The best prices guaranteed with our Price Match promise
Welcome to the new Simply Supplements website. If you have a subscription created before the 8/6/26 please contact Customer Care to make changes.
Infographics
Collagen: Building Block for Beautiful Skin
Richard
The skin is the body’s largest organ and accounts for approximately 15% of a person’s total body weight. The skin renews itself every 28 days, but after the age of twenty-five, the speed of this renewal process decreases by 1.5% per year. Over time, this can cause the skin to appear dry, dull and thin.
Collagen in Skin
Collagen is a major structural protein that makes up 75% of the skin. It is concentrated in the second layer of the skin (the dermis) and gives the skin strength, durability, and a youthful appearance. After the age of forty, collagen production declines, which leads to the breakdown and loss of collagen in the dermal layer of the skin. As a result, the skin gets thinner and weaker, and more prone to wrinkles and sagging. While this is a natural part of the ageing process, there are steps you can take to reduce the speed at which collagen production declines.
How to Increase Collagen in Skin
There are several different forms of collagen available to protect and promote collagen growth in the skin, including:
Injections: Collagen fillers replenish the skins natural collagen and are often used to plump wrinkles and add volume to lips. These need to be administered by a trained professional. The effects can last for several months so treatment may need to be repeated two to four times a year.
Laser therapy: Laser therapy is fairly new to the market and the science behind it is advancing all the time. It involves exposing the skin to intense wavelengths of light to stimulate the growth of collagen. Light therapy has been used in the treatment of stretch marks, age spots, enlarged pores, spider veins, and wrinkles.
Supplements: A high-quality collagen supplement can replace natural collagen lost as part of the ageing process, and so may help to maintain elasticity and skin tone. When considering different supplements, make sure you opt for hydrolysed collagen with a high peptide content. While bovine and porcine are both good sources of collagen, fish collagen is often favoured as it provides smaller peptide molecules that are easy for the body to absorb and use.
Creams: Collagen peptide fragments can be added to creams and applied topically. High-quality collagen creams have additional moisturising benefits to help to repair dry and damaged skin.
Other Tips for Youthful Skin
It is absolutely essential to protect and care for the skin to prevent future collagen degradation. Follow these simple tips to help keep your skin youthful and wrinkle free:
Wear Sunscreen Every Day: This is so important! You can avoid harmful UVA and UVB rays by wearing sunscreen every day, even when the sun doesn’t seem that bright. Sunlight increases the speed at which collagen breaks down and is the most prolific contributor to premature ageing – it has been estimated to account for approximately 90% of the signs of ageing skin. Look for a high-quality daily moisturiser that includes SPF protection.
Eat a Diet Rich in Antioxidants: Fruit and vegetables are by far the best sources of antioxidants; powerful compounds that help to defend against free-radical damage. Several environmental factors are known to drastically increase the amount of free-radicals the skin is exposed to, particularly cigarette smoke, sun damage, and pollution. It's also important to ensure the body has sufficient levels of vitamin C as this is a cofactor in collagen synthesis. Good sources are bell peppers, strawberries, and citrus fruits.
Avoid Sugar as Much as Possible: Sugar consumption increases the rate of glycation. During glycation, sugar in the blood attaches to proteins to form molecules called advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which make collagen dry and brittle. Cutting sugar from the diet completely can take up to ten years off your appearance.
Don’t Skimp on Sleep: During deep sleep, the body produces growth hormones that help to renew and repair damaged skin cells, in a process known as ‘beauty sleep’. If the body doesn’t get sufficient sleep, it produces the stress hormone cortisol, which triggers inflammation and has a direct effect on the quality and appearance of skin. Cortisol can also worsen existing skin conditions such as acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Try to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.
Avoid Smoking: The chemicals in cigarettes accelerate the breakdown of collagen and elastin in the skin. Nicotine also narrows blood vessels in the outer layers of the skin and reduces the delivery of essential nutrients and oxygen. If you are struggling to quit, there is lots of support available such as the NHS Smokefree app.
Reduce Stress: Unfortunately, stress shows on your skin. In fact, stress is one of the biggest contributing factors the skin problems. During times of stress, the body pumps out hormones such as cortisol, which cause glands under the skin to produce more oil and worsen acne. Stress also causes inflammation that can trigger psoriasis and rosacea flare-up’s, and even hives.
Learn what B vitamins do, their food sources, and how vitamin B complex supports energy, metabolism, brain function, red blood cells, and overall health.
