Proline is the second amino acid required to produce collagen.  It isn’t an essential amino acid; your body can produce it, but you can help your body by eating foods high in proline, such as gelatin, soy, milk, cheese, beef and cabbage.

Fermented Foods & Probiotics

A radiant gut translates into radiant skin, free from wrinkles, while a bad gut is a leading cause of skin aging.  That’s because good gut bacteria help keep your body well supplied with the nutrients your skin thrives on. Bad bacteria, on the other hand, can cause a leaky gut and allow toxins to escape your intestines and create inflammation throughout your body, including your skin.  The result is sick, blotchy, old-looking skin and early wrinkles.

To improve your gut health, eat fermented foods like kimchee and sauerkraut, or drink kombucha.

Other sources of essential probiotics include dairy products.  Choose natural products; fermented dairy products like kefir are great sources of probiotics.  It would be remiss of us not to mention the probiotic benefits of camel milk!

Camel milk kefir provides all the health benefits of fermented foods. Not only does it help reestabish your inner ecosystem, it also helps keep your skin looking moist and young and your body feeling healthier.

Our ancestors may have taken fermented foods for granted back in their day, which is why we may have lost an understanding of kefir’s valuable benefits.  Unfortunately raw camel milk cannot be sold for consumption in Australia.

Potassium-Rich Foods

Here’s a simple tip.  Switch from table salt to sea salt.  Why?  Regular table salt is sodium chloride, which pulls water out of your cells by osmosis, leaving them flabby and prone to promoting wrinkles.

But sea salt, which is high in potassium, does just the opposite. It pulls water into your cells, making them firm. You can also get skin-hydrating potassium from fruits and vegetables, nuts, meat, poultry and fish.   And, of course, camel milk.

Actively seek foods that are rich in essential minerals, such as root vegetables.  Choose organic if you can, ideally from known locations where the soil is mineral rich.

Be wary of mineral supplements; many of them do not offer minerals in a bio-available form that makes it easy to absorb.  Indeed, one of the great advantages of camel milk as a source of essential minerals is that is does not congeal in your stomach so its minerals can be absorbed throughout the digestive process.  Colloidal minerals are a far better source of trace minerals than tablets.

Vegetables and Non-Citrus Fruits

Vegetables are loaded with antioxidants, helping prevent oxidative stress, the damage to cells caused by free radicals.  So it’s not surprising that a study of Japanese women found that a higher intake of green and yellow vegetables (along with a higher intake of healthy fats) reduces wrinkling.

We know green vegetables are some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet for disease prevention, but they may also be a powerful way to prevent collagen breakdown.  All green plant foods (such as bok choy, green algae, arugula, kale, lettuce, green beans, and broccoli) contain chlorophyll, which is the pigment that gives plants their vibrant green color.

Studies have shown that consuming chlorophyll increases the precursor to collagen (procollagen) in the skin.  Liquid chlorophyll supplements and greens powders are an easy way to get a highly concentrated dose of chlorophyll, which has also been shown to provide strong antioxidant activity against sun damage and the free radicals from toxins that promote premature ageing.

Tomatoes are rich in the antioxidant lycopene, which has been shown to protect the skin from sun damage and prevent collagen breakdown.  Some  say lycopene also helps with collagen synthesis, although few reputable studies have confirmed this. Either way, tomatoes contain a variety of antioxidants (including Vitamin C), which protect the skin at a cellular level, so it never hurts to include them in your diet.

Berries contain a nutrient called ellagic acid, which has been shown to prevent collagen breakdown from UV damage.  In addition to being protective against the signs of aging, berries may also help produce collagen. Like citrus fruits, berries are rich in Vitamin C, which as you now know, helps link specific amino acids together for collagen formation.

Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits are amongst the richest sources of Vitamin C, an essential vitamin.   Your body cannot synthesise Vitamin C. Eating plenty of fresh citrus fruits will increase your body’s levels of Vitamin C. Whether Vitamin C consumed as food actually reaches the skin in quantities significant enough to provide much anti-ageing effect is questionable.  But it will certainly reduce the oxidative stress on your skin.  Remember, your skin is a reflection of how well your body is eliminating the toxins that build up on a daily basis.

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that protects your skin against toxins found in the air, food and water supply.  By removing free radicals, it slows the break down collagen and subsequent damage the skin’s inner layers.  Vitamin C may also help with skin cell repair and regeneration.  To achieve this, most experts believe that you need to supply your skin with Vitamin C topically, which is why wrinkle prevention products often contain Vitamin C.  More in our next blog, when we focus on anti-ageing skincare.

Finally, Vitamin C helps to “link”the amino acids together that form collagen, such as proline, which makes it an essential nutrient in the pre-collagen production phase.

Nuts and Seeds

Pumpkin seeds, almonds, cashews and walnuts are among the richest plant sources of zinc, which is a cofactor for collagen synthesis.  Studies have also shown taking zinc supplements and zinc rich foods can aid collagen synthesis.  Zinc also helps to speed up wound healing and maintain healthy cell membranes, which makes zinc a must-have nutrient for skin health.

Chia seeds are an excellent plant-based source of Omega-3 essential fatty acids, contribute to anti-aging by building healthy skin cells and providing moisture to the skin, which creates a smooth, supple appearance from the inside out.

Don’t forget, though, that camel milk is an excellent source of zinc in a very bio-available form since camel milk does not congeal in your stomach.

Summary

We have skimmed the surface of wrinkle-fighting foods, but there’s no doubt that “food is medicine” when it comes to boosting your collagen intake.  Eating, to help your body to produce collagen or slowing its deterioration, is a core anti-ageing strategy. Sipping on a comforting mug of bone broth each morning, trying new varieties of leafy greens and fruits, regularly eating amino-acid rich foods, maintaining gut health with fermented food and probiotics and staying hydrated should all help to boost collagen levels in your skin.

Nothing is going to happen overnight, anti-ageing requires commitment and focus.   A glass of camel milk a day won’t go amiss either!