Why collagen?
When looking for solutions to problem skin, it can be overwhelming to try to figure out in a world of information what is necessary and what is going to give you benefits.
I’m going to break down some of the things I use with my 1:1 patients and things I am always teaching in my Masterclasses, to clinicians, patients and my online following.
First things first, there is always an internal and external driver to problem skin.
On a topical level, there is usually disruption to the skin barrier function, which is a protective mechanism that our skin has in order to
keep icky things like pathogens and irritants in the environment out of our bodies
feed and support a healthy skin microbiome
keep the pH of the skin regulated (which influences the microbiome of the skin drastically)
reduce water/moisture loss through the epidermis
Topical treatment with corneotherapeutic products which help to restore and nourish the function and integrity of the skin barrier is essential in being able to change some of this picture. Supporting the lipid bilayer with essential fatty acids like omega-3 is also critical when it comes to restoring the proper function of the skin and providing the nutrients that the skin cells need in order to do their job.
On an internal level, there are many drivers to consider.
I created my Clear Skin Formula™ to help compartmentalise some of the complex systems and drivers that contribute to problem skin. Just a few of the things I consider as a clinician are:
stress levels, adrenal health and how this impacts your stress and reproductive hormones
hormone production; whether you are producing adequate estrogen and progesterone and investigating what androgenic hormones might be elevated
gut health and the microbiome, and how these may be contributing to inflammation and immune dysregulation
nutrient deficiencies that may have developed through medication use, dietary lack, increased output or poor absorption due to gut problems/inflammation
detoxification capacity, especially of the liver and lymph
diet and the potential for insulin sensitivity
Finding the internal driver/s and treating them efficiently requires the support of a healthcare professional, and many people (maybe you reading this!) can be a bit hesitant about this process (especially if you haven’t seen a Naturopath before) or have obstacles to being able to commit to treatment.
Obviously, the outcomes and results are going to be far greater and longer lasting if you are able to tackle the internal and external drivers, but this information is for those of you reading this who are wondering what you can do to help your skin even though you’re not quite ready for 1:1 care.
I created my small range of products to provide support for the everyday person who wants to do something! I chose to work with the very fundamental elements needed for skin health so that, regardless of the internal and external drivers, there can be some specific skin nourishment and increased skin healing capacity.
This is where collagen comes into the picture (thanks for sticking with me, sorry that took 500 words to get to!).
My Formula S2, for everyday skin nutrition, contains as its main ingredient marine collagen peptides.
Why? Because we need specific amino acids in order to increase collagen production in the skin.
Our skin is a very large and important organ, and connective tissue is made up of proteins.
Increasing protein overall can help to impact the skin, but not as specifically as marine collagen peptides.
When comparing different forms of protein, like whey protein, against marine collagen peptides, you’ll see that the amino acid profile is the same as they are both proteins, but the amount of specific amino acids is quite different in collagen protein.
Specifically, collagen protein/peptides contain much higher amounts of the amino acids hydroxyproline, proline and glycine.
What kind of amounts? In whey protein you’re looking at around 0.9g of proline and 0.3g of glycine.
In collagen protein you’re looking at over 1000mg of proline, nearly 4000mg of glycine and close to 1000mg of hydroxyproline!
These amino acids are very specific to connective tissue function and are needed in higher amounts for wound healing and collagen production (collagen being what creates a lot of the healing response).
We naturally produce collagen, but our capacity to do so reduces as we age (which happens biologically from around 25 years of age – not fair!).
By utilising collagen peptides, you can support an increase in collagen in the skin tissue and experience some of the many benefits of this, including:
dermal thickening, improving the integrity of the skin
faster wound healing, reducing the time of flares
increased moisture retention, reducing moisture loss through the skin and improving skin barrier function (omega-3s are also really important for this)
faster growing nails and hair
anti-ageing
Our body also requires specific nutrients in order to create our own collagen; the most important being vitamin C and zinc. Zinc increases hydroxyproline in wounds, which increases wound healing time. Zinc is also compromised by many common medications for problem skin, including tetracycline antibiotics (like doxycycline) and the oral contraceptive pill. I added these ingredients to my Formula S2, along with some spirulina for general micro-nutrient support and silica for increased skin support.
Formula S2 is designed to focus specifically on the skin tissue, and coupled with my most popular E/FA Pure (with added vitamin E, which is also depleted with oral contraceptive pill use and is massively important for reducing oxidative stress) gives the most significant nutrition needed for problem skin, without touching the potential internal drivers.
This means safer skin support for everyone; because trying to treat an internal driver that you don’t know about or don’t have the right support to rectify is like firing a shot in the dark and hoping it doesn’t hit you (or something else important).
If you want to experience what some focused skin nutrition can do for your problem skin, check out my Skin Essentials Bundle!
If you are curious what your internal drivers could be, get your free personalised Naturopathic Skin Appraisal here.
