What foods are rich in Collagen?
Collagen is produced by the body until a certain age when its production slowly decreases; wrinkles, stretch marks, lack of flexibility appear…
Photo by Megan Thomas on Unsplash
Food can then take over to prevent the degradation of collagen in the body or increase its production. Discover the foods where collagen is most present.
Description
Collagen is a protein that is present in the body in large quantities, and belongs to the family of structural proteins.
In other words, it participates in the regeneration and elasticity of the tissues. It is mainly found in the skin, hair, tendons and also in the ligaments.
A real glue (its name comes from the Greek word kolla which means “glue”), provides plasticity to the fabrics and keeps them together.
However, this plasticity decreases with age and with decreased collagen production.
Thus, the beauty industry uses a lot of collagen in anti-wrinkle creams to promote tissue tightening.
Roles
Collagen:
- It intervenes in the maintenance and elasticity of tissues: this is the main role of collagen, which represents between 30 and 35% of the proteins in our body. It allows the tissues to stay together, without it no tendon, cartilage or skin would stay together.
- Helps the skin to better absorb water: Present in all tissues of the body, collagen helps maintain tissue hydration and therefore prevents aging1.
- Regenerates tissue wounds: collagen is involved in tissue healing and the creation of new tissues2
However, several factors can reduce the body’s production of collagen, including smoking, regular over-consumption of alcoholic beverages, coffee, or stress. In all cases, collagen is produced less and less with age.
It is then interesting to support this collagen production through diet.
Nutrition Recommendations
There are no official nutritional recommendations for collagen.
What are the best sources of collagen?
- Meat: Bone broth
- Eggs: the yellow one
- Gelatin
- Fish skins and shells (to be converted into broths or sauces)
So there are very few foods that contain collagen. However, we can resort to a diet that promotes the production of collagen and limits its degradation.
The foods involved in their production
The foods that help the production of collagen are those that contain it:
- amino acids (including glycine, arginine, lysine and proline)3
- Vitamin C, A and E4
- zinc, silicon and sulphur
In general, deficiency of antioxidant vitamins and minerals reduces the presence of collagen in the body. Therefore, a balanced diet containing all the nutrients will ensure that the collagen capital is preserved longer.
Therefore, strengthening your collagen is a balanced and varied diet 5:
- foods rich in collagen precursors
- foods rich in antioxidant nutrients to prevent their degradation
Amino acids
- Egg (lysine): yellow
- Spirulina: contains the 8 essential amino acids, including lysine.
- Dairy products: milk, yogurt, cottage cheese (rich in amino acids involved in the formation of collagen, especially proline, lysine)
- Meats (wisteria and proline): turkey, pork, bacon, beef, veal liver, chicken.
- Vegetables (proline): asparagus, spinach, mushrooms, cabbage.
Vitamins and minerals
Vitamin C
- Vegetables: Yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, chilli, kale, red,
- romanesco or white, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes (dried, in oil), peas, spinach, onions, snow peas or snow peas, sorrel, kohlrabi.
- Fruits: Papaya, kiwi, orange, mango, grapefruit, lemon, strawberry, redcurrant, blackberry, blackcurrant, raspberry, grapefruit, lychee, kumquat, pineapple
Vitamin A (beta-carotene and retinol A)
- Vegetables: carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, kale, pumpkin, lettuce, dandelion leaf, bell pepper.
- Fruits: apricot, mango, melon
- Meats: turkey slaughter, beef liver,
- Fish: herring
- Algae: Spirulina (12.000 UI to 25.000 UI per 5 g of powder).
Vitamin E
- Vegetables: avocado, asparagus, spinach.
- Oilseeds: Brazil nut, peanut, hazelnut, almond.
- Seeds: sunflower, pine nuts.
- Oils: peanut, sunflower.
Sulfur
- Garlic: rich in sulfur which contributes to the formation of collagen.
- Sulfur vegetables (family of crucifers): broccoli, all cabbage, radish, mustard, rocket, turnip, watercress.
- Sulfur vegetables (alliaceae family): garlic, onion, shallot, chives, leek.
- Sulfur amino acids: meat, fish, legumes, cereals, eggs
Breakfast
- Cottage cheese and red fruit bowl
- Orange
- Spirulina pancake with maple syrup (for about 10 pancakes 3 tsp. green spirulina)
Lunch
- Baked salmon steak
- Mashed broccoli and boiled potato
- Grated carrots and lemon juice vinaigrette
- Mushroom omelettes.
- Spinach with bechamel sauce
- Chicken leg
- Sliced Grapefruit
Dinner
- Meat and bone marrow broth
- Fried egg and buttered toast
- Rocket salad
- Avocado toast
- Salmon and spinach quiche
- Cup of red fruits and cottage cheese
