The Best Foods For Collagen Production

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Dr. Andrea Suarez gives us the low-down on collagen synthesis and maintenance. Collagen is the most abundant protein in our body, and it can be fairly described as “the stuff that holds us together”. It’s particularly important for joints and bones too, though many people’s focus on it is for the skin. Whatever your priorities, collagen levels are something it pays to be mindful of, as they usually drop quite sharply after a certain age. What certain age? Well, that depends a lot on you, and your diet and lifestyle. But it can start to decline from the age of 30 with often noticeable drop-offs in one’s mid-40s and again in one’s mid-60s.

Showing us what we’re made of

There’s a lot more to having good collagen levels than just how much collagen we consume (which for vegetarians/vegans, will be “none”, unless using the “except if for medical reasons” exemption, which is probably a little tenuous in the case of collagen but nevertheless it’s a possibility; this exemption is usually one that people use for, say, a nasal spray vaccine that contains gelatine, or a medicinal tablet that contains lactose, etc).

Rather, having good collagen levels is also a matter of what we eat that allows us to synthesize our own collagen (which includes: its ingredients, and various “helper” nutrients), as well as what dietary adjustments we make to avoid our extant collagen getting broken down, degraded, and generally lost.

Here’s what Dr. Suarez recommends:

Protein-rich foods (but watch out)

  • Protein is essential for collagen production.
  • Sources: fish, soy, lean meats (but not red meats, which—counterintuitively—degrade collagen), eggs, lentils.
  • Egg whites are high in lysine, vital for collagen synthesis.
  • Bone broth is a natural source of collagen.

Omega-3 fatty acids

  • Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and protect skin collagen.
  • Sources: walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, fatty fish (e.g. mackerel, sardines).

Leafy greens

  • Leafy dark green vegetables (e.g. kale, spinach) are rich in vitamins C and B9.
  • Vitamin C is crucial for collagen synthesis and acts as an antioxidant.
  • Vitamin B9 supports skin cell division and DNA repair.

Red fruits & vegetables

  • Red fruits/vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, red bell peppers) contain lycopene, an antioxidant that protects collagen from UV damage (so, that aspect is mostly relevant for skin, but antioxidants are good things to have in all of the body in any case).

Orange-colored vegetables

  • Carrots and sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A, which helps in collagen repair and synthesis.
  • Vitamin A is best from food, not supplements, to avoid potential toxicity.

Fruits rich in vitamin C

  • Citrus fruits, kiwi, and berries are loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants, essential for collagen synthesis and skin health.

Soy

  • Soy products (e.g. tofu, soybeans) contain isoflavones, which reduce inflammation and inhibit enzymes that degrade collagen.
  • Soy is associated with lower risks of chronic diseases.

Garlic

  • Garlic contains sulfur, taurine, and lipoic acid, important for collagen production and repair.

What to avoid:

  • Reduce foods high in advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which damage collagen and promote inflammation.
  • AGEs are found in fried, roasted, or grilled fatty proteinous foods (e.g. meat, including synthetic meat, and yes, including grass-fed nicely marketed meat—although processed meat such as bacon and sausages are even worse than steaks etc).
  • Switch to cooking methods like boiling or steaming to reduce AGE levels.
  • Processed foods, sugary pastries, and red meats contribute to collagen degradation.

General diet tips:

  • Incorporate more plant-based, antioxidant-rich foods.
  • Opt for slow cooking to reduce AGEs.
  • Since sustainability is key, choose foods you enjoy for a collagen-boosting diet that you won’t seem like a chore a month later.

For more on all of this, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

We Are Such Stuff As Fish Are Made Of ← our main feature research review about collagen

Take care!

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  • How Are You, Really?

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    How Are You, Really? The Free NHS Health Test

    We took this surprisingly incisive 10-minute test from the UK’s famous National Health Service—the test is part of the “Better Health” programme, a free-to-all (yes, even those from/in other countries) initiative aimed at keeping people healthy enough to have less need of medical attention.

