Written by the SiWell content team
If you read anything about your skin, hair, or nails, the word collagen almost always comes up. Usually with a promise attached. In this article, we'll do it differently: first explain what it is, then what you can reasonably expect from it.
Collagen is an endogenous protein and the most abundant protein in the human body, accounting for about a third of all proteins. You can think of it as structural material: it forms long, strong fibers that hold tissue together and provide firmness. You can find it in your skin, bones, tendons, cartilage, blood vessels, hair, and nails.
Your body produces collagen itself, in specialized cells called fibroblasts. This requires building blocks: amino acids from protein in your diet, plus a number of vitamins and minerals that function as auxiliary substances in this process.
More than twenty types have been described, but three of them make up the vast majority:
Type I. The most common type, about 90 percent of all collagen in your body. Found in skin, bones, tendons, teeth, and connective tissue, forming dense, strong fibers there.
Type II. Primarily found in cartilage, the elastic material in your joints.
Type III. Found in skin, blood vessels, and organs, often alongside type I, forming a finer, more elastic network.
From about age 25, your body gradually produces less collagen, with estimates around 1 percent per year. It's important to clarify this, as you often read it: production does not stop at a certain age. It decreases and slows down throughout your life.
In addition to age, there are factors that accelerate the process:
Short answer: the research is there, but it's less convincing than the marketing suggests. Collagen from a powder or drink is broken down in your digestive system into individual amino acids and small peptides. Your body uses these as building blocks, but decides where they go. There is no mechanism that sends collagen from a jar directly to your skin.
We have a separate article on this, discussing the studies and their limitations in more detail: do collagen supplements really work? And a comparison with silicon: collagen powder vs. silicon.
Silicon naturally occurs in connective tissue, skin, hair, and nails, the same tissues where collagen forms the structure. Research has been conducted, including by Barel et al. (2005).
SiWell Triple A Silicon contains stabilized silicic acid as well as zinc and selenium. View the composition.
Good to know Zinc and selenium are nutrients that you normally get through your diet. A supplement is a complement to a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle, not a replacement for it. The mentioned contributions apply to the recommended daily dosage of 12 drops (0.5 ml), which provides 4 mg of zinc and 30 µg of selenium. Do not exceed the recommended dosage.
Does your body eventually stop producing collagen? No. Production gradually decreases from about age 25 but continues throughout your life. The claim that it stops around age 50 is often encountered but is incorrect.
What foods contain collagen? In animal products with a lot of connective tissue: bone broth, fish with skin, chicken with skin. If you don't want animal products, you can provide your body with the building blocks through protein-rich plant-based foods plus sufficient vitamin C.
Is collagen from a powder the same as the collagen in my skin? No. What you ingest is broken down into amino acids before it reaches your bloodstream. Your body then uses these to build its own collagen where it deems necessary.
What is the difference between collagen and keratin? Collagen provides structure to skin, bones, and connective tissue. Keratin is another protein and forms the hair shaft and the nail plate itself. So your hair is not made of collagen.
What is the best thing I can do for my collagen myself? Sun protection. That sounds boring next to a supplement, but UV radiation is the biggest factor you can control yourself.
Nick suffered a lot from hair loss. No product worked. Until he started using SiWell Triple A Silicium a year ago.
Nick suffered a lot from hair loss. No product worked. Until he started using SiWell Triple A Silicium a year ago.
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