WELLBEING
Should you be taking COLLAGEN?
Beauty journalist Alice Hart-Davis weighs up the benefits for your skin and health
PHOTO: STOCKSY
There’s a huge buzz around collagen supplements, but while an increasing number of people – including me – shout: “Yes! They’re brilliant for hair, nails and joint health as well as your skin,” there’s an equally noisy opposition that says they’re insufficiently proven, so they’re a waste of money. Who’s right?
The reason why the beauty world is so fixated on collagen, and how to get more of it, is because it’s a supportive structural protein that keeps the skin firm and strong. We start losing it from our late 20s, and this process speeds up in women during perimenopause and menopause. Without the structure that collagen provides, our skin collapses more easily into wrinkles and folds and finds it harder to hold moisture and stay hydrated. That means thinner, less robust skin that is more easily damaged by UV rays, too.