    As one person who took the test wrote:

    ❝I didn’t expect that a government initiative would have me talking about how I need to keep myself going to be there for the people I love, let alone that a rapid-pace multiple-choice test would elicit these responses and give personalized replies in turn, but here we are❞

    It goes beyond covering the usual bases, in that it also looks at what’s most important to you, and why, and what might keep you from doing the things you want/need to do for your health, AND how those obstacles can be overcome.

    Pretty impressive for a 10-minute test!

    Is Your Health Above Average Already? Take the Free 10-minute NHS test now!

    How old are you, in your heart?

    Poetic answers notwithstanding (this writer sometimes feels so old, and yet also much younger than she is), there’s a biological answer here, too.

    Again free for the use of all*, here’s a heart age calculator.

    *It is suitable for you if you are aged 30–95, and do not have a known complicating cardiovascular disease.

    It will ask you your (UK) postcode; just leave that field blank if you’re not in the UK; it’ll be fine.

    How Old Are You, In Your Heart? Take the Free 10-minute NHS test now!

    (Neither test requires logging into anything, and they do not ask for your email address. The tests are right there on the page, and they give the answers right there on the page, immediately)

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  • He Fell Ill on a Cruise. Before He Boarded the Rescue Boat, They Handed Him the Bill.

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    Vincent Wasney and his fiancée, Sarah Eberlein, had never visited the ocean. They’d never even been on a plane. But when they bought their first home in Saginaw, Michigan, in 2018, their real estate agent gifted them tickets for a Royal Caribbean cruise.

    After two years of delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, they set sail in December 2022.

    The couple chose a cruise destined for the Bahamas in part because it included a trip to CocoCay, a private island accessible to Royal Caribbean passengers that featured a water park, balloon rides, and an excursion swimming with pigs.

    It was on that day on CocoCay when Wasney, 31, started feeling off, he said.

    The next morning, as the couple made plans in their cabin for the last full day of the trip, Wasney made a pained noise. Eberlein saw him having a seizure in bed, with blood coming out of his mouth from biting his tongue. She opened their door to find help and happened upon another guest, who roused his wife, an emergency room physician.

    Wasney was able to climb into a wheelchair brought by the ship’s medical crew to take him down to the medical facility, where he was given anticonvulsants and fluids and monitored before being released.

    Wasney had had seizures in the past, starting about 10 years ago, but it had been a while since his last one. Imaging back then showed no tumors, and doctors concluded he was likely epileptic, he said. He took medicine initially, but after two years without another seizure, he said, his doctors took him off the medicine to avoid liver damage.

    Wasney had a second seizure on the ship a few hours later, back in his cabin. This time he stopped breathing, and Eberlein remembered his lips being so purple, they almost looked black. Again, she ran to find help but, in her haste, locked herself out. By the time the ship’s medical team got into the cabin, Wasney was breathing again but had broken blood vessels along his chest and neck that he later said resembled tiger stripes.

    Wasney was in the ship’s medical center when he had a third seizure — a grand mal, which typically causes a loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions. By then, the ship was close enough to port that Wasney could be evacuated by rescue boat. He was put on a stretcher to be lowered by ropes off the side of the ship, with Eberlein climbing down a rope ladder to join him.

    But before they disembarked, the bill came.

    The Patient: Vincent Wasney, 31, who was uninsured at the time.

    Medical Services: General and enhanced observation, a blood test, anticonvulsant medicine, and a fee for services performed outside the medical facility.

    Service Provider: Independence of the Seas Medical Center, the on-ship medical facility on the cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International.

    Total Bill: $2,500.22.

    What Gives: As part of Royal Caribbean’s guest terms, cruise passengers “agree to pay in full” all expenses incurred on board by the end of the cruise, including those related to medical care. In addition, Royal Caribbean does not accept “land-based” health insurance plans.

    Wasney said he was surprised to learn that, along with other charges like wireless internet, Royal Caribbean required he pay his medical bills before exiting the ship — even though he was being evacuated urgently.

