comments about that product. is it really effective? im 24 and i really want to keep my skin look young. i hope you could help.
thanks and regards.
-jen
William – thanks for this information. It sounds like you know what you are talking about here. When I did the research I found it very difficult to come up with any study that supported the view that collagen could be taken orally and make a difference to skin health. One thing you can’t get round though is the amount of sugar in many of these drinks. Any benefit from a collagen drink will surely be undermined by the damage added sugar does to skin through glycation.
Collagen by definition is a large molecule that needs to be broken down before it can be absorbed. In fact in its natural form it is not soluble in water. However, collagen peptides with molecular weight between 3000–10,000 has been demonstrated in both animal and human trials to be absorbed quickly through intestine, and enter the collagen synthesis pathways with a “salutory effect”, that is, body will use these collagen parts preferentially in metabolism of natural collagen, for whatever organ happens to be needing replacements. Numerous publications are available on this phenomena in wound-healing medical studies. Collagen drink developer are aware of this and their products have taken these science into consideration. Skin health have been demonstrated to be improved in many double-blind placebo conrolled studies. Although many are in Japanese. Western medical communities are only too slow in picking up this wealth of information.
Geraldine – none as far as I’m aware but keep to any recommended guidelines on a good supplement. Whether taking collage supplements will actually help as far as wrinkles are concerned is not proven so don’t expect miracles.
Maika – I don’t think collagen supplements make any difference to the body’s own production. The jury is still out on whether supplementation actually works but one thing is for sure a sugary sweet collagen drink is not the way to go to reduce skin aging!
My concern regarding collagen suplements is.. does the body get lazy in the production of its own collagen, if you keep providing it with a certain external amount?
Hi,are there any side effects on too much intake of collagen?
Yonjie – I am sure going mad with collagen supplements is not a good idea – but the amounts quoted in the article are quite high and there are no side effects noted.
i’m currently doing research about usage of collagen nowadays. can i know, if there any bad side effect if we overdose using collagen.