Beyond our other articles on the breakdown of the sea cucumber collagen and its properties, you are likely curious as to WHY marine collagen is replacing words like ‘superfood’ or ‘organic’ as the universal buzzword and taking the spotlight off of terrestrial collagen?
Here’s Why…
Our skin is made up of 75-80% collagen and as we age that amount rapidly degrades; taking our skins elasticity, renewal process, hydration, turgidity (bounce) and overall youthfulness with it. (*sigh*)
So it is no surprise that many nutraceutical and cosmeceutical labels out there are exploring the realm of alternative collagens available to us in other organisms to combat this very natural, but oh-so undesirable, skin-aging phenomena. Commonly, this exploration draws brands to the convenience of terrestrial mammalian collagen like bovine (cow) gelatine/collagen. However, when labels spout how incredible their individual products containing this ingredient are, they all too often skip over the nitty gritty details that make land-based collagen something to AVOID…
"Recently, the pathological risk of the mammalian collagen is pinpointed in term of transmitted diseases. It has been shown that bioactive natural organic materials originated from mammalian products such as collagen cannot be used for manufacturing of scaffold, because of severe inflectional problems including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease), avian and swine influenzas, and tooth-and-mouth disease in bovine, pig, and buffalo occur all over the world"
(Song et al., 2006; Addad et al., 2011)
This table, available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13197-014-1652-8, compares mammalian collagen to marine collagen, highlighting the positive differences working in marine collagens favour:
Comparative studies between mammalian and marine collagen
|
No |
Mammalian |
Marine |
|
1 |
Expensive |
Cheap |
|
2 |
High melting point |
Low melting point |
|
3 |
High viscosity solution |
Low viscosity solution |
|
4 |
Difficult extraction (Low availability) |
Easily available (Large amount) |
|
5 |
Soluble in organic solvent |
Soluble in water |
|
6 |
Risk of transmitted diseases |
No risk of transmitted diseases |
|
7 |
Low contents of GLX and ALA with high PRO |
High contents of GLX and ALA with low PRO* |
*"It has been reported that jellyfish collagen contains relatively high contents of glutamine or glutamic acid (GLX) and alanine (ALA), whereas lower proline (PRO) content (78–83 residues/1000) than calf-skin collagen (122 residues/1000)."
(Song et al., 2006; Addad et al., 2011)
This potency of amino acids has also been discovered to be abundant in sea cucumbers with the added plus of having far more PRO (proline) than fish or jellyfish collagen.
Found within marine collagen and full of skin-loving properties, these amino acids include;
- GLX (Glutamic Acid) which contains many benefits including collagen boosting and free radical scavenging antioxidants.
- ALA (Alanine) and it's unique anti-aging ability to combine with epidermal skin cells to fill in creases (yep, wrinkles!)
- PRO (proline) that is fortunately in much higher doses in sea cucumber collagen than fish or jellyfish collagens and which radically improves skin-elasticity through the catalysation of increased skin cell turnover and collagen production.
Upping the Anti-
It is clear that marine collagen stands its ground against its terrestrial competition. However, if we dive in deeper (theoretically, of course!), sea-cucumber collagen stands out in an even more unique way…
As sea-cucumbers remain on shallow and exposed sea beds, they are subject to extreme weather and tide changes. This then results in their production of a unique adaptive response to these shifts called ‘secondary active metabolites’, which are only found in plants, bacteria, fungi and a few other primitive marine organisms.
Alongside primary metabolites that play functional roles, these secondary bioactive metabolites play important adaptive and defensive roles and are sourced in plants, for example, to create drugs, dyes, flavours and fragrances. On the other hand, marine organisms like the sea cucumber produce secondary metabolites in order to defend themselves with every ‘anti-XYZ’ agent you can think of including; anti-microbial, anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour… and the list is still growing as research progresses.
Overall…
With benefits that extend beyond mammalian/terrestrial collagens capabilities and also avoid the risk of contracting any land animal-based disease, marine collagen is an extraordinarily bio-active and nutrient rich alternative, especially that of the sea cucumber.
Ultimately, Bescher sea cucumber collagen is what will bring YOU optimal results to your skin, your health and your overall wellbeing, while also being ecologically and environmentally conscious.
At Bescher we are committed to YOU
so that you can love yourself, love the brand, love the products
and love this precious Earth we inhabit.
Written by Maeve Couch
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