While looking for keto-friendly supplements, you happened to come across collagen. Perhaps the numerous discussions got you thinking, why do you need to take collagen on keto?
Collagen is an essential protein found in your body that also makes up for a significant component in your connective tissues. However, when you get on a keto diet, you limit your protein intake to a specific percentage. Consequently, you may face problems like hair loss, skin issues, and joint pains.
Taking collagen on keto helps suffice for the reduced protein. It aids in maintaining healthy skin and bones along with other health benefits like lowering heart-related concerns.
From your eyes to your skin and bones to your tendons, collagen is responsible for the smooth functioning of multiple body parts. While keto is a healthy diet, you do not want to compromise on essential proteins, right?
Well, you do not need to! Our team of experts has outlined some proven benefits of using collagen on keto. Dive in!
9 reasons why you need collagen on keto
Collagen comprises a host of essential proteins, two of which are proline and glycine. These are vital amino acids you can find in collagen more than in any other protein. Moreover, your body only produces them under specific conditions in small amounts, increasing the importance of these aminos.
Not convincing enough? Walk through these 9 reasons why you need collagen on keto, and you will know!
Essential for healthy skin
Did you know collagen could help slow down aging? Yes, water is an excellent anti-aging practice, but so is taking collagen. According to a study, women who took a collagen supplement showed notable skin elasticity improvements and overall skin health.
One thing to note is that if you consume hydrolyzed collagen, it will work relatively more efficiently. That is because your guts absorb this form of supplement quickly, transferring it to your skin and joints through your blood.
Reduces hair loss
Your hair requires a regular dose of collagen to stay healthy. However, if they do not get sufficient quantities of this protein naturally, you may experience premature hair loss. It can also lead to dry hair and damaged roots.
If you consume collagen supplements and feed your body with the required amount, you can expect a significant improvement in hair health. These include reduced hair fall, hair regeneration, and more.
Fosters muscle growth
Do you second the thought that keto hampers muscle growth? Well, you will not need to worry about it if you take your collagen supplements. This protein is a vital component of your structural tissue system—ECM, that aids in the functioning and regeneration of your muscles.
Besides, the glycine found in collagen prevents muscle deterioration. Therefore it is a win-win situation in terms of protection and repair. According to a study, men showed considerable growth in muscle mass and strength after consuming collagen supplements for 12 weeks.
Nurtures brain health
Glycine, a part of collagen, is one of the neurotransmitters in your brain. Resultantly, consuming collagen supplements can help improve your brain health. Moreover, it aids multiple conditions like depression—related to lower glycine levels, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, among others.
Another kind of collagen can help prevent Alzheimer's, the disorder that occurs due to the accumulation of certain amino acids—amyloid-beta proteins. Collagen helps protect your brain from amyloid-beta, thus aiding in Alzheimer's protection.
Minimizes joint pains
Do knees pain when you stand up or sit down? Joint pain is a common condition that may occur due to a nutrient deficiency or lack of enough exercise. In a study conducted over 24 weeks, athletes exhibited relatively decreased joint pain during physical activities as well as while as at rest.
Therefore, you can conclude that collagen has the potential to rejuvenate joints and reduce or eliminate joint pains.
Improves gut health
Have you heard about severe problems in the gut like irritable bowel syndrome? It is a critical condition wherein your stomach falls prey to inflammation and irritation. These usually occur due to bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, constipation, and other stomach disorders.
As a result, all your essential nutrients flow out of your digestive system instead of getting absorbed. According to research conducted on animals, collagen supplements can significantly help fix these conditions. Therefore, you can expect this excellent protein to protect your gut from various disorders and also aid regeneration.
Aids cardiovascular functioning
Collagen is an excellent protein that enhances your cardiovascular health. It reduces bad cholesterol, leading to a reduced risk of heart attacks and other related conditions. Type I collagen present in your heart walls promotes blood flow.
According to a study, consuming collagen for six months helped reduce build-up in the arteries that lead to heart attacks. It did not only prevent but also treated this plaque. Additionally, regular consumption also reduced the LDL to HDL cholesterol ratio, further minimizing heart risks.
Strengthens bones
Your mother may have given you calcium pills for stronger bones. Perhaps, you have watched seniors eat calcium tablets. However, calcitonin—a type of calcium, and collagen, prove to be more efficient for your bones.
Not only for adults, but collagen is highly essential for your kids as well. In fact, if you feed your child with regular collagen doses, it will improve bone regeneration and formation. Therefore, calcium and collagen are better for the overall health of your bones than calcium alone.
Tissue regeneration
Collagen is one of the primary components responsible for your tissue generation. When you get a burn, wound, or any other injury, this is the protein that promotes healing. In fact, collagen helps minimize scars that may result from serious injuries.
In a nutshell, your body would not be able to heal in the absence of collagen.