    “Are we being held hostage at this point?” Eberlein remembered asking. “Because, obviously, if he’s had three seizures in 10 hours, it’s an issue.”

    Wasney said he has little memory of being on the ship after his first seizure — seizures often leave victims groggy and disoriented for a few hours afterward.

    But he certainly remembers being shown a bill, the bulk of which was the $2,500.22 in medical charges, while waiting for the rescue boat.

    Still groggy, Wasney recalled saying he couldn’t afford that and a cruise employee responding: “How much can you pay?”

    They drained their bank accounts, including money saved for their next house payment, and maxed out Wasney’s credit card but were still about $1,000 short, he said.

    Ultimately, they were allowed to leave the ship. He later learned his card was overdrafted to cover the shortfall, he said.

    Royal Caribbean International did not respond to multiple inquiries from KFF Health News.

    Once on land, in Florida, Wasney was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he incurred thousands of dollars more in medical expenses.

    He still isn’t entirely sure what caused the seizures.

    On the ship he was told it could have been extreme dehydration — and he said he does remember being extra thirsty on CocoCay. He also has mused whether trying escargot for the first time the night before could have played a role. Eberlein’s mother is convinced the episode was connected to swimming with pigs, he said. And not to be discounted, Eberlein accidentally broke a pocket mirror three days before their trip.

    Wasney, who works in a stone shop, was uninsured when they set sail. He said that one month before they embarked on their voyage, he finally felt he could afford the health plan offered through his employer and signed up, but the plan didn’t start until January 2023, after their return.

    They also lacked travel insurance. As inexperienced travelers, Wasney said, they thought it was for lost luggage and canceled trips, not unexpected medical expenses. And because the cruise was a gift, they were never prompted to buy coverage, which often happens when tickets are purchased.

    The Resolution: Wasney said the couple returned to Saginaw with essentially no money in their bank account, several thousand dollars of medical debt, and no idea how they would cover their mortgage payment. Because he was uninsured at the time of the cruise, Wasney did not try to collect reimbursement for the cruise bill from his new health plan when his coverage began weeks later.

    The couple set up payment plans to cover the medical bills for Wasney’s care after leaving the ship: one each with two doctors he saw at Broward Health, who billed separately from the hospital, and one with the ambulance company. He also made payments on a bill with Broward Health itself. Those plans do not charge interest.

    But Broward Health said Wasney missed two payments to the hospital, and that bill was ultimately sent to collections.

    In a statement, Broward Health spokesperson Nina Levine said Wasney’s bill was reduced by 73% because he was uninsured.

    “We do everything in our power to provide the best care with the least financial impact, but also cannot stress enough the importance of taking advantage of private and Affordable Care Act health insurance plans, as well as travel insurance, to lower risks associated with unplanned medical issues,” she said.

    The couple was able to make their house payment with $2,690 they raised through a GoFundMe campaign that Wasney set up. Wasney said a lot of that help came from family as well as friends he met playing disc golf, a sport he picked up during the pandemic.

    “A bunch of people came through for us,” Wasney said, still moved to tears by the generosity. “But there’s still the hospital bill.”

    The Takeaway: Billing practices differ by cruise line, but Joe Scott, chair of the cruise ship medicine section of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said medical charges are typically added to a cruise passenger’s onboard account, which must be paid before leaving the ship. Individuals can then submit receipts to their insurers for possible reimbursement.

    More from Bill of the Month

    More from the series

    He recommended that those planning to take a cruise purchase travel insurance that specifically covers their trips. “This will facilitate reimbursement if they do incur charges and potentially cover a costly medical evacuation if needed,” Scott said.

    Royal Caribbean suggests that passengers who receive onboard care submit their paid bills to their health insurer for possible reimbursement. Many health plans do not cover medical services received on cruise ships, however. Medicare will sometimes cover medically necessary health care services on cruise ships, but not if the ship is more than six hours away from a U.S. port.

    Travel insurance can be designed to address lots of out-of-town mishaps, like lost baggage or even transportation and lodging for a loved one to visit if a traveler is hospitalized.

