How to Incorporate Marine Collagen Into Your Diet

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body and forms a major structural component of many of our tissues, including skin, bones, joints, and tendons. Even though the body can produce collagen naturally, we start producing less collagen as we age. Therefore, it becomes even more important to make sure that you are providing your body with the building blocks for producing collagen.

Consuming collagen through foods and supplements can support natural collagen production. Although collagen supplements often use bovine or porcine sources, fish, seafood, and marine collagen are also excellent options. Keep reading to learn more about marine, collagen, supplements, and the best fish and seafood sources of collagen.

What Is Collagen and Why Is It Important?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body. In fact, nearly one-third of the protein in the body is some form of collagen. Collagen protein forms components of skin, bones, teeth, ligaments, tendons, muscles, blood vessels, and corneas and helps hold cells and tissues together.

Although there are different types of collagen—and the various types have different properties—the five main types of collagen in the human body primarily provide structural support and integrity to tissues. For example, collagen gives our skin its firmness and elasticity. As we age, the body produces less collagen, which is why the skin becomes less firm, and the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and saggy skin increases.

Types of Collagen Found in Seafood

Fish collagen, or marine collagen, is predominantly composed of Type I collagen, just like the human body. In fact, although the human body has five types of collagen, over 90% of the collagen in the human body is Type I collagen. This is one of the reasons that marine collagen supplements and collagen from fish and seafood are especially beneficial for the body: they are a fantastic source of the type of collagen that makes up the vast majority of collagen in our bodies.

Type I collagen is made of densely packed fibers and is present in harder structures like bones, teeth, tendons, and fibrous connective tissue, as well as softer or more flexible tissue such as skin. Because the constituent fibers are especially close together, Type I collagen provides structural support to these tissues.

Health Benefits of Collagen from Seafood

As mentioned, collagen in seafood is predominantly Type I collagen, which is also the most prevalent type of collagen in our bodies. Maintaining the health and abundance of Type I collagen in the body helps prevent age-related changes to your skin such as wrinkles and fine lines, and helps keep your skin firm while still elastic. For example, studies have found that marine collagen supplements (3-10 grams of collagen per day) can increase skin elasticity, firmness, and hydration over time.

Similarly, studies suggest that marine collagen supplements may help increase the collagen synthesis activity of osteoblasts. Osteoblasts are cells that help build and repair bones. Type I collagen forms about 70% of the organic parts of bones. It forms the structural framework upon which bone mineralization can occur. Essentially, you can think of collagen as being the scaffolding in your bones. Key minerals such as calcium and phosphorus can then attach and fortify this scaffolding so that you have strong bones.

In much the same way that skin begins to lose its firmness and electricity with age (largely due to a decrease in the body‘s natural collagen production), bone mineralization also decreases with age. Again, this is because the body starts producing less collagen, and those Type I collagen fibers are needed to form the dense framework for bone mineralization. This can lead to osteopenia and osteoporosis, which are diseases characterized by low bone mineral density and an increased risk of bone fracture.

By taking marine collagen supplements or increasing your seafood collagen intake, you can help provide your body with the building blocks to support natural collagen production and attenuate the decrease in bone density with age.

Best Seafood Sources of Collagen and How to Include Seafood Collagen in Your Diet

There are several ways to include seafood collagen in your diet. It’s important to remember that the collagen in fish is primarily found in the skin or scales, rather than in the flesh. Therefore, you won’t get much collagen if you are only consuming the flesh, such as in a fillet of salmon or tilapia, or eating something like canned tuna. Instead, you need to consume whole fish with the skin on.

Another great way to get fish collagen into your diet is to eat whole sardines. Sardines are small enough that many people eat the entire fish, including the bones, so you are getting a higher concentration of the parts of the fish that are rich in collagen (skin, scales, and bones).

Marine collagen supplements or collagen powders from marine sources are also excellent options for getting seafood-based collagen into your diet. High-quality marine collagen supplements are sourced from a variety of fish and seafood sources, such as fish skin, jellyfish, and shellfish. Make sure you are choosing marine collagen supplements that have clean ingredients and don’t contain fillers.

One of the benefits of choosing marine collagen powders or supplements over trying to get collagen from eating fish or seafood is that the supplement form will tell you exactly how much collagen you are getting, and the concentration will be much higher. Moreover, many people find that it’s easier to take a marine collagen supplement rather than eat fish skin. You can add marine collagen powder to smoothies, protein shakes, overnight oats, yogurt, and oatmeal without changing the flavor or texture so long as the collagen powder is high-quality and doesn’t have artificial sweeteners, flavors, or other stabilizers.

Conclusion

Seafood does have collagen, but it is primarily concentrated in the skin and scales of fish and the bodies of certain marine species, such as jellyfish. Marine collagen is highly absorbable due to its small particle size and low molecular weight. It is rich in Type I collagen. These factors make marine collagen powders and supplements highly effective for supporting the health of your skin, joints, bones, and connective tissues.