How Liquid Protein May Promote Wound Healing
Whether accidental - or planned through surgery - wounds can really put a wrench in your routine.
We would all like to get back on our feet as quickly as possible. But, sometimes it feels like wounds take forever to heal.
The good news is, you may be able to drastically reduce your recovery time with collagen protein.
Chronic wounds, post-surgery wounds, and traumatic post-accident wounds all go through the same healing process. But, that doesn’t mean everyone’s wounds heal at the same exact pace.
There are plenty of factors that contribute to the speed at which a wound heals. One such treatment doctors and medical professionals have been using to promote fast recovery is nutrition.
Yes! Just through simple changes to your diet, you can promote faster wound healing.
This focus on nutrition in the wound healing process usually involves foods and supplements carefully tailored to your needs. One widely prescribed supplement is liquid protein for wound healing. Liquid collagen supplements are especially popular for post-surgery wound recovery.
Let's break this into a couple of different parts.
How liquid collagen protein affects wound healing
Eating adequate and high-quality protein during the wound healing process is a great way to promote a successful recovery. Nutrition, combined with other post-surgery wound care tactics, will get you going on the right track.
But how exactly does protein help your wounds heal?
When you have an injury, your body uses proteins to multiply cells, repair cells, and synthesize healing enzymes. Many proteins help in this process, but the most significant player is collagen protein.
Collagen protein is the most prolific protein in your body, and it helps build and bind skin, cartilage, and muscle tissues.
Since many wounds involve a tear or cut through the skin, muscle, or cartilage, adding easy-to-digest liquid collagen protein serves as a quick way to give the body that extra protein it needs to repair itself.
But not all protein is created equal
The biggest problem with introducing helpful proteins into the body is making sure your body will be able to absorb it. That means the molecules (or daltons) need to be small enough to pass through the lining of your stomach.
If a protein molecule is too large to fit through the pores in your stomach or intestines, your body won’t be able to use it or break it down.
So, at that point, your protein intake essentially serves no purpose. The protein will simply pass through your body before your skin and muscles can reap the numerous benefits.
Making sure that the dalton size matches - or is smaller than - the pore size in your stomach is important. One way to do that is make sure your liquid collagen protein has been hydrolyzed, or broken down to an optimal size for digestion.
Beyond looking at the dalton size of a protein, you also need to make sure it contains the proper amino acids. Your body needs amino acids to stay healthy - especially when recovering from a traumatic injury.
Your body can naturally produce some amino acids. These are called nonessential amino acids. (Although they are anything but nonessential.)
Amino acids that your body does NOT have the ability to produce are called “essential amino acids.” Essential amino acids are necessary for protein construction. And, since your body cannot produce them on its own, you need to get those amino acids from the food you eat.
Here is an example of some nonessential and essential amino acids:
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Nonessential amino acids
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Essential amino acids
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Those are pretty long lists! And, if you aren’t getting enough intake of the amino acids in both columns, it could really affect your wound recovery time.
You need those amino acids to help your body build proteins - that will, in turn, re-knit your injured skin and muscle cells. That’s why nutrition can play such an important role in your wound healing process.
So, what’s the best way to get those essential amino acids?
Adding essential amino acids to your diet
Essential amino acids can be found in various foods, and they are not hard to work into your already existing diet. Although you can directly take essential amino acid supplements, getting them in the whole food form tends to be a more affordable and healthy option.
Some foods that are contain all 9 essential amino acids include:
- Soy and firm tofu
- Lentils
- Green peas
- Seeds (pumpkin, chia, sunflower, etc.)
- Quinoa
- Peanut butter
- Mushrooms
- Greek yogurt
- Eggs
One of the best indicators of whether a food contains essential amino acids or not is if it contains protein. That is why many plant foods also have some essential amino acids. Just keep in mind that not all foods have the same concentration of essential amino acids.
If you are under a high level of stress, or are recovering from an injury, supplementing essential and conditional amino acids may be necessary. And you should make sure you are using all dietary supplements as directed by your doctor.
So now that we’ve covered your liquid protein and essential amino acid needs, what's about the nonessential ones.
Why nonessential amino acids are so essential
You may be wondering, “If I can produce collagen and these amino acids myself, why should I be supplementing with them?”
Well let us tell you!
At around the age of 25, your natural collagen production slows down drastically. This causes a reduction in amino acid production as well. Without the right tools, your body can’t keep up with the recommended levels of nonessential amino acids anymore.
