If you even keep half an eye on the world of supplements, health, beauty or even celebrity then you’ve probably heard of collagen and liquid collagen. If you’ve got questions about what it is exactly, and what it does, then we’re here to give you those answers.

What is Collagen?

Collagen is a protein that is essentially the foundation that the body uses for building tissues such as skin hair, nails, tendons, teeth, muscles, and even blood vessels.

Collagen itself is 90% made up of the amino acids glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. These amino acids form strands held together in a helix structure.

As well as acting as a building block, collagen also performs a role in functions including tissue repair, immune function, communication between cells, and tissue maintenance.

Collagen and aging

When we’re young, we produce collagen in abundance but as we get older those levels tail off and we’ll typically be losing collagen by the time we turn 30. This effect of this is often most noticeable in our skin as it gets thinner, drier, and less elastic. This shows itself visibly as wrinkles, and fine lines like crow's feet.

But it can also lead to gradually weaker bones, painful joints as cartilage wears, and reduced balance and mobility as muscle function deteriorates.

Collagen in the diet

Liquid collagen, and collagen supplements in other formats like powders or tablets are increasing in popularity as getting sufficient quantities into your diet can often be a challenge (particularly if you’re vegetarian or vegan).

These foods are good sources of glycine, proline, lysine and hydroxyproline:

• Animal products including red meat, chicken, turkey, pork, fish, and eggs.
• Bone broth
• Dairy, especially parmesan cheese
• Legumes like lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans, soybeans, and peanuts.
• Non-genetically modified soy, such as tofu

Choosing a collagen supplement

This can often be a matter of personal preference and finding what works for you. Our range of supplements includes our extremely popular and easily-taken Windsor Botanicals Liquid Collagen drops with a high dose of biotin. Biotin, also known as vitamin B7, helps with the metabolism of protein including collagen, making it more bioavailable and easy for the body to use.

You’ll probably have noticed the list of foods above are not particularly vegan/vegetarian-friendly. Our vegan collagen liquid, vegan collagen powder, and vegan collagen tablets make it easy to top up your natural levels. Rather than adding collagen to the body, these options work by encouraging natural collagen production in the body.