Fountain Of Youth

We all know collagen is the secret to eternally youthful and plump skin, but what’s the best way to get it into your system? catharine nicol gets the lowdown.

COLLAGEN HAS INFILTRATED water cooler conversations far and wide, with recommendations for bone broth, skincare brands and high-tech beauty getting the gossip treatment. After all, collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, and ensures our skin – as well as our tendons, ligaments, joints, bones and muscles – functions at optimal levels.

The word “collagen” comes from the Greek kolla, meaning “glue”, and it does – quite literally – hold us together. When we are born, our bodies are full of this wonder stuff, giving us plump, soft, elastic skin, as well as the ligament, muscle and joint health we take for granted in youth.

And then we age.

“The bad news first,” announces Dr Wally Chen, medical director at Wyndham Medical Aesthetics. “After the age of about 25, collagen decreases gradually by about one percent per year. Lifestyle habits add to that natural depletion, like sun exposure, stress, alcohol, smoking, extremes of weather and late nights.”

Fine lines and wrinkles, less elasticity and poorer texture appear on the outside of our bodies, while our ligaments, tendons, joints and muscles get progressively creakier on the inside. So should we eat collagen, apply collagen or have collagen applied? The answers are interesting, confusing and controversial.