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Collagen is the essentially the building block of the body. It is the most abundant structural protein found in the body, comprising nearly 35% of our body's protein content. Collagen is found within the body's connective tissues, or those tissues that connect and hold our muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments in place to allow for flexibility and ease of mobility. Collagen fibers are found within our skin, joints, organs, muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, gut, and bone.
Collagen is a primary component in the inner layer of your skin called the dermis. In fact, type I collagen accounts for nearly 90% of the skin's collagen composition. It provides strength, support and elasticity to our mucous membranes, nerves and blood vessels.
Collagen is made up of a helix of protein bundles, or fibers, made up of amino acid chains called peptides. The unique structure and composition of these peptides is what differentiates between the various types of collagen and function.
While you might commonly see collagen in topical products such as creams and gels, the particles are actually too large to penetrate and be absorbed by the skin's dermal layer, thereby causing these topicals to be ineffective. Scientific research indicates the only ways to replenish our collagen levels is via injection (which we want to provide a safe, risk-less, and painless alternative to) or food and/or supplement consumption. While consuming certain foods helps boost your collagen intake, the amount of collagen per serving isn't substantial to meet your body's collagen maintenance needs. Additionally, hydrolyzed collagen has an an absorption rate of up to 90-95% to the small particle size, versus a roughly 30% absorption rate from collagen-rich foods.
What's important to recognize is that by the time we reach our mid-twenties, our collagen production begins to diminish incrementally each year, accounting for sagging skin and wrinkles, as well as increased ease of bodily injuries, joint stiffness, pain, and additional potential collagen-related disorders. As a result, it is up to us to replenish our depleting collagen levels.
Type I collagen, primarily found in marine collagen, accounts for upwards of 80% of the body's entire collagen composition. Collagen is found in the bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage of all mammals, and scales of fish. Due to the low molecular weight and size of the particle, marine-based collagen has the greatest bioavailability, or absorption rate by the body. Scientific research has shown it has an absorption rate of 1.5x that of mammal-derived collagen such as bovine or chicken. Additionally, while most bovine collagen supplements boast the title of 100% grass-fed, because these are farmed cattle, it is hard to viably prove that all the cattle are 100% grass-fed all of the time. Marine collagen is not only the safest, cleanest, and most effective form of collagen, it is also avoids any risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, widely known as Mad Cow Disease.
We strongly value the preservation and good treatment of all wildlife. That is why we use clean, discarded scales of non-farmed, wild-caught, deep sea fish that would otherwise be discarded as waste. By using the scales, we also prevent an accumulation of waste in the environment.
When the collagen is extracted from the scales of the fish, we use a careful process called hydrolization that breaks down the collagen particles into micro particles so that they may be easily absorbed and broken down into useable peptide (amino acid) proteins by the body. The collagen then becomes what we refer to as hydrolyzed collagen. We use a very high quality, low molecular weight marine collagen derived from wild cod that is much more bioavailable than other marine collagen present on the market.
Collagen can be also found in the connective tissue that surrounds and protects delicate organs such as the kidneys and spleen. It is also layered within our cardiovascular system as the connective tissue separating the upper and lower chambers of the heart, as well as within the heart muscle itself to allow for proper functioning of the heart with respect to tension from blood flow pressure.
