Don’t be fooled! These foods, which are not very nutritious, are hyped as “magical recipes” for beauty and skin care!

Nowadays, many oral collagen products on the market claim to have the effects of "beautifying and nourishing the skin" and "improving the skin".

In addition to oral collagen, products such as peach gum and bird's nest are also said to be able to supplement collagen, beautify and improve the skin. However, do they really have those magical effects?

01

Oral collagen beauty?

It doesn't work!

Will taking collagen directly orally, or eating foods rich in collagen or gelatin, a degradation product of collagen, have a beautifying and skin-enhancing effect?

The answer is no.

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The elasticity of our skin does come from the collagen and elastin in the dermis, but eating these proteins directly is useless for improving the skin.

Because they are broken down into amino acids or short peptides in the digestive tract and then absorbed, they will not directly enter the skin tissue and cannot be reassembled in the dermis in a targeted manner.

If you want to reduce the damage and loss of collagen through food, eating more fresh vegetables and fruits may have a little effect, because our body needs the help of vitamin C to assemble collagen.

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Oral collagen cannot beautify the skin, so can it be used to supplement protein?

Protein is composed of amino acids. The human body has more than 20 kinds of amino acids, 8 of which cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be directly supplied by food. They are called "essential amino acids for the human body."

The quality of protein is determined by the type and content of essential amino acids. The proteins in fish, poultry, eggs, lean meat, milk, most nuts and beans contain a lot of essential amino acids, so they are called "high-quality proteins. " Oral collagen products do not contain all the essential amino acids and are a kind of "low-quality protein."

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In other words, oral collagen cannot supplement nutrition, and you still need to eat other high-quality protein foods to meet the body's needs. So, don't waste your money on foods that claim to have "collagen".

02

Is eating bird's nest useful?

It's no use!

Bird's nests are the nests of the seabird swiftlet, which are mostly built on cliffs on the seashores of tropical and subtropical areas.

The swiftlet starts to build its nest in spring. Its mouth can secrete a kind of gelatinous saliva , which becomes a translucent and slightly yellow substance after being spit out and dried by the sea breeze. This is what people call bird's nest. Therefore, the main component of bird's nest is the saliva of the swallow.

Data shows that 100 grams of dried bird's nest contains: 49.9 grams of protein, 42.9 milligrams of calcium, 30.6 grams of carbohydrates, 3.0 milligrams of phosphorus, and 4.9 milligrams of iron. From the nutritional data, its protein content is not as high as the same amount of common meat products such as beef and chicken.

Moreover, the protein contained in bird's nest is mainly collagen, which is an incomplete protein. To some extent, the nutritional value of bird's nest is even lower than that of eggs and ordinary meat .

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As for beauty and skin care, there is currently insufficient evidence to prove that eating bird's nest can improve beauty.

Some businesses promote that bird's nests contain some biological factors, which are either peptides or proteins. After consumption, they will still be broken down into amino acids by the digestive system and cannot play a role.

03

Is it useful to eat slimy food?

Yes, but not beauty

Some people think that foods like golden ear and white ear, which have a sticky property, must be rich in collagen. But in fact, the substance that makes them sticky is not collagen, but polysaccharides .

Golden ear and white ear are rich in polysaccharides, which makes them look translucent and gelatinous. After drying and then soaking, this texture will be restored. When we cook golden ear or white ear, the polysaccharides dissolve in the water to form a gelatin, which brings a sticky taste.

Peach gum is often packaged and stewed together with golden fungus. Yes, it is the gum that flows from the peach tree.

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Peach gum is a translucent jelly secreted by peach, mountain peach and other Rosaceae plants. It usually appears on injured tree trunks and has the function of protecting plants from pathogens and pests. The main component is also polysaccharide, and there is a little protein.

Seeing this, you may have discovered that the two types of colloid foods advertised as "containing collagen" do not actually contain collagen, but are rich in polysaccharides. These polysaccharides can give the food a sticky, jelly-like texture, so they are imagined to contain collagen. However, polysaccharides are difficult to digest and decompose, and they are excreted in the same way as they are eaten, so expecting them to beautify your skin is just a waste of time .

Although they cannot beautify the skin, the polysaccharides in golden ear and peach gum are still good for health. Because they are dietary fiber, eating them can help promote intestinal peristalsis and inhibit the rise of blood sugar after meals, and can also increase satiety.

However, if you are just looking for dietary fiber, there are many other ingredients you can choose from. There is no need to treat these ingredients as a "panacea". For example, konjac and grass jelly, which are common in desserts , are mainly composed of plant polysaccharides. Oats also contain a lot of soluble dietary fiber, so the sticky texture of oatmeal porridge is somewhat similar to Tremella soup.

Finally, if you want to maintain a healthy and youthful body, you still need to rely on a balanced diet and proper exercise. Don’t blindly pursue youth and end up “hurting” your wallet.

Source: Foodie Research Institute

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