    Travel medical insurance, as well as plans that offer “emergency evacuation and repatriation,” are two types that can specifically assist with medical emergencies. Such plans can be purchased individually. Credit cards may offer travel medical insurance among their benefits, as well.

    But travel insurance plans come with limitations. For instance, they may not cover care associated with preexisting conditions or what the plans consider “risky” activities, such as rock climbing. Some plans also require that travelers file first with their primary health insurance before seeking reimbursement from travel insurance.

    As with other insurance, be sure to read the fine print and understand how reimbursement works.

    Wasney said that’s what they plan to do before their next Royal Caribbean cruise. They’d like to go back to the Bahamas on basically the same trip, he said — there’s a lot about CocoCay they didn’t get to explore.

    Bill of the Month is a crowdsourced investigation by KFF Health News and NPR that dissects and explains medical bills. Do you have an interesting medical bill you want to share with us? Tell us about it!

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

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  • Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese (Or Are They?)

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    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝In order to lose a little weight I have cut out cheese from my diet – and am finding that I am sleeping better. Would be interested in your views on cheese and sleep, and whether some types of cheese are worse for sleep than others. I don’t want to give up cheese entirely!❞

    In principle, there’s nothing in cheese that, biochemically, should impair sleep. If anything, its tryptophan content could aid good sleep.

    Tryptophan is found in many foods, including cheese, which (of common foods, anyway), for example cheddar cheese ranks second only to pumpkin seeds in tryptophan content.

    Tryptophan can be converted by the body into 5-HTP, which you’ve maybe seen sold as a supplement. Its full name is 5-hydroxytryptophan.

    5-HTP can, in turn, be used to make melatonin and/or serotonin. Which of those you will get more of, depends on what your body is being cued to do by ambient light/darkness, and other environmental cues.

    If you are having cheese and then checking your phone, for instance, or otherwise hanging out where there are white/blue lights, then your body may dutifully convert the tryptophan into serotonin (calm wakefulness) instead of melatonin (drowsiness and sleep).

    In short: the cheese will (in terms of this biochemical pathway, anyway) augment some sleep-inducing or wakefulness-inducing cues, depending on which are available.

    You may be wondering: what about casein?

    Casein is oft-touted as producing deep sleep, or disturbed sleep, or vivid dreams, or bad dreams. There’s no science to back any of this up, though the following research review is fascinating:

    Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: food and diet as instigators of bizarre and disturbing dreams

    (it largely supports the null hypothesis of “not a causal factor” but does look at the many more likely alternative explanations, ranging from associated actually casual factors (such as alcohol and caffeine) and placebo/nocebo effect)

    Finally, simple digestive issues may be the real thing at hand:

    Association between digestive symptoms and sleep disturbance: a cross-sectional community-based study

    Worth noting that around two thirds of all people, including those who regularly enjoy dairy products, have some degree of lactose intolerance:

    Lactose Intolerance in Adults: Biological Mechanism and Dietary Management

    So, in terms of what cheese may be better/worse for you in this context, you might try experimenting with lactose-free cheese, which will help you identify whether that was the issue!

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  • Gut-Healthy Labneh Orecchiette

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    Labneh (a sort of yogurt-cheese made from strained yogurt) is a great probiotic, and there’s plenty of resistant starch in this dish too, from how we cook, cool, and reheat the pasta. Add to this the lycopene from the tomatoes, the ergothioneine from the mushrooms, and the healthful properties of the garlic, black pepper, and red chili, and we have a very healthy dish!

    You will need

    • 10 oz labneh (if you can’t buy it locally, you can make your own by straining Greek yogurt through a muslin cloth, suspended over a bowl to catch the water that drips out, overnight—and yes, plant-based is also fine if you are vegan, and the gut benefits are similar because unlike vegan cheese, vegan yogurt is still fermented)
    • 6 oz wholegrain orecchiette (or other pasta, but this shape works well for this sauce)
    • ¼ bulb garlic, grated
    • Juice of ½ lemon
    • Large handful chopped parsley
    • Large handful chopped dill
    • 9 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
    • 9 oz mushrooms (your choice what kind), sliced (unless you went for shiitake or similar, which don’t need it due to already being very thin)
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 1 tsp red chili flakes
    • ¼ tsp MSG or ½ tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Cook the pasta as you normally would. Drain, and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

    2) Combine the labneh with the garlic, black pepper, dill, parsley, and lemon juice, in a large bowl. Set aside.

