Putting the “C” in Collagen: How This Supplement Strengthens the Body
Vitamin C is one of the most multipurpose supplements on the market today. It can help boost your immune system, protect your cells from the hazardous effects of free radicals, and more. Many people recognize that this nutrient is a powerhouse, but you may not know that it can also help your joints function better, your tissue heal faster, and your skin look more youthful. This is because vitamin C is a key component in the production of collagen, an essential protein in our connective tissues. At NanoNutra, we understand how vital vitamin C truly is, so we offer this supplement in an innovative liposomal form. Our sophisticated system allows our customers to take full advantage of everything vitamin C has to offer, including its collagen creation capabilities. In the following blog, we explain the crucial connection between collagen and vitamin C.
What is Collagen?
You’ve probably heard the term before in anatomy class or modern beauty product commercials, but may have found yourself wondering: what is collagen, really? Jim Thomas at Livestrongexplains: “collagen is the glue that holds the body together. Without collagen, we would literally fall apart. More than 80 percent of the skin is composed of collagen. It is also the main component of ligaments and tendons…Although collagen may be best known for its uses as a facial skin rejuvenator, it has important medical uses,” as well.
On the more medical side of collagen’s definition, Dr. Ananya Mandal describes collagen in her News Medical Life Sciences & Medicine article: “collagen is a protein made up of amino-acids, which are in turn built of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen…Collagen is a part of the connective tissue that in the skin helps in firmness, suppleness, and constant renewal of skin cells…the bones, ligaments, tendons, and the skeletal muscles themselves are made up of proteins. One of the most predominant proteins is called collagen.”
As both Jim Thomas and Dr. Ananya Mandal note, collagen is important for both the beauty and health of the body. Since it is ever-present, it has myriad functions. It holds cells together in “all the smooth muscle tissues, blood vessels, digestive tract, heart, gallbladder, kidneys, and bladder….[as well as] the hair and nails.” Proper collagen production can help you enjoy smooth, tight skin, healthy organs, and more.
Vitamin C and Collagen
To understand the link between vitamin C and collagen, we turn to the work of Linus Pauling and Roger J. Williams, both world-renowned biochemists who made monumental advances in the field of nutrition.
In his book How to Live Longer and Feel Better, Linus Pauling explains: “it has been known for half a century….that vitamin C is essential to the manufacture of collagen…it appears that vitamin C is involved at every step.” He goes on to note the “two big reasons why we require for good health so much larger amounts of vitamin C than are present in the plants we use as food. First, there is the body’s continuing need for the synthesis of large amounts of collagen for growth and replacement of the collagen degraded by daily wear and tear. Second, vitamin C, in the critical reactions that assemble collagen in the tissues, does not serve merely as a catalyst but is destroyed.” This means that rather than just spurring the generation of collagen, vitamin C is a necessary ingredient in it, making it all the more important, especially given the many roles collagen plays in the body.
Roger J. Williams makes a similar argument in Nutrition Against Disease: “collagen is not only the most abundant protein in our bodies, it also occurs in larger amounts than all other proteins put together. It cannot be built without vitamin C. No heart or blood vessel can perform its function without collagen. No heart or blood vessel can be maintained in healthy condition without vitamin C.” As a building block of collagen, vitamin C allows your heart to beat and blood to flow. Like Linus Pauling, Roger J. Williams advocates for higher vitamin C intake: “it is possible that many hearts and blood vessels would be better protected if an abundant environmental supply of this vitamin were available in the circulating fluids that bathe tissue cells.” This is where vitamin C supplements come into play in maintaining your body’s collagen and therefore your wellbeing.
Unlock Collagen with Liposomes
Recent evidence suggests that you can make the most of vitamin C by taking it in liposomal form. After acknowledging the importance of vitamin C in collagen production, Daily Superfood Loveexplains: “the issue with vitamins that are not delivered within the food you eat is that your body isn’t always able to process and absorb them. As a water-soluble vitamin, vitamin C doesn’t penetrate your fat-soluble cells effectively. This lowers your absorption—to approximately 20 percent—and makes it less useful. The rest settles in the colon and leads to digestive issues such as diarrhea because it attracts too much water.” To get around these side effects and raise assimilation rates, you can encase vitamin C in liposomes: “think of liposomes as a (lipid) fat-soluble delivery truck that mimics the cell membranes of your body. It packs up the vitamins you need, drives through the fat-soluble cellular walls, and unloads the water-soluble nutrients where they’re needed most.”
At NanoNutra, we offer liposomal vitamin C, enclosing this potent nutrient in nano-sized “delivery trucks” made of sunflower lecithin, which serves as a supplement in its own right. To further enhance our product, we use zero GMOs (genetically modified organisms), soy products, or BPA (bisphenol A, a toxic chemical sometimes used in packaging). Our liposomal vitamin C can help you provide your cells with the material they need to build collagen better.
Find Out More From NanoNutra
Are you ready to deliver more vitamin C to your body’s cells and boost your collagen production? Purchase liposomal vitamin C from NanoNutra today to begin experiencing its many benefits.