What Is Fish Collagen?
Fish collagen, also known as marine collagen, tops the list of the major sources of collagen. A protein that provides many health benefits due to its chemical composition, it is also a Type I collagen, a key structural component of many tissues in the body and the most abundant type of collagen in the body that reinforces and improves bone and skin health.
Fish collagen is also rich in two main amino acids glycine and proline, the former of which creates our DNA and RNA strands, while the latter is an antioxidant and can prevent radical cell damages. The benefits of these amino acids, especially glycine to the body is related to anti-aging and skin maintenance, and proof of this can be found in numerous beauty products which use glycine as one of its ingredients. Glycine does this by trapping moisture in the skin and as such improves skin health drastically.
Since fish collagen has a lot of glycine in it, it is usually considered the best collagen source for medicinal purposes. With its smaller particle sizes and its superior bioavailability, it can be absorbed up to 1.5 times more efficiently into the body than other types of collagens. Bioavailability is important because it determines the efficacy of the kinds of nutrients you ingest.
Since we don’t tend to eat the parts of the fish containing collagen (mainly skin and scales), making homemade fish stock or supplementing with collagen is the next best thing.
Fish collagen is found in its skin and scales, and because we do not usually consume these parts, we can get them via other means such as powders or pills. Fish collagen is created by grinding up the bones of fresh fish into a fine powder that can be mixed into anything such as a health shake, your coffee or even your lunch. It’s easy to incorporate into your diets due to it not having any distinct taste. This is because the oils of the fish have been removed and with it all of the fishy or salty taste.
Why use Fish Collagen?
Improves Skin Health
The amino acids found inside the proteins that you can find inside fish collagen contain the compound known as glycine. As stated earlier, glycine contains properties that help keep your skin look and feel younger because of its ability to help the skin’s ability to maintain moisture. Another added benefit of fish collagen is its ability to also help in the healing of wounds and scars. The proteins it contains have been shown to help in the regeneration, repair and recovery of damaged tissues, helping your skin maintain its youthful looks.
Improves Joint Health
The proteins and nutrients found in fish collagen can help strengthen the collagen in your body, specifically your joints. It does this by supplementing nutrients to the cartilage found within your joints. The cartilages in your joints are prone to wear and tear. Eventually the integrity of the cartilages can fail and your bones might end up rubbing against each other. Fish collagen can help prevent this by stimulating cartilage growth and repair through the proteins that it provides.
To conclude, fish collagen helps your joints by providing nutrients that can help in the growth, repair and maintenance of the cartilage in your joints.
Improves Bone Health
Fish collagen has been shown to improve bone health by providing minerals, improving bone metabolism and improving bone microarchitecture. In simpler words, it gives the bones nutrients, helps our bones efficiently take in nutrients and supports the integrity of our bones.
Since fish collagen already improves joint health, this means that it also helps to maintain the health of our bones. This is because when our joints start failing, the bones begin to grind against each other. When bones grind against each other, it either becomes deformed or the bones “break” and lose pieces of bones might end up with the cartilage.
In summary, fish collagen helps your bones by giving it nutrients which support the bones’ ability to absorb nutrients and maintain the bones’ integrity. It also helps to prevent the bones from getting deformed or “break” through its benefit of better joint health.
Supports a Healthier Body
Fish collagen has also been known to aid in digestion. The amino acids found in it helps support both the stomach and the intestines. This is because of the amino acids glycine, glutamine and proline.
The amino acid glutamine is consumed by athletes due to it’s known benefits for muscle health. When muscles are used they tear and the body becomes stronger through the constant tearing and repairing of the muscles, this is why lifting weight makes your muscles bigger. The benefit of fish collagen is that the glutamine within it helps supplement this repair in muscles and at the same time also helps the muscles function better. Glutamine is also an important amino acid for your immune system.
The amino acid proline is also important for heart health. Proline has been shown to increase the strength of the muscles in your heart and is also responsible for healthy joints, skin and bones.
Fish collagen is good for general health due to the amino acids that are contained within it. These amino acids each serve different roles and supplement each part of the body.
For Healthier Hair and Nails
Fish collagen helps with healthier hair because the body uses collagen to either create hair or to help maintain hair. Collagen is an antioxidant which helps fight off free radicals that may interfere with the normal growth of hair and nails. The proteins in it also strengthens nails. Studies have shown that collagen increases both nail growth and nail integrity, therefore lessening the chances of broken nails.
Fish collagen is good for your hair and nails because it provides the nutrients that help contribute to their growth, strength and maintenance. The proteins found in it have been shown to be antioxidants, which prevent free radicals from causing any damage to the systems working in our bodies.
There are currently no reported side effects of fish collagen. Moreover, many manufacturers of collagen products derived from fish remove the allergens from the skin and this action drastically reduce the possibility of you getting an allergic reaction. However, if you are known to be allergic to fish, please avoid them or speak with your doctor first before consumption.
If you’re looking for other types of collagen that’s beneficial for your health and beauty, we strongly recommend you to check out this article.
