What Is Marine Collagen?
Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. You can find it in your:
- Bones
- Muscles
- Tendons
- Ligaments
- Organs
- Blood vessels
- Intestines
- Tissue
- Skin
Your body starts to make less collagen as you age, starting in your mid-20s. Poor diet can lower your levels, too. When your body doesn’t make as much collagen, it can lead to things like:
- Wrinkles
- Weak muscles
- Tight ligaments and tendons
- Joint pain
- Gut issues
Marine, or fish, collagen comes from the skin of fish. It can help you bring your levels up. You may already take supplements or use cosmetics with collagen in them. In most of these products, the collagen comes from pig and cow skins.
Recently, more people have been opting for fish collagen for a few different reasons.
Benefits
Like other sources of collagen, marine collagen may help delay some signs of aging, like wrinkles, joint issues, and weakness.
Besides the anti-aging benefits, fish collagen also provides an alternative to people who have issues about using other forms of collagen.
Those issues include:
Religious concerns. Some people aren’t able to use collagen made from pigs and cows because of their faiths.
Worry about disease. Some people worry that the proteins used in collagen products could link to mad cow disease.
Some also consider marine collagen a more sustainable alternative. The fishing industry often has a lot of unused raw materials from the fish they catch, including the fish skins where marine collagen comes from.
So fish collagen offers a more economic and environmentally friendly option for cosmetic companies. Instead of wasting fish skins, companies can use the excess materials to create skin care products.
Uses
You can use fish collagen as a supplement. It comes in powder, pill, or liquid forms. People also use creams made with it.
Sources:
Cleveland Clinic: “The Best Way You Can Get More Collagen.”
Cedars Sinai: “Collagen for Your Skin: Healthy or Hype.”
Marine Drugs: “Effect of Fish Collagen Hydrolysates on Type I Collagen mRNA Levels of Human Dermal Fibroblast Culture.”