Learn how to lower high cholesterol naturally with fibre, healthy fats, exercise, sleep and lifestyle tips to support heart health and a healthy lipid profile.
Discover the link between osteoporosis and sarcopenia, plus nutrition and lifestyle tips to support bone density, muscle health, mobility and healthy ageing.
In the UK, men on average die four to six years earlier than women. They also have a life expectancy of 79.1 years, are significantly less likely to attend routine health screenings, are more likely to delay seeking medical attention for concerning symptoms, and face higher rates of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and suicide.
The dietary patterns, movement habits, sleep, stress management, and relationship with healthcare that men establish can have a profound influence on health outcomes across the lifespan.
Cardiovascular Health
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death in men in the UK, and men develop it on average ten years earlier than women. The protective effect of oestrogen that delays cardiovascular disease in premenopausal women does not apply to men, meaning that risk accumulates from earlier in adulthood.
The key modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease include:
high blood pressure
elevated LDL cholesterol
high triglycerides,
insulin resistance,
smoking
excess visceral adiposity
physical inactivity
chronic stress
poor sleep
alcohol use and diet quality
Most of these can be influenced by nutrition and lifestyle, meaning that the everyday choices men make have a significant and compounding effect on their long-term cardiovascular risk.
Dietary patterns most strongly associated with reduced cardiovascular risk include:
Mediterranean diet
diets rich in vegetables and fruit
wholegrains
legumes
olive oil
nuts
oily fish
Focus should fall on predominantly whole food dietary patterns that are balanced, high in fibre and low in saturated fats.
Specific nutrients with the strongest cardiovascular evidence include omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce triglycerides and inflammation, soluble fibre from oats, barley, chia seeds, legumes, certain vegetables and fruit, which reduces LDL cholesterol, potassium from vegetables and fruit, which supports healthy blood pressure, and extra virgin olive oil for its anti-inflammatory properties.
In the UK, men are encouraged to have regular blood pressure and cholesterol screenings from their forties onward, and earlier for those with a family history of cardiovascular disease. Many men have elevated cardiovascular risk markers like LDL cholesterol for years before any symptoms arise, making regular monitoring genuinely important rather than optional.
Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Health
Men are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes than women at equivalent body weights, partly due to the tendency of men to accumulate visceral fat (fat around the internal organs) rather than subcutaneous fat (fat beneath the skin).
Visceral adiposity is metabolically active and drives insulin resistance, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk in ways that subcutaneous fat does not to the same degree.
Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable and in its early stages often reversible through dietary and lifestyle change. The evidence for dietary approaches to improving insulin sensitivity and metabolic health consistently points toward reducing refined carbohydrate and added sugar intake, increasing dietary fibre, eating regular meals with adequate protein, fibre and fat to moderate blood glucose response, and regular physical activity.
Waist circumference is a more informative marker of metabolic risk than body weight or BMI alone. A waist circumference above 94cm in men is associated with increased metabolic risk, and above 102cm with substantially elevated risk.
This is worth knowing not as a point of shame, but as a practical piece of health information that is easy to measure and track.
Dietary quality improvements, increased physical activity, and better sleep can all improve insulin sensitivity and reduce visceral fat independently of changes in overall body weight.
Prostate Health
According to Cancer Research, 1 in 6 men in the UK will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. When detected early, it is one of the most survivable cancers and so regular screening is particularly important for men over 50 and men with a family history of prostate cancer or with Black African or Caribbean heritage.
In epidemiological research, those who consume diets rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that gives fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, pink grapefruit and watermelon their red pigment, has been linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer, though evidence is mixed.
Lycopene is significantly more bioavailable from cooked or processed tomatoes than raw, with tomato paste, passata, and canned tomatoes providing more absorbable lycopene than fresh tomatoes.
The overall dietary pattern matters more than any single nutrient. Higher vegetable, fruit and wholegrains intake, adequate zinc, and a predominantly whole food dietary pattern are associated with better prostate health outcomes. Diets high in processed meat and very high in saturated fat are associated with modestly increased risk in large prospective studies.
Testosterone and Hormonal Health
Testosterone levels in men decline gradually from the mid-thirties onward, with research suggesting an average decline of around 1 to 2% per year after age 40. This is a normal part of aging, but the trajectory and rate of decline are influenced by lifestyle factors, meaning that the choices men make in their thirties and forties meaningfully affect their hormonal health in their fifties and beyond.
Several nutritional and lifestyle factors are associated with better testosterone status. Adequate zinc intake is directly relevant: zinc is essential for testosterone synthesis, and deficiency is associated with reduced testosterone levels.