Similarly, a lack of this protein also causes a significant slow-down in the healing process.
Owing to the nutrient regulation on keto, you tend to limit some essential proteins, even if unknowingly. As a result, you may lose one of the most vital amino acids—glycine and proline. Well, all you got to do is take up collagen supplements to prevent any such deficiencies.
How to use collagen supplements on keto?
Wow! That was a hefty list of how collagen can help you, wasn't it? Who knew it could prevent so many severe conditions and also improve your overall health. Now that you are well aware of its importance, you wouldn't want to miss it, right!
To get you started here is how to use collagen supplements on keto!
Types of collagen supplements
Pills
These are the regular capsules that you may have seen in multiple other supplement types. The best thing about collagen pills is they include a liquid covered by a hard shell. It releases in your body at a gradual pace, letting you enjoy its benefits at the correct speed. Plus, it has a negligible taste, so you need not worry!
Liquid
Digesting pills can be a challenging task for some. If you are one of those, the liquid collagen supplement is the best alternative. It is one of the easiest to consume—in the form of a direct shot or adding to your drinks. Moreover, it gets absorbed into your body rather quickly, with minimum processing.
Powder
Liquid supplements tend to leave an unpleasant flavor in your mouth, but not the powder ones. You can consume powder collagen by mixing it with beverages, food recipes, and more. Thus, it gets absorbed easily and used up by your body for cell regeneration.
Picking the right collagen supplements
You know the types and have also chosen your preferred one. Still, how to pick the right collagen supplement?
Ingredients to avoid
- Oils like hydrogen and soybean
- Compounds like magnesium silicate, sodium benzoate, maltodextrin, and titanium dioxide
- Preservatives, added flavors, and colors
- Added sugar, including artificial and sugar alcohols, and sweeteners
- Glucosamine
- Gelatin
Things to look for
- Collagen peptides sourced from 100% grass-fed cows
- Hydrolyzed bovine collagen
- Collagen powder sourced from 100% grass-fed cows
Other factors to consider
- Supplements containing healthy fiber (like acacia)
- Carb content must be less than 1%
- The supplement must be loaded with MCTs
- Must include 10g of collagen per serving
Using the supplements
Follow the guidelines thoroughly to purchase collagen supplements and use them with the utmost ease:
- Keto-friendly soups, sauces, ketchup, etc.
- Smoothies, juices, workout shakes, keto drinks, tea, etc.
- Keto-friendly ice cream, desserts.
- Homemade keto bread, pancake, etc.
- Any other recipe.
How much collagen should you take on keto?
Owing to its natural occurrence in your body, collagen is perfectly safe to consume irrespective of the dosage. Still, you must take at least 10g of collagen per day and increase it to a reasonable dosage.
Every collagen supplement contains this minimum amount in one serving. Therefore, your best bet is to follow the instructions present on the supplement package.
Note: Consult your doctor if you suffer from any health conditions or wish to take a higher collagen dosage than 10g.
Keto-friendly Collagen-rich Foods
Do not wish to take collagen supplements? Though consuming these supplements is the best way to prevent a deficit, you may also resort to collagen-rich foods.
- Bone broth
- Pumpkin seeds
- Seafood: Cod, salmon, tuna, etc.
- Cheese: Parmesan, Romano, Mozzarella, Cheddar, Goat cheese, etc.
- Meat: turkey, pork chops, chicken breast, lamb, etc.
Note: Though these foods are excellent sources of collagen, they might still not suffice your daily collagen requirement.
Conclusion
All set to increase your collagen levels and speed up the regeneration activities in your body? Collagen is a quintessential amino acid that you must not ignore at any cost.
From improving heart, liver, and gut health to repairing cells and tissues in joints, hair, skin, and nails, it has countless functions.
The ketogenic diet helps you to a great deal itself. Its multiple benefits include preventing inflammation, aiding weight loss, controlling blood sugar, and enhancing cognitive functions, among others. Still, it does not pay much attention to muscle gain and repair, which is where collagen comes into the picture.
Do you want to get the best of both worlds? Get your keto-friendly collagen supplement now!
FAQ
Yes, consuming collagen on keto does affect weight loss, but positively. Adding collagen to your diet makes you feel fuller for longer hours, helping you reduce your diets. Thus, it further aids your weight loss along with providing multiple other health benefits.
No, collagen does not remove your body from the state of ketosis. On the contrary, it aids the keto process by aiding weight loss.
The best time to use collagen on keto is with your morning drink. Adding the supplement to your morning coffee or tea will boost the flavor, provide essential proteins, and get absorbed easily. However, do NOT consume it on your keto fast, as it will break this fast.
Collagen is usually found in animals and is an animal-based protein. However, you can still look for vegetarian or vegan collagen supplements like vegan-friendly glycine pills or powder.
