John Arts - Natural health researcher John Arts is a natural health researcher and supplement formulator. If you have questions or would like a free health plan you can contact John on 0800 423 559 or join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz.

Have you ever wondered what keeps us from falling apart? The protein collagen is one of the main constituents of the connective tissue found in skin, tendons and cartilage.

Basically it is part of the glue that holds our cells in place. One of its main functions is to provide the structure of our blood vessels, our arteries, veins and capillaries. When collagen fails, this can lead to any number of health problems like essential hypertension, poor circulation, cramps and even varicose veins.
In our blood vessels, collagen and its sister protein elastin combine to give blood vessels the strength and elasticity they need. In general terms, as we age collagen fibres start to deteriorate. The obvious external sign is the much despised wrinkles on our faces. You can see this in long term smokers where the increased exposure to free radicals in cigarette smoke causes skin collagen to deteriorate rapidly resulting in premature skin aging.
Of much greater importance is accelerated damage to the collagen that makes up our blood vessels. Collagen damage can cause blood vessels to lose their strength and structure leading to middle age onset hypertension, cramps, varicose veins, excessive bruising and may contribute to restless legs. Think of collagen as the fibres twisted together to make a rope. The rope needs to be twisted to provide strength. However, if the rope becomes too twisted it loses its suppleness and can result in breaks in the fibres actually weakening the rope. With collagen this is called 'cross-linking” and is central to the ageing process and is primarily caused by free radical damage.
While we cannot defeat the natural processes of aging what we can do is to prevent premature aging by ensuring our diet is rich in the antioxidants and other compounds that encourage production of new collagen and also actively protect collagen from becoming damaged.
The very top of my list would be those nutrients involved in the formation and protection of collagen. These include Vitamin C and the flavanol and bioflavonoid antioxidants such as OPC and hesperidin. These should be included in any good multi-antioxidant product. If I had hypertension or any blood vessel problem I would add at least 200mg of pure OPC and similar amounts of hesperidin and around 1000mg of Vitamin C.

John Arts is a natural health commentator and researcher. If you have questions or would like a free health plan you can contact John at john@johnarts.co.nz or phone 07 578 9051 or 0800 423 559. You can join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz Read more from John at www.sunlive.co.nz