If you are using collagen supplements or willing to use them, you might get a doubt: “How long does it take for collagen supplements to work?”! Before you know how long they take to work, you shall know what they are, how they work and what factors contribute to collagen supplements working effectively. Let’s get started!
Content Of The Article
How Long Does It Take For Collagen Supplements To Work?: Understanding Collagen Supplements.
Collagen is a vital protein that’s found naturally in our bodies. It has a critical role in managing the health and structure of hair, skin, nails, bones, joints and many other organs.
It is responsible for the active functioning of these organs.
As we age, the body’s collagen production diminishes, leading to discomforts like joint problems and weakened bones.
Therefore, collagen supplements come into play that benefits collagen production in the body.
What Are Collagen Supplements?
Collagen supplements are consumable dietary supplements that contain collagen extracted from the connective tissues of animals. They act as substitutes when your body cannot produce enough collagen.
Types Of Collagen Supplements
Here are the types of collagen supplements.
- Bovine
- Marine
- Porcine
Bovine collagen is extracted from the connective tissues of cows. Marine collagen is derived from fish, and porcine collagen is taken from pigs.
How Do They Work?
Each type of collagen supplement provides different health benefits and can support healthy skin, hair, joints, bones and nails.
Collagen supplements are formulated in such a way as to help restore the body’s natural collagen levels as they reduce gradually with age.
By consuming collagen supplements, your body gets able to absorb the collagen molecules, regulating collagen production in the body and using them to repair and restore the health of your organs.
Benefits Of Collagen Supplements
Here are the collagen supplement benefits.
1. Helps Improve Skin Health
Collagen is a crucial protein for your skin. It is responsible for your skin’s strengthening, elasticity, and hydration.
But as your age increases, your body produces lower collagen, leading to dryness and wrinkles formation of the skin.
Studies say collagen supplements benefit the skin by slowing aging by reducing dryness and wrinkles.
A review of 11 studies showed that women taking 3 to 10 grams of collagen daily for 69 days had improved the skin’s elasticity and hydration.
Collagen supplements also help produce other proteins the body needs to structure skin, including hydration and elasticity.
2. Helps With Joint Pains
Collagen helps maintains healthy joints by maintaining the integrity of cartilage, a tissue that’s like rubber and protects joints.
As collagen levels get down while you age, your joints are prone to the risk of degenerative joint disorders such as osteoarthritis.
Few studies say collagen peptides or supplements can reduce the risk of osteoarthritis and relieve joint pains to a larger extent.
A study noticed that people with osteoarthritis using collagen led decent improvements in joint stiffness and overall symptoms of osteoarthritis.
Researchers found that collagen supplement benefits by accumulating in cartilage and activating tissues to make collagen. It results in support for joints and relieves joint pains.
3. Boosts Muscle Energy
Collagen is a vital protein and a mandatory component of skeletal muscle.
Collagen supplements help gain muscle mass in people with muscle loss due to aging. The condition is also known as sarcopenia.
In a study for 12 weeks, 27 aged men took 15 grams of collagen per day while engaging in exercise. They experienced more muscle mass and energy than people who exercised without taking collagen.
Researchers state that collagen supplementation can promote the synthesis of muscle proteins like creatine and stimulates muscle growth after exercise.
However, collagen protein is less effective for building muscle as collagen is lower in branched amino acids. Therefore, it is for older men looking for normally strengthened muscles rather than youngsters looking for highly strengthened ones.
4. Helps Hair And Nail Health
As collagen production reduces, the body utilizes that small quantity for the primary organs like bones, heart, and other important connective tissues.
Therefore, there will be negligible or no collagen distribution for the secondary organs like hair, skin and nails, leading to brittleness, wrinkles and slow growth.
Consuming collagen supplements results in enough collagen levels for the body, and the collagen gets deposited into the hair follicles, leading to lower improved hair growth.
Also Read: How To Stop Hair Loss And Regrow Hair Naturally? 21 Top Ways!
Nails become less brittle by getting the proper amino acid peptides through collagen supplements.
A study shows that people who took 2.5 grams of liquid collagen daily for 24 weeks noticed a 12% increase in nail growth and a 42% reduction in broken nails.
5. Helps Prevent Bone Loss
Bones are mostly build-up of collagen, which provides structure and strength.
As you age, bone mass reduces with the reduction of collagen levels in your body. And it might lead to osteoporosis. This condition leads to lesser bone density and the risk of bone fractures.
A 12-month study was conducted between postmenopausal women taking calcium, vitamin D and 5 grams of collagen supplements (group A) and women taking only calcium and vitamin D supplements (group B).
The results are – group A women who took calcium, vitamin D, and collagen had significantly lower blood levels of proteins that promoted bone density than group B people who took only calcium and vitamin D supplements.
Collagen supplements also increase bone mineral density (BMD), which is a measure of minerals such as calcium in your bones.
So, these are the major benefits of collagen supplements.
Let’s get to the next topic.
Factors Influencing Collagen Supplements To Work.
Here are the major factors influencing collagen supplements to work.
1. Age
Age is a key factor that impacts the results of collagen supplements. As you age, the body loses its nutrient absorption power and functioning capacity.
Young individuals can experience faster results using collagen supplements. In contrast, older individuals might take longer to notice benefits as their collagen levels are significantly lowered over time.
2. Health Condition
Health condition predominantly influences the timeframe for collagen supplements to work.
Individuals with pre-existing health problems like dermatomyositis and psoriatic arthritis affect collagen absorption or synthesis and have more chances of long time waiting to witness the results.
