A good diet, washing your face and using moisturizers help to fight against the physical signs of aging, but it’s not a biological fix.  So what is? Collagen is known as the anti-aging protein. It’s a major building block in bones, ligaments and muscles and gives skin strength and elasticity. As a supplement, it’s the new “in” thing to be drinking with your gluten-free, sugar-free, nut-free, GMO-free, dairy free, cholesterol-free and (I think) often yummy taste-free smoothie in the morning.

Fish instead of cows?

According to research, collagen from marine organisms has been emerging as an important alternative for commercial collagen. The large availability of fish skin and scales from the fish processing industry (Marine wastage accounts up to 85% by weight in the fishing industry) is what is driving marine collagen research. It’s a low cost by-product that is converted into a high value and low environmental impact product. Waste not want not!

It’s not all just smooth skin and not-so-squeaky joints

Marine collagen improves wound healing and reduces inflammation. It also has the added benefits of lower risk of disease transference, fewer allergic reactions and less religious restrictions. This means that those in the know will now be changing from their cow collagen to the marine version.  (Poor cows, someone really doesn’t like them – first they tell the world that cows degas too much and are killing our ozone layer and now their proteins aren’t good enough.)

If you’re into this sort of thing and would like to find a tasty way of taking your collagen, try this site: https://naturalforce.com/blogs/nutrition/marine-collagen-anti-aging-protein-uses

To read more:

A.L. Alves, et al. (2017) Cosmetic potential of marine fish skin collagen. mdpi.com

M.A Cruz, et al.  (2021) Collagen from Marine Sources and skin wound healing in animal experimental studies: A systematic review. Springer

Shaoqiong Liu, et al. (2022) Marine collagen scaffolds in tissue engineering, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Volume 74, Pages 92-103.