So, by consuming a liquid protein for wound healing, like hydrolyzed collagen protein, you provide the building blocks necessary for a multitude of body functions - including healing.
Anytime your body is healing, the lack of protein production present in your body is exacerbated. Your body is in overdrive, trying to distribute and funnel more resources to the damaged area.
Unfortunately, when your body is healing, you don’t produce any extra proteins.
Instead, the rest of your body becomes starved of protein while your body focuses on healing the wounded area.
That’s where collagen protein supplements come in.
Taking collagen protein supplements is one of best ways to boost your nonessential amino acids.
Collagen protein contains an abundance of three nonessential amino acids: proline, glycine, and hydroxyproline. And each of these amino acids has a precise function in enzyme and cell synthesis.
- Proline is an essential amino acid that is necessary for the production of hydroxyproline.
- Hydroxyproline is needed to produce collagen, which is contained in all connective tissues.
- Glycine provides the unique cell structure of collagen and is an anti-inflammatory that promotes the nervous system and cell health.
The combination of these three amino acids may help your wounds heal faster and with less inflammation. They may even boost your body’s natural collagen production in the process.
By adding a daily liquid protein supplement to your diet during the wound healing process, your body can balance protein distribution while still providing more protein to the damaged area.
The best liquid protein for wound healing
We’ve established that protein is an integral part of wound healing. And you now know that liquid collagen protein often is prescribed, especially for post-surgery wound recovery.
Now, we need to discuss why liquid collagen protein for wound healing is the protein that works best.
We've already mentioned that, when you consume collagen in its complete form, the dalton size is far too large for digestion. That means, when you eat whole forms of protein in fish, meat, eggs, etc. - your body isn’t actually getting all the benefits from your food.
If you want the best results from liquid protein for wound healing, ensuring that your liquid protein is hydrolyzed is essential. The process of hydrolysis is what makes the dalton (or molecule size) of your protein supplement bioavailable and easy to digest.
Hydrolyzed or nano-hydrolyzed collagen protein has been broken down into units sizes that are easily - and quickly - digestible. For example, our ProT Gold nano-hydrolyzed collagen can absorb into your body within 15 minutes after consumption, and it's completely safe for those with diabetes or intestinal issues such as leaky gut.
With such a rapid processing rate, your body doesn’t have to work as hard to convert the collagen protein into amino acids. It also makes it easier for your body to turn those amino acids back into usable proteins to repair the wounded area.
How to take collagen protein
The best use of liquid protein for wound healing will vary from patient to patient. That’s because the amount of collagen protein your body needs to heal changes as you age and according to the severity of your wound.
Physicians and medical nutrition therapists will usually use a few specific criteria to determine how to use liquid protein for wound healing. Some examples of criteria are:
- Type/severity of the wound
- Age of patient
- Dietary history or average protein intake
- Weight control and weight loss history
- Physical examination
- Laboratory testing to determine catabolism and inflammation
These protein amounts are significant because an average healthy adult only really needs 0.08 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. The older the patient is, the higher that number will be.
Elderly patients will usually jump up to at least 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight, even if they aren’t healing from a wound.
The type of wound is a critical indicator of how much liquid collagen protein should be used.
For instance, patients with chronic wounds (pressure ulcers) will only need about 1-1.5 g/kg of protein, whereas patients with extensive burn wounds sometimes require 1.5-3 g/kg of protein to promote rapid healing.
These amounts are prescribed to offset the extensive protein loss that occurs during different types of injury.
Reaching those protein goals can be difficult, depending on the patient’s lifestyle and the bioavailability of the protein source. That’s why liquid collagen protein for wound healing is so effective.
In order to know how much protein you should be taking, it’s important to consult a health professional or nutritionist. Once you have an idea of your ideal supplement intake, you can look for the proper liquid collagen protein for your needs.
The best liquid protein for wound healing
When choosing a best liquid protein for wound healing, look for medical-grade collagen proteins like ProT Gold.
ProT Gold liquid collagen protein is trusted by over 3,000 medical facilities to help their patients recover from surgery or other types of wounds.
ProT Gold is nano-hydrolyzed, making it easy for our bodies to digest and use to repair wounds. And, because it’s already in drinkable form, it’s incredibly easy to take. You don’t need to worry about mixing it into a protein shake - just pop it in your mouth and go.
In just 15 minutes, your body can start working its magic to turn your liquid collagen protein into a swift wound-healing solution.
