During Yellow September, a campaign dedicated to valuing life and preventing suicide, it is essential to expand the focus of health beyond emotional aspects and include the role of nutrition in neurochemical and cognitive balance, especially in young people.
Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2010, and Generation Alpha, born from 2010 onward, grow up in a fast-paced, digital, and highly demanding world, which has contributed to an increase in anxiety, depression, attention deficit, mental fatigue, and low cognitive clarity, even among younger individuals.
Recent research shows that mental health disorders are becoming more prevalent among younger age groups. According to the World Health Organization, one in seven adolescents lives with a mental disorder, aligning with IPSOS research showing that sixty-five percent of young Brazilians aged eighteen to twenty-four reported symptoms of anxiety, and nineteen percent reported suffering from depression. In addition, excessive screen time and social media use have been linked to worse emotional regulation and reduced sleep quality, directly impacting academic performance and overall well-being.
Stress, Screens, and Sleep: How Modern Life Affects Young People’s Mental Health
Modern life is marked by constant stimuli, digital hyperconnectivity, and poor sleep quality, all of which directly affect the neuroendocrine and immune systems. Chronic exposure to stress from academic pressures, social media, and a fast-paced lifestyle activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, leading to continuous cortisol release.
This imbalance affects brain regions such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, impairing emotional regulation, memory, and focus. Chronic stress is also associated with neuroinflammation and blood-brain barrier dysfunction, which can compromise neurotransmitter signaling, including serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, all essential for mood and mental stability.
Research also highlights the gut-brain axis, showing that intestinal health directly influences mental well-being. Imbalances in the gut microbiota, common in young people with nutrient-poor diets, excessive alcohol consumption, and irregular sleep, affect neurotransmitter production and increase low-grade systemic inflammation. Modern lifestyles therefore interfere with neurophysiological homeostasis, making young individuals more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, mental fatigue, and early cognitive disorders.
Given the chronic stress, persistent HPA axis activation, and gut microbiota imbalances observed in young populations, there is growing interest in nutritional strategies that act integratively to prevent these imbalances. In this context, collagen peptides, especially those rich in glycine, stand out as allies for neurological and emotional well-being.
Collagen Peptides and Glycine: Allies in Preventive Mental Health
While well-known for their benefits to skin, cartilage, and connective tissues, hydrolyzed collagen peptides have garnered increasing scientific interest for their functional potential in the central nervous system, particularly due to their high glycine content. Glycine functions as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and spinal cord, promoting balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition, which is directly related to anxiety regulation, deep sleep, and stress response.
Studies show that glycine can modulate HPA axis activity, reducing excessive cortisol secretion—a hormone chronically elevated in young people exposed to hyperconnectivity, constant digital stimuli, and sleep deprivation. This modulation reduces the risk of neuroinflammation and excitotoxicity, mechanisms linked to mental fatigue, anxiety, attention deficit, and early cognitive decline.
Additionally, due to its good bioavailability in hydrolyzed collagen form, glycine is rapidly absorbed and distributed, potentially exerting systemic effects that include not only the brain but also the gut-brain axis, regulating inflammatory processes and intestinal permeability, both of which directly affect mood and cognition.
Scientific Review on Glycine and Neuroinflammation
A narrative review published in 2023 in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences explored glycine as a bioactive dietary component, highlighting its multiple physiological functions, including effects on the central nervous system. The review gathered evidence from clinical and experimental studies, demonstrating glycine’s role as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, NMDA receptor modulator, and glutathione precursor, contributing to neuroprotection, emotional balance, sleep quality, and reduced neuroinflammation. The authors emphasize glycine’s potential for mood regulation, cognition, and stress response, especially under neurological overload and brain inflammation, suggesting its use as a complementary strategy for mental health support.
For nutritionists working with young people, including collagen peptides such as Genu-in® in dietary plans represents a functional and scientifically promising approach, always evaluated individually according to age and clinical conditions.
Both Genu-in® Life and Genu-in® Life Skin stand out in nutritional prescription due to batch-to-batch molecular standardization and a highly bioavailable amino acid profile, especially glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. It is the first collagen available in the market with a proteomic analysis-based standardized peptide profile, meaning identical peptide sequences in the same proportions are replicated across batches.
This level of standardization ensures the effective molecular composition generates a rigorously identical biological response in each batch, providing predictable absorption and efficacy, clinical confidence—something unprecedented among collagens available nationally.
In clinical practice, collagen peptides can be part of a supportive nutritional strategy, always under professional supervision, and applied to young individuals as preventive care for long-term mental and emotional health.
