Everyone strives to stay fit throughout their lifetimes. But that will only be possible when all the necessary nutrients are present in your diet at all times. But vegan people who don’t eat any animal proteins are somewhat deprived of a few nutrients. Collagen protein is one of them. Collagen is obtained mainly from meat and fish.
Therefore, it’s not easy for vegan people to get that protein. Not easy, but not impossible in certain cases. But fortunately, we now live in the era of modern biotechnology, and GMOs dominate the world. Collagen is now also genetically engineered to fulfill collagen needs in vegan people. These are called vegan collagen. There are also some boosters available that indulge the production of collagen in the human body.
What is Collagen?
Before knowing things about vegan collagen, let’s get a thorough idea of what natural collagen is. Collagen is an insoluble fibrous protein that functions as a glue that holds your body together as it is the main component of the connective tissue. Collagen is a triple helix structure consisting of three amino acids glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline.
There are also minerals, vitamins, and polysaccharides present in collagen. It is the most abundant protein in mammals. The principal role of collagen protein is to provide elasticity to the bones, cartilage, nails, and hair as a structural protein. Natural sources of collagen are muscles, bones, cartilage, and tendons of animals, including humans. But in some vegan fat sources, collagen is available.
What is Vegan Collagen?
Vegan collagen is a genetically engineered product of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Yeast) and the bacteria P. pastoris. Four human genes that code collagen are added to the genetic structure of the microbes, and they initiate the production of human collagen. Pepsin is used to provide structural support in genetically modified collagen.
What are the Alternatives to Vegan Collagen for Vegan People?
The availability of genetically modified vegan collagen is less in the market as of now. So there are a lot of vegan collagen products available called ‘boosters’ or ‘builders’ that contain collagen components and enhance the production of collagen in the body.
What is the Natural Source of Collagen?
In mammals, collagen is produced from a precursor called procollagen made up of protein and vitamin C. Procollagens bind together to form fibrils, and these fibrils bind together to form collagen protein. Collagen, the fibrous protein, is found in both animals and fishes. It is the elements of skin, bone, cartilage, and tendons.
But modern humans do not consume these parts in their diet. Vegan people don’t even consume animal proteins. Our body naturally produces collagen by compiling the required components, but this production rate reduces with age, and the problem with skin, hair, and bone starts eventually. So humans are keen to get substitutes such as vegan collagen supplements that can promote collagen production in the human body.
What are the Functions of Collagen in the Human Body?
Collagen provides structural support to the human body. It strengthens bones, nails, and hair. Adequate collagen production is surprisingly helpful for hiding the signs of aging like fine lines, wrinkles, hair loss, and thinning of skin to make somebody look younger.
Collagen proteins are highly required if somebody is recovering from a wound, injury, or any other orthopedic problem. It will help in the reconstruction process of muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, etc. Healthy collagen production is also needed in the case of autoimmune diseases regarding strengthening or healing.
How is Vegan Collagen Different from Animal-Derived Collagen?
Animal-sourced collagens are solely derived from animals, but it is obtained from microbes through genetic engineering. Furthermore, vitamin C is the most abundant component of vegan collagen, and apart from vitamins, other components are also present in it-like minerals, hyaluronic acid, etc.
What are the Benefits of Vegan Collagen?
Genetically modified collagens are available as vegan collagen powder on the market. They function just as natural collagens, but they have some added benefits too.
Vegan collagen is cost-effective.
Genetically modified collagens are produced by yeast and bacteria, so they are so cost-effective for consumers. In the laboratory, the collagen production scale-up process is also easy and profitable for consumers to have the supplements. But in practice, the production rate of vegan collagen is not so high yet.
Vegan collagen is safe.
Vegan collagen is genetically modified in the laboratory by efficient scientists. So safety is always a concern in making the best vegan collagen. Scientists can also level up the safety profile for consumers for any traceable source of vegan collagen.
Low allergy risk
The main plus point of vegan collagen is it is not obtained from animals and so that it already lowers the possibility of introduction to any foreign protein. It also eliminates the possibility of transmission of illness. Vegan collagens are made in laboratories taking all the safety measures so that they are already free from allergens and other harmful substances.
Beneficial in medical processes
Functionally collagen is the connective tissue, strengthening the bones, cartilage, etc. Collagen as GMO has a lot of medical benefits except being a supplement for dietary collagen. Collagen can be used for wound healing, stimulating tissue growth, or in dermatology for sutures. It Canada is widely known for its medical benefits.
Beauty benefits
Collagen promotes the elimination of signs of aging. The desired supply of collagen can reduce fine lines and wrinkles, tighten skin, and reduce hair loss. These benefits are also available for vegan people as collagen, and its boosters promote the production of it.
Bottom Line
Collagen is considered very important for human health. So apart from animal-derived collagen, the demand for collagen supplements is also increasing daily. People are going for boosters or builders in case of lower availability of it. Ideally, there is no age bar for taking collagen supplements.
The rate of natural collagen production in the body starts to decline from the mid-20s, so people can start taking supplements from that age. Today, animal protein is not the only source of collagen. Vegan collage is also there for vegan people as the bliss of biotechnology.