Therefore, it’s necessary to be healthy to see the results of using collagen supplements.
3. Quality And Source Of The Supplements
Quality and source of collagen supplements are crucial factors in deciding how long it takes to see results.
High-quality collagen supplements are primarily the three types we have discussed. They are marine, bovine, and porcine collagen supplements.
These high-quality collagen supplements contain collagen peptides that are easily absorbable by the body, resulting in better bioavailability and quicker results.
So, make sure that your collagen supplement is extracted from these sources.
4. Smoking
Smoking has adverse effects on producing collagen. It is the primary reason for collagen damage in your body.
Smoking reduces the oxygen amount delivered to tissues, and tissues cannot generate enough collagen, making them more likely to get damaged and die.
The oxidative stress of chemicals in tobacco leads to premature wrinkles on the skin.
A study of twins found that the person who smokes had wrinkles, facial lines and crow’s feet, whereas the non-smoker doesn’t possess them.
So, stop smoking entirely, as it hinders the benefits of collagen supplements and can cause several diseases.
5. Stress
Research shows that stress reduces your body’s ability to produce collagen. It increases cortisol levels, which leads to reduced production of collagen.
The body uses its maximum resources to lower stress levels and inflammation, providing low sources and leading to low collagen production.
Therefore, collagen supplements have less impact on producing collagen, increasing the timeframe to get results.
So, reduce your stress levels using relaxation techniques like meditation and breathing exercises.
6. Diet
Diet is another prominent factor in producing collagen, impacting the results of using collagen supplements.
The inflammatory diet plan includes foods high in sugar, carbohydrates, and processed meats that promote high inflammation throughout the body, causing damaged skin cells and lowering healing power.
They drastically affect collagen production.
So, avoid high-inflammatory foods. Eat simple and healthy foods that promote collagen production and increase the results of using collagen supplements.
So, these are the factors influencing collagen supplements to work.
Let’s see how long collagen supplements take to work.
How Long Does It Take For Collagen Supplements To Work
Here is how long it takes for collagen supplements to work on specific organs if you right check all the factors that influence collagen production.
How Long Does It Take For Collagen Supplements To Work On Skin?
It takes around 12 weeks to experience the benefits of collagen supplements on the skin. Also, it is suggested that people shall continue taking collagen supplements daily even after initial results to sustain the benefits as the body has an enzyme that breaks down collagen.
An analysis in 2021 states that 19 studies involving 1125 participants have the effects of collagen supplements on the skin.
In the International Journal Of Dermatology, A study found that consuming collagen supplements for 90 days reduced wrinkles and improved the elasticity and hydration of the skin.
How Long Does It Take For Collagen Supplements To Work On Joints?
According to a study in 2021 on collagen and joint health published in Complementary and alternative medicine, 250 patients with knee pain who took collagen for six months saw excellent improvements in joint function and pain.
The same organization conducted an MRI scan to test cartilage. People were supplemented with hydrolyzed collagen for six months, and an MRI scan detected improvements in the functioning of cartilage.
However, there are a few studies of research that fail to find significant improvements. Collagen supplements might help prevent early joint degeneration, but it requires more research to conclude if it is effective in treating joint detachment or pains.
Age, health, and lifestyle are key factors to consider collagen supplements to work on joints.
How Long Does It Take For Collagen Supplements To Work On Bones?
It requires a year or more to see results on bones by using collagen supplements because it is the psychological timeline for bone turnover.
For this reason, studies are conducted for a year or more.
A study found that postmenopausal women experienced bone density after 12 months of consumption of daily collagen supplements.
How Long Do They Take For Nails?
It takes six months for collagen supplements to treat nail health.
A documentary of 25 people taking 2.5 grams of collagen daily for six months reported a 12% increase in nail growth rate, a 42% decrease in nail broke down, and a 64% improvement in brittle nails.
Collagen supplements act quickly for skin and nails compared to joints and bones.
How Long Do They Take For Hair?
There is no perfect evidence for collagen supplements to work on hair. But few studies say that using collagen supplements for three months can improve hair growth.
Also Read – Can Hair Loss Be Reversed? 5 Best Ways To Regain Hair Growth
How Long Do They Take For Muscle Mass?
For enhanced muscle mass, using collagen supplements, along with daily exercise or intense training, takes three months.
However, the timeframe for muscles varies. A study found that you may experience benefits from day two after using collagen supplements and strenuous exercise.
Various studies got mixed results in the case of muscles. One showed improvement in body composition and regional muscle strength in perimenopausal women.
Another study showed body composition and muscle mass in older men. And the other one shows body composition as well as skeletal muscle in adult men.
So, these are timeframes for various organs, and it is all regarding how long does it take for collagen supplements to work!
And here is the summary!
Summary
Collagen is an essential amino acid protein that helps maintain the health of organs such as skin, joints, bones, muscle mass, hair and nails.
Our body produces low collagen as we age, so collagen supplements might be necessary to maintain collagen production.
There are multiple benefits of collagen supplements. They help improve skin elasticity and hydration, relieve joint pains, improve muscle mass, support hair growth, improve nail growth rate and many more.
Multiple factors like age, health condition, diet, stress, and smoking influence collagen supplements to work.
To see results using collagen supplements, it takes three months on hair, skin and muscle, six months on joints and nails, and one year on bones.
Final Words
To get quick results using collagen supplements, you must comply with the factors influencing collagen production. However, it requires patience to witness results. Collagen supplements are a great source of collagen to heal organs naturally.
Start using them and have Patience. You will see the results in time1
Cheers,
Team Max Healthily!
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