In this educational video, JJ Virgin explains that collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, providing structure, strength, and elasticity to skin, bones, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage, hair, nails, and the gut lining. She describes how fibroblasts synthesize collagen peptides that assemble into fibrils, and outlines the multiple factors that diminish collagen production and integrity with age—including natural decline, sun exposure, smoking, pollutants, hormonal changes, and poor nutrition. Virgin then focuses on dietary strategies to support collagen synthesis, emphasizing vitamin C as the critical co‑factor. She lists vitamin C‑rich foods—citrus fruits, berries, red bell peppers, dark leafy greens, and tomatoes (which also supply lycopene to protect collagen)—and recommends daily servings (e.g., two fruit servings with at least one berry, multiple vegetable servings, especially deep greens). She also mentions personal supplementation habits (extra vitamin C, Suja Lemon Love) and practical tips like adding lemon juice before meals to blunt blood‑sugar spikes. The overall message is that a nutrient‑dense, plant‑forward diet can help maintain collagen levels, supporting youthful skin, joint health, bone strength, and gut integrity.
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So collagen, it is the most abundant protein in the body. It's accounting for about one-third of the total protein in our bodies. It provides the structure and support to our skin, to our bones, to our tendons, our ligaments, our joint, and our cartilage. And it's important because it provides tissues with both strength and elasticity, and it helps maintain the structure of skin. It keeps it firm, it keeps it supple, it helps prevent wrinkles and fine lines. It's really important for your hair and nails. It's important for follicle support and hair growth and nail strength and growth and renewal. And for your bones, collagen gives them the strength and resilience, and it helps prevent fractures and breaks. It helps support bone density and helps support bone growth. And it also is super important for your tendons and your ligaments and your joints, for that strength and the flexibility and stability. But it's not just that, it's also super important for your gut health. It helps to strengthen and repair the lining of your digestive tract, which, you know, it's a major component of this connective tissue, and it helps maintain the lining. And if you've heard me talk about leaky gut and food intolerance, and you always hear me talk about collagen and using bone broth protein, that is why it really is super important for gut healing. And speaking of healing, it's also important in the healing process of any kinds of wounds and injuries. So that's what it is, and that's why it's important. So now let's talk about how it's made. So your body makes collagen by using special cells called fibroblasts, and these are found in your skin, in your muscle, and other tissues. So fibroblasts make the individual building blocks of collagen, which are called collagen peptides. These peptides are then put together to form long thin fibers called collagen fibrils, which give your tissues their strength and their structure. Now here's the deal. As you get older, not only does your collagen production decline, but also double whammy, so does its integrity. The distribution of collagen becomes more fragmented, which means— no surprise, right?— visible signs of aging, things like sagging and dry skin and wrinkles. On top of this natural decline, collagen loss can also come from prolonged sun exposure. This can damage the collagen fibers. From smoking, from environmental pollutants, these can also cause collagen breakdown. And then hormonal changes that occur with aging, like lower estrogen. You probably noticed, like, estrogen started to drop and all of a sudden you're like, what's up with my Skin? Well, that's the collagen. And of course, food. The food you eat has a big impact, and if you're not getting all the right nutrition in your diet, you're going to see it in the mirror. Now, that's actually great news when you think about it, because a really good diet, which we're going to talk about, is going to give you the right nutrients that support natural collagen production in the body, especially as you age. So I'm going to give you the most important ones that you can be eating. Right? So they're going to give you all the critical nutrients and then which foods you can get them from. And I'm going to start with the key biggie biggie, and that is vitamin C. So vitamin C helps enzymes in our body convert amino acids into the building blocks of collagen. This one gets depleted with stress. Like, who isn't stressed out? So this is a super important one because if you're under any kind of stress you're probably going to want a supplement beyond just food. I know I do. I take extra vitamin C every single day, and if I'm under more stress or feel like something— I might be getting a little sick, I crank it up past that. But let's talk of where you can get vitamin C in food. So obviously things like citrus fruits, right? Oranges, grapefruits, lemons are rich in vitamin C. And again, vitamin C is critical for collagen synthesis. And one of the things that I like to do is I'll use, uh, this product called Suja Lemon Love. It's lemon juice with stevia and a little cayenne, so a little metabolic boost. So that's another great one. And a great hack is lemon juice before a meal lowers the blood sugar response to a meal too. So double whammy. That's the first one. Now, you may not have thought of berries, but strawberries and blueberries and raspberries and kiwis— these are great too. So this is another great way to get them in. And I like you to have 2 fruit servings every single day. And what I would say is just really work on making sure one of those is berries. Super important. And those, of course, are easy to keep in the freezer and throw into your loaded protein smoothie. Now, another one are bell peppers. I personally hate bell peppers except for the red ones, which is great news because red— the red ones are the best sources of vitamin C. They actually contain more vitamin C than oranges. And this is just one of those things that's so easy to have around and throw into a stir-fry, add to a salad, right? So high shout out for red bell peppers, super important. Next one are dark leafy greens. And you know, this could be you smuggling in some, some deep green leafies like some kale into your smoothie so you don't have to taste it, um, arugula salads. So deep green leafies are great. And really, since we want you to eat at least 5 servings of vegetables, non-starchy vegetables a day, more is better, more is better, more is better, then make at least— literally, it should be at least 2 of those servings, maybe 3— of deep green leafies. I keep a variety of them in my fridge, and I have a big salad every single day with a little extra virgin olive oil. So that's an easy way to do that. And then tomatoes. Tomatoes are really important because not only do they have the vitamin C, they also contain lycopene. And lycopene is important because it prevents the breakdown of collagen in your skin. What does that mean? That keeps your skin plumper longer, which we want.