Good sources include shellfish, pumpkin seeds, and legumes. Adequate dietary fat intake, particularly from monounsaturated and saturated fat sources in moderate amounts, supports testosterone production, as testosterone is synthesised from cholesterol.
Vitamin D deficiency, which is widespread in the UK, is associated with lower testosterone levels so correcting any deficiency may improve testosterone status. Maintaining adequate vitamin D year-round through blood work to assess levels and supplementation when needed can therefore be relevant to hormonal health.
Chronic stress elevates cortisol, which directly suppresses testosterone production. This is one of several reasons why stress management is not separate from men's hormonal health but integral to it.
Sleep is equally relevant: testosterone is primarily produced during sleep, and research has found that even one week of sleeping five hours per night reduces testosterone levels by approximately 10 to 15% in young men, a reduction equivalent to ageing ten to fifteen years.
Sleep and Sleep Apnoea
Sleep affects testosterone, cardiovascular health, metabolic function, immune resilience, cognitive performance, emotional regulation, and physical recovery.
Sleep apnoea, a condition in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, is significantly more common in men than in women, and is associated with fatigue, poor cognitive function, elevated cardiovascular risk, and reduced testosterone. It is frequently undiagnosed because the primary symptom is snoring combined with daytime sleepiness, which many men normalise. If you or your partner have noticed loud or irregular snoring combined with daytime fatigue, discussing this with a GP is worthwhile.
Seven to nine hours of quality sleep per night is the evidence-supported range for most adults. Consistent sleep and wake times, a cool dark bedroom, limiting alcohol, avoiding caffeine after midday, and managing stress are the most consistently evidence-supported sleep hygiene strategies.
Alcohol
Men in the UK drink more alcohol on average than women and are more likely to drink at hazardous or harmful levels. The NHS guidelines recommend no more than 14 units of alcohol per week spread across at least three days, with alcohol-free days each week.
Alcohol at higher intake levels is associated with liver disease, several cancers including colorectal and liver cancer, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, depression, cognitive decline, impaired sleep, reduced testosterone, and reduced fertility.
The relationship between alcohol and health is not linear, and while low-level drinking has historically been associated with some cardiovascular benefits, more recent research applying Mendelian randomisation methods suggests that even moderate drinking carries some increased risk.
This is not about prohibition. It is about honest awareness that alcohol is one of the most significant modifiable risk factors for serious health conditions in men, and that staying within recommended guidelines meaningfully reduces long-term risk.
Engaging With Healthcare
One of the most impactful things men can do for their long-term health is engage proactively with healthcare rather than reactively. This means attending NHS health checks when invited (available to those aged 40 to 74), discussing blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose screening with a GP, being aware of bowel cancer screening (offered to those over 60 in the UK), having conversations about prostate health from the mid-forties onward for those with risk factors, and not dismissing symptoms or delaying seeking help when something feels wrong.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 49 afd is highly treatable when caught early. Regular self-examination and prompt reporting of any lumps or changes to a GP are important habits. Skin cancer rates are higher in men partly due to lower rates of sun protection, and regular skin checks for changing moles or lesions are worthwhile.
Mental Health
Men are less likely to seek help for depression and anxiety, less likely to discuss emotional difficulties with friends or family, and more likely to manage distress through avoidance, alcohol, or other external coping strategies rather than directly addressing the underlying issue. These patterns can have devastating consequences when unaddressed, and they are deeply connected to social norms around masculinity that equate emotional expression with weakness.
The most important message regarding men's mental health is to reach out. To your GP, to a therapist, to a trusted friend, to a helpline and to engage in psychological therapies like CBT and ACT for mental health support.
Closing Thoughts
Men's health is shaped by the accumulation of daily choices across decades: what is eaten, how much movement happens, how sleep is prioritised, how stress is managed, how much alcohol is consumed, and whether medical or mental health care is sought when needed.
None of these are binary or all-or-nothing. Small, consistent improvements in multiple areas compound meaningfully over time.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not replace the advice of a qualified healthcare or nutrition professional. If you're experiencing persistent or severe symptoms, please consult your healthcare provider.
Sources:
https://www.nmcd-journal.com/article/S0939-4753(23)00385-X/fulltexthttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6906176/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11958419/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960076021000716?via%3Dihubhttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8743653/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949789225000881https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9566.13257
Learn how to support summer health with hydration, seasonal foods, sunlight, gut health, sleep and exercise for better energy, digestion and wellbeing.
