How collagen density can restore skin and systemic health

A program broadcasting on MBC Documentary Prime on November 1 explores how low-molecular-weight collagen peptides may help regenerate damaged cellular tissue and restore systemic youth. Researchers observed that treating skin tissue damaged by ultraviolet rays and chemical stimuli with these peptides returned collagen and cells to near-normal levels.

As people age, wrinkles deepen and skin elasticity declines. However, the core of skin aging is closely linked to systemic health, centered around "collagen." Collagen is a key protein that supports the structure of various parts of the body, including the skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage. The problem is that as people age, the amount of collagen decreases and its once-dense structure changes. These changes in collagen not only cause skin aging but can also serve as an indicator of overall systemic health. In fact, several studies have reported a close connection between the depth of neck wrinkles and biological age. The program seeks to find ways to replenish the collagen density that decreases with aging to transform into a "systemic youth" that is healthy from the inside out.

* Broadcast: Sunday, November 1 at 7:40 AM

Housewife Lee Yeon-hee finds even simple outings difficult due to severe back pain and dizziness. Only about 10 years ago, she was a vibrant person with a youthful appearance. However, the aging that arrived with her 50s collapsed both her skin and her health. Starting with deep nasolabial folds and neck wrinkles, she was struck by numerous ailments, including hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, Sjögren's syndrome, adrenal insufficiency, and chronic migraines. She has undergone approximately 10 surgeries due to calcification in her body and must take as many as 14 pills every day. Although she knows she needs management, her decreased physical strength and fatigue make even preparing meals difficult. What is the cause of the illnesses that have collapsed her daily life?

There is a woman who spends four hours a day moving across the court with powerful smashing shots. Kim Jae-gyeong, aged 58, has achieved a high skill level in just one year because she never seems to tire. She boasts not only overflowing vitality but also a youthful appearance that makes it hard to believe she is 58. It is common for her younger siblings to ask for her skin care secrets because of her wrinkle-free skin. However, she also had a time when warning signs of aging appeared. Starting in her 30s, she experienced decreased energy, indigestion, and skin aging, and was even diagnosed with fatty liver and hyperlipidemia at the hospital. After working hard to reclaim her broken life, she succeeded in turning back her biological clock. Now, she possesses youthful skin that often leads people to mistake her for a single woman, despite having a son in the military. Her daily life, where she enjoys new challenges while forgetting her age, will reveal the secrets to reversing the aging clock.

To solve the mystery of aging, a laboratory was visited where experiments were conducted to observe changes in actual human skin tissue cultures according to aging. The core of the experiment is to examine changes in tissues damaged by aging and seek ways to recover them. Researchers artificially reproduced damage similar to aging by applying ultraviolet rays and chemical stimuli to the cultured skin tissue, then treated it with low-molecular-weight collagen peptides. As a result, they observed changes where the collagen and cells that had decreased in the damaged tissue returned to near-normal levels. While collagen is difficult to absorb into the body because of its large molecular size, adjusting the molecular size to allow absorption can have a positive effect on the regeneration and recovery of damaged cellular tissue.

At a beach where the autumn colors are ripening, there is 73-year-old Bae Mi-ja, who is spending her later years more healthily and beautifully than anyone. Mi-ja enjoys a healthy leisure life with better physical strength than her siblings in their 60s. She, too, had a painful past. Her husband, Kang Min-ho, who was active as an actor, passed away suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage, and before she could overcome the grief, warning signs regarding her vascular health appeared. To stay with her beloved family for a long time, Mi-ja decided to protect her health above all else. Since then, she has devoted herself to meticulously monitoring and managing her health. Thanks to this, she is spending a beautiful old age with an appearance that is hard to believe belongs to someone in her 70s. What was the method that allowed her to become a "systemic youth"?

Beauty that defies time and the secret to health that starts from within! This will be broadcast on MBC Documentary Prime on Sunday, November 1 at 7:40 AM.

Read the original (Korean)