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Our skin is the largest organ in our body, and the ageing of our skin is a fact of life; everyone will face it (pun intended) sooner or later.
Obviously there are things you can do to make sure you are giving your skin the love it deserves; keeping yourself hydrated, protecting it from sun, and using a good skin-suitable moisturiser, but sometimes you may want to do a little something more as you age.
In order to understand how this ageing process works, it is a good idea to become familiar with the basics of skin.
The epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue are the three layers that compose the human skin. Epidermis is the skin’s surface, a layer rich in keratin that provides toughness and water-resistance. This layer of skin is where dead cells are shed. The second and thicker layer is the dermis, which is composed of nerves, fats, blood vessels, elastin, and collagen fibers, which provide elasticity and give skin its plump youthful appearance. Finally, the subcutaneous layer is composed of fat, keeping us warm in the cold months and holding our internal organs in place. (something that seems pretty gosh darn important!).
After the age of 20, one percent less collagen is produced in the dermiseach year. This results in the skinlosingits plumpness, and the eventualincrease in fine lines and wrinkles.
In our 20’s, the skin’s exfoliation process decreases causing dead skin cells to accumulate and stick together for longer periods of time.
In our 30’s, moisture transfer from the dermis to the epidermis is slowed and fat cells start to shrink (but not in the good way…) These effects can unfortunately make the skin look dull and thin.
In our 40’s, collagen is no longer produced by the body. The collagen and elastin fibers break, thicken, stiffen, clump together, and lose their elasticity. This results in wrinkles and ageing lines.
Finally, in our 50’s,the skin becomes dry and is easily bruised, damaged, or broken because the sebaceous (oil) glands have decreased in size.
Sorry to be a bit of a party pooper! But… there IS good news. Sciencey even.
There have been several studies in the last few years looking at the efficacy (a fancy word simply meaning the ability of something to achieve its desired or intended result) of oral collagen supplementation. And the results have been pretty encouraging!
For those that enjoy research and science as much as we do, here are a couple of examples:
A study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology (2015) concluded that “oral collagen peptide supplementation significantly increased skin hydration after 8 weeks of intake. The collagen density in the dermis (the layer of our skin that stores collagen) significantly increased and the fragmentation of the dermal collagen network significantly decreased already after 4 weeks of supplementation. Both effects persisted after 12 weeks.”
Another study by the Journal of Clinical Interventions In Aging (2014), confirmed the efficacy (meaning it works the way it should) of collagen peptides. In their study, they found that daily ingestion of a marine collagen peptide supplement improved collagen density, suggesting increased collagen synthesis in the skin was a result of daily oral ingestion of collagen peptides.
Why is this important?
It’s really important to us at Jeuneora to have science behind our products. We often get asked HOW taking collagen in the form of Renew+, AquaGlow, and Hair, Skin and Nails actually works. And that’s a great question to ask.
In a nutshell, using not-so-sciencey terms, taking a hydrolyzed collagen supplement (preferably type I collagen such as that found in our marine collagen supplements) can help stimulate the cells in the skin that make collagen, supporting it to producemorecollagen and help decrease breakdown of existing collagen. Marine collagen peptides have been gaining popularity as nutraceuticals due to their similarity to the human collagen structure.
We understand that everyone is different, and not everyone will see results at the same rate as the next person. Some of our customers have shared with us that they noticed beneficial effects within a couple of weeks, others noticed after a couple of months. Factors such as genetics (darn it!), lifestyle (smoking etc) and health issues can all be contributing factors to ageing skin, but there is certainly something to be said for giving the skin a helping hand to slow down the ageing process.
Special thanks to Dovepress, Willey, and Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science for their publication of these studies and information.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.12174/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4206255/
http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2013/01/why-does-your-skin-age/#.WaPDD4pLdE4