    3) Heat a little olive oil in a skillet; add the chili flakes, followed by the mushrooms. Cook until soft and browned, then add the tomatoes and fry for a further 1 minute—we want the tomatoes to be blistered, but not broken down. Stir in the MSG/salt, and take off the heat.

    4) Refresh the pasta by passing a kettle of boiling water through it in a colander, then add the hot pasta to the bowl of labneh sauce, stirring to coat thoroughly.

    5) Serve, spooning the mushrooms and tomatoes over the labneh pasta.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Foods That Cause You to Lose Weight – by Dr. Neal Barnard

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    We previously reviewed Dr. Barnard’s “The Power Foods Diet”, and this time his work is about weight loss.

    This time there are more recipes (which take up most of the book, so this one could be reasonably described as a cookbook), but not until after nearly a hundred pages of concepts, principles, and tips.

    The recipes themselves are again very respectable, even if some may be a little redundant (e.g. the double-page recipe for blueberry muffins is followed by a double-page recipe for banana and date muffins, instead of just saying “or substitute this”—things like that) and run the gamut from salad dressings to hearty main meals.

    A strength of the book is that it’s about what you eat, not how much of it you eat, so if you love eating (which is a very healthy trait to have in general), then you’ll enjoy that aspect.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to eat more and weigh less, then this is a top-tier book for you.

    Click here to check out “Foods That Cause You To Lose Weight”, and enjoy eating!

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  • Vit D + Calcium: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

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    Vit D + Calcium: Too Much Of A Good Thing?

    • Myth: you can’t get too much calcium!
    • Myth: you must get as much vitamin D as possible!

    Let’s tackle calcium first:

    ❝Calcium is good for you! You need more calcium for your bones! Be careful you don’t get calcium-deficient!❞

    Contingently, those comments seem reasonable. Contingently on you not already having the right amount of calcium. Most people know what happens in the case of too little calcium: brittle bones, osteoporosis, and so forth.

    But what about too much?

    Hypercalcemia

    Having too much calcium—or “hypercalcemia”— can lead to problems with…

    • Groans: gastrointestinal pain, nausea, and vomiting. Peptic ulcer disease and pancreatitis.
    • Bones: bone-related pains. Osteoporosis, osteomalacia, arthritis and pathological fractures.
    • Stones: kidney stones causing pain.
    • Moans: refers to fatigue and malaise.
    • Thrones: polyuria, polydipsia, and constipation
    • Psychic overtones: lethargy, confusion, depression, and memory loss.

    (mnemonic courtesy of Sadiq et al, 2022)

    What causes this, and how do we avoid it? Is it just dietary?

    It’s mostly not dietary!

    Overconsumption of calcium is certainly possible, but not common unless one has an extreme diet and/or over-supplementation. However…

    Too much vitamin D

    Again with “too much of a good thing”! While keeping good levels of vitamin D is, obviously, good, overdoing it (including commonly prescribed super-therapeutic doses of vitamin D) can lead to hypercalcemia.

    This happens because vitamin D triggers calcium absorption into the gut, and acts as gatekeeper to the bloodstream.

    Normally, the body only absorbs 10–20% of the calcium we consume, and that’s all well and good. But with overly high vitamin D levels, the other 80–90% can be waved on through, and that is very much Not Good™.

    See for yourself:

    How much is too much?

    The United States’ Office of Dietary Supplements defines 4000 IU (100μg) as a high daily dose of vitamin D, and recommends 600 IU (15μg) as a daily dose, or 800 IU (20μg) if aged over 70.

    See for yourself: Vitamin D Fact Sheet for Health Professionals ← there’s quite a bit of extra info there too

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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