Judging by its recent popularity, you might think the health benefits of collagen are new discoveries. However, an original "girl boss" named Hildegard of Bingen first wrote of its pain-relieving effects in 1175.



Living in medieval Germany, St. Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess and polymath. She was a writer, composer, philosopher, and Christian mystic. Not surprisingly, she was pretty smart when it came to holistic medicine too.



I imagine her looking at a pot of stew that had cooled, wondering if the fatty gel that sat on top of the stew had any health benefits. Maybe she scooped it off and ate it. And after repeating for long enough, perhaps she noticed a difference in how her joints felt. Who knows...



At the impressive age of 77 years old, she wrote about the pain-relieving benefits of collagen. She lived another four years. Living to 81 years old was pretty impressive back then.





What is Collagen?



Collagen provides a scaffolding for most of the tissues in your body. It connects muscle to bone and bone to bone, while also building cartilage that lets your bones slide over one another without causing pain in your joints. It keeps your organs in place...for that matter, it keeps your face in place too.



It isn’t as hard as bone, but is stronger than muscle tissue due to its amino acid structure.



Collagen makes up about 30% of the total protein mass in the body, and 70% of the dry weight of the skin dermis.



As you age, collagen breaks down. Exercise and overuse can also cause its breakdown. Collagen breakdown can lead to connective tissue injuries like torn bicep tendons or Achilles tendons, loss of joint cartilage, saggy skin, wrinkles, and cellulite.



Anti-aging doctors have been injecting collagen into patients' faces for quite some time, in hopes of restoring their youth.



As you age, you lose collagen, making your face droop and your lips get smaller, unless you get it injected, as do many celebrities. Though it may not produce an immediate effect, it's possible you could look and feel younger by consuming it instead of injecting it.



Dietary Sources



In case you need another reason to get off the vegan bandwagon, you only get collagen by eating it. 



Meat has collagen. Mushrooms don’t.



Poultry has collagen. Peanuts and potatoes don’t.



Fish has collagen. Fava beans don’t.



If you want the benefits of collagen, you’ll need to eat it or supplement with it. There’s no plant on the planet that contains it.



That said, even meat-eaters often miss their opportunity to consume collagen in everyday meals. Chewing tendons, bones, and skin isn’t that appealing, unless you're eating slow-cooked ribs at a barbecue restaurant.



Actually, crispy chicken or turkey skin, or pork rinds are pretty good, too. But, you’re probably not eating them every day.



For the most part, the collagen-containing parts of meat, poultry, and fish have been seen as waste products. Hides, bones, and tendons usually get tossed aside.



Interestingly, this is how the whey protein market evolved too. Whey was once seen as a byproduct of cheese manufacturing, and tossed aside. Yet it’s the highest biological value protein source on the planet, and a staple in the diet of health and fitness folks everywhere today.



Biological Value



Contrary to whey protein, which has the highest biological value, collagen was considered worthless because it has such a low biological value.



The concentration of essential amino acids in a protein determines its biological value. Collagen has very little essential amino acids, so it was ignored for most of modern history.



Outside of using gelatin to make jello shots for a college party, or a gelatin dessert when you want to gross out your guests, it didn’t seem to have any value.



Nutrition scientists believed the digestive process would break collagen down to the amino acids it was made from, and those amino acids would offer little value. However,