Collagen is the body’s most important building block accounting for roughly a third of its protein composition. It can be found in your hair, teeth, skin, nails, organic bone mass, and more. It provides structure to bones, skin, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and is essentially the ‘glue’ that holds all these parts together.

There are at least 16 types of collagens.  The four main types are Type I, II, III and IV.

• TYPE I makes up 90% of your body’s collagen and is made of long densely packed fibres.  It provides strength to skin, bones, tendons, fibrous cartilage, connective tissue, and teeth.

• TYPE II is made of more loosely packed, shorter fibres and allows cartilage to absorb shock between bones and cushions your joints.

• TYPE III supports the structure of muscles, organs, and arteries; and

• TYPE IV helps with filtration and can be found in the layers of your skin.

 

There are nutrients that help produce collagen in our body.  Vitamin C, Proline (found in egg whites and dairy products), Glycine (found in pork skin, chicken skin and gelatine) and Copper (found in offal, sesame seed, whole grains, nuts, potatoes, and lentils).
What is Collagen?