Drinking alcohol may change the way you look but a newly launched alcoholic drink claims to help prevent your skin from getting wrinkles and help you stay young as you drink.
Anti-aGin, launched in the UK by Warner Leisure Hotels, claims to make you look younger because it comes with collagen and other "age-defying" botanicals.
"The spirit has been distilled with pure collagen as well as a mix of anti-aging botanicals to help people look younger while having fun," the Warner Leisure Hotels blog described the product. "The ingredients were specifically chosen due to their revitalizing qualities, including healing sun damage, being rich in minerals, inhibiting scar formation and to help smooth cellulite."
Collagen is considered as an essential protein that protects the health and appearance of the skin. The beauty industry promotes collagen products for their anti-aging properties because the protein is known as a building block for elasticity and is capable of reducing the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines on the skin.
People tend to lose collagen in their skin as they get older so some have been turning to ingestible collagen in a bid to retain their youthful appearance.
In Japan, for instance, people go to so-called beauty restaurants that serve food with chunks of collagen to look young.
Although there are collagen products such as beauty creams and serums that are applied on the skin, the protein's molecules are too large to be easily absorbed by the skin and this makes ingestible collagen the best option for increasing the body's collagen count.
Infusing food and drinks with collagen has become the latest craze but Anti-aGin's claims have raised eyebrows because when it comes to fighting aging, dermatologists have long advised against too much alcohol intake.
Some scientists are also skeptical about the anti-aging benefits of eating collagen, claiming that this has no discernible benefits.
In her book Tabemono Joho Uso Honto (Truth and Falsehood of Food Information), nutrition scientist Kuniko Takahashi from the Gunma University in Japan said that eating collagen to prevent aging is no better than consuming other protein-rich food.
"Good protein contains sufficient amounts of all kinds of essential amino acids, and most animal protein falls into this category," Takahashi wrote. "Collagen is no better than average as a protein."
