Collagen. It’s key to supple skin but declines as we age. Now Liiv has an easy way to give your beauty a boost.
When it comes to smooth, glowing skin, collagen is a star performer. It provides a firm support structure, as well as a cushioning effect. In fact, approximately 80 per cent of skin’s dry weight is made up of this structural protein!
It performs a whole lot of other important functions throughout the body too. With 30 per cent of all the protein in our body being collagen, it’s a crucial building block for muscles, ligaments, tendons, veins, bones, hair and nails, its name deriving from the Greek ‘kolla’ meaning glue. Kind of apt, as it helps to hold us together.
We produce this substance naturally and when we are young, we’re really, really good at it. Think of a baby’s gorgeous chubby cheeks and you get the picture. But as we age, our collagen production starts to decline – approximately between 1 and 1.5 per cent every year from the age of 20. It’s one of the reasons skin starts to become drier and we develop lines and wrinkles.
Is there anything that can be done to help counter this effect? “One way is to supplement your diet with collagen, specifically in the form of collagen peptides,” says Dr Wickham Science Advisor for Liiv Health Sciences. “These work by encouraging your body to produce more of its own collagen.”
Liiv Health Sciences, with its access to leading experts and high quality ingredients, has therefore developed a collagen supplement designed to complement a healthy lifestyle as part of your skincare regime. It’s called Liiv Collagen Beauty Booster.
Presented in individual sachets, each packed with these collagen peptides, you simply mix with any beverage of your choice. Try it with water, tea, coffee, smoothies or juice – you could even add it to your Liiv Nutritionally Balanced Meal Shake (just when you thought the shake couldn’t get any better!).
How does it work?
“We’ve worked with Verisol using the highest quality collagen peptides and the impressive effects are backed up by clinical data,” says Dr Wickham. For example, one study of 69 women aged between 35 and 55 years showed an improvement in skin elasticity – up to 15 per cent – compared to a placebo treatment, measurable after just four weeks of taking it.
A second study with more than 100 women aged between 45 and 65 showed that taking 2.5 g of Verisol® collagen, per day which is contained in one sachet reduced the appearance of wrinkles after four weeks and led to a significantly higher skin procollagen concentration. Research also showed it can promote the growth and condition of nails too.
This doesn’t just supplement your skin’s own supplies of collagen, it also promotes your body’s ability to produce its own collagen – can’t get much better than that!
However, collagen doesn’t simply enter your body, rush to your skin and shore up natural collagen. Instead, these peptides are recognised by specific cells in your skin called fibroblasts. These cells identify the peptides as collagen fragments, similar to those that result from natural collagen breakdown. This stimulates the cells to increase production to offset the perceived loss.
So what are you waiting for? Start mixing it up and fixing your skin its very own feel-good cocktail. We call it the smart route to delivering the bounce-back factor!
Anthony Gonzalez Director of Global Skincare Product Development at Avon gives his three collagen protecting and boosting skincare tips…
* Excess UV exposure from sunshine can damage collagen so protect your complexion every day with a broad spectrum sunscreen.
* Topically applied collagen in a cream won’t replace lost collagen, although it helps to moisturise. Ingredients in skincare such as retinol and Vitamin C however, can help boost collagen production in the skin. Vitamin C in the diet also has an important role in collagen production
* While the ageing process causes a decline in collagen, a diet high in refined sugar can affect it negatively via a process called glycation. Keep sweets and desserts as occasional treats.