Americans want to be healthy and spend nearly $12.8 billion on natural supplements. As we age, our bodies produce fewer enzymes that help us digest and absorb the vitamins in our food.

There are similar supplements to help other areas of your body like your hair, joints, and nails. If you are considering biotin and collagen, check out everything you need to know and why these supplements are so great for your health.

What is Collagen?

Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. It is a fibrous protein found in connective tissue such as tendons, muscles, ligaments, and bones. It is also in your vertebral discs, teeth, corneas, gut, and blood vessels.

The biggest function of collagen is to provide structural support and strength for your body. It also helps your body heal wounds.

You can find collagen in many supplements. If you cook collagen, it turns to gelatin. You can find hydrolyzed collagen in dietary supplements, which is the easiest form for your body to absorb.

Collagen can increase the thickness of your hair and nails. It can also increase and tighten the elasticity of your skin.

Benefits of Collagen

Studies have found collagen can improve your skin appearance and health. For example, a study using a placebo control found a relationship between improved skin elasticity and collagen intake.

Collagen can also help reduce joint discomfort and pain. It can also increase mobility for people with arthritis and also healthy adults.

Studies show that collagen intake may also help older adults combat bone loss. Collagen can also improve nail health by decreasing making nails stronger and less brittle.

Collagen can also help boost your muscle mass since this protein is necessary to keep bones strong and functioning as they should.

Researchers believe that collagen supplements may also help with heart-related conditions. Collagen creates structure in blood vessels and arteries. Without this collagen, these arteries may be weak and fragile and have issues carrying blood throughout the body.

 What is Biotin?

Biotin is also known as vitamin B7, vitamin H, and coenzyme R. Biotin helps aid the metabolism of fatty acids in the body. It also plays an important role in skin and hair maintenance.

Biotin helps your body with various metabolic reactions and helps transfer carbon dioxide. It is a vital part of metabolizing fat and carbohydrates. Biotin helps your body maintain a steady blood sugar level and can affect your cell growth.

Several foods have biotin. Intestinal bacteria also help produce biotin, and a biotin deficiency is rare.

If you don’t have enough biotin, you may have skin rashes, hair loss, and fragile nails. Factors such as alcohol abuse, pregnancy, and breastfeeding can increase your risk of a deficiency.

Benefits of Biotin

Biotin research is limited, but there is evidence that biotin can help prevent hair loss and promote healthy hair.

Biotin can also strengthen brittle nails. A study found that after taking biotin for five months participants saw significant firmness and hardness of their fingernails.

There is also some evidence that biotin may help reduce skin rashes and improve conditions such as alopecia and dermatitis.

How Are Biotin and Collagen Similar and Different?

Collagen and biotin are both supplements that can work together to keep hair, skin, and nails healthy. You can find both of them in beauty care and healthcare supplements.

Biotin is a vitamin B and collagen is a fibrous protein. Biotin is soluble in water, and collagen is insoluble in water.

Biotin helps metabolize fat and carbohydrates, which influences cell growth. Collagen is a structural protein in various connective tissues in your body. This is the main difference.

Biotin can stimulate hair growth, clear up dermatitis, and strengthen nails. Collagen can help fight wrinkles and reduce cellulite in your skin, and collagen can also stimulate hair growth.

Choosing Which Is Right for You

The biggest factor that helps you choose the right supplement is the benefits you are after. If you are primarily looking to help joint pain or reduce bone loss, you may want to choose collagen. As you age, collagen can also help you improve your skin elasticity to reduce wrinkles and help with cellulite.

If you are more interested in improving your nails and skin, you may want to take both biotin and collagen. Biotin can help with hair breakage or weak nails, and collagen can also help strengthen since it’s a structural protein. There are several products available that contain both collagen and biotin.

You can find biotin in foods such as pecans, peanuts, almonds, sardines, egg yolks, beans, bananas, mushrooms, whole grains, avocado, and sweet potatoes. You cannot find hydrolyzed collagen in food, so this is a big difference between the two.

Collagen is part of the connective tissues in animals, so you can find collagen in various forms of meat like fish, chicken, pork, and beef. Foods with gelatin such as bone broth also contain collagen. Gelatin is the protein substance from collagen after it is cooked.

You may also want to take other vitamins to help encourage the production of collagen. Vitamins such as vitamins C and A are just as important to have in your diet to help promote stronger skin. You can find these vitamins in foods such as sweet potatoes, spinach, citrus fruits, Brussel sprouts, bell peppers, and carrots.

Final Thoughts

Taking supplements like biotin and collagen can help improve your skin, hair, and nail health, but they also have other benefits as well. The main difference between the two is the type of compound and function within the body. Depending on your needs, you may just need one or you may want to take a combination.

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