By Mr. Luke Coutinho,
Adviser of Integrative Lifestyle and Nutrition at Purenutrition.me
Motherhood is much beyond what is shown in ads and billboards. It is the epitome of life being created. During pregnancy, much of the nutrition consumed by the mother is used up by the baby. In addition, stress and rapid changes in the body lead to a nutrient-deficient situation that is dangerous for both the mother as well as the baby. One of the questions I’ve been asked most frequently is whether one should take collagen supplements during pregnancy, or not.
Collagen is the building block for proteins in all your connective tissues such as skin, bones, muscles etc. It plays a great role in regeneration of your body and consists of about 30% of the proteins in our bodies. The production of collagen declines as we age and thus, it is very important that we supplement it with age.
During pregnancy as well as postpartum period, one should take proper quantities of collagen supplements, throughout the entire period. Here are some of the reasons why you must go for collagen supplements:
Get Rid of Stretch Marks
As much as we claim to be more accepting, none of us wish for stretch marks. While there are hundreds of varieties of oils and lotions that hydrate and keep your skin moisturised, they cannot prevent stretch marks that are caused due to the constant and rapid expansion of your growing belly. On the contrary, the amino acids in the collagen supplements, help in promoting skin elasticity and maintain a moisture level, keeping your skin soft and supple.
Nutrient Dense Solution
For all the pregnant mothers out there, I would strongly recommend adding collagen to your daily diet because the nutrients that the mother derives from the food she intakes, is shared by her and her baby. When the nutrient-portion is less, both the parties are adversely affected. Collagen is bountiful of protein which is the basic building block of your cells and tissues.
Strong Joints for a Comfortable Motherhood
As your baby grows, more and more stress is put on your joints. To ensure that you have healthy joints and strong bones, I’d suggest you to indulge in some very crucial self-care and along with regular exercises and balanced diet, add some collagen in your diet. The peptides in collagen promote joint health by restoring the density of bones and keeping them healthy. Collagen also helps in repairing matrix degeneration and enhances mobility and flexibility.
Say Goodbye to Frizzy, Thinning Hair
Beyond motherhood, we are all women and I’m sure you’d all agree that the vitality of our hair has an everlasting impact on our overall vivacity. During pregnancy, some women experience hair-fall while few more complain of degradation of their hair quality. Taking collagen supplements does terrific damage control of your hair and you can see the difference, almost instantly! Not just during pregnancy, but even during breastfeeding and postpartum, the intake of collagen greatly helps to reduce hair loss and degradation.
One common concern that mothers-to-be often ask about is the source type of the collagen. To address that, collagen is typically made from cow or other bovine bones. However, the advanced and most recent ones are made of high-quality marine collagen, made from fish. These are available in non-GMO formats for the socially conscious mothers. As a rule of thumb, it is always advisable to check with your doctor and discuss the pros and cons in depth before choosing a collagen supplement.