Skin protects an organism from deleterious environmental effects and maintains the temperature and balance of electrolytes and fluid. However, it suffers progressive morphological, structural, and functional deterioration with aging, which impacts not only on cosmetic health but also on psychological and physical health. Skin condition is known to be influenced by genetic and environmental factors such as hormones, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, nutrition, lifestyle, smoking, etc. Therefore more and more attention is being paid to improving skin condition in view of the world’s increasingly aging population.
In recent years, the oral supplementation of collagen hydrolysates (CHs) has received increasing interest owning to its positive influence on skin condition. It could reduce wrinkling, hyperplasia and erythema, increase hydration, elasticity and immunity, repair collagen and elastic fibers and inhibit matrix metalloproteinase activities in a UV-induced photoaging mice model. There has been little research on collagen effects on chronologically aged skin.
In a new study, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Zhenbin Wang et. al. investigated the effect of oral ingestion of collagen from Nile tilapia scale on chronologically aged skin with mice. Oral ingestion of CHs increased the collagen content and antioxidant enzyme activities and improved the appearance and structure of the skin. These results suggest the potential of CHs as an anti-skin-aging ingredient in nutraceuticals or functional foods. Read more in the Research Article “Improvement of skin condition by oral administration of collagen hydrosylates in chronologically aged mice“.
