Collagen

now browsing by category

 
Posted by: | Posted on: June 7, 2024

How to Diagnose and Treat Osteoarthritis


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/06/07/how-to-diagnose-and-treat-osteoarthritis.aspx

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     June 07, 2024

how to diagnose and treat osteoarthritis

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Osteoarthritis (OA) is often described as a “wear and tear” disease because it typically involves the breakdown of joint cartilage due to repetitive use and load over time
  • However, the understanding of osteoarthritis has evolved, and it is now recognized as a more complex condition influenced by a combination of factors beyond just mechanical wear and tear
  • Growing recognition among medical professionals suggests osteoarthritis should be considered a systemic disease, not just a localized joint condition
  • Maintaining a healthy weight is a key part of osteoarthritis prevention; avoiding linoleic acid in seed oils can help you avoid obesity
  • Homemade bone broth is rich in collagen, making it a natural food to support joint health; collagen is a major component of cartilage, the tissue that’s degraded in OA

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, is a degenerative joint disease that affects 32.5 million U.S. adults.1 Worldwide, about 595 million people are living with the condition, a 132% increase since 1990.2

Osteoarthritis occurs when the protective cartilage that cushions the ends of your bones wears down over time. Although osteoarthritis can damage any joint, the knee joint is most frequently affected, followed by the hip and hand.3 While there’s no known cure for osteoarthritis, it typically progresses slowly.

This means you can take steps to reduce further damage from the disease, like avoiding obesity and making collagen-rich bone broth. Scientists are also working on methods for early detection, which would allow treatment to begin before joint damage occurs.

Osteoarthritis Is Often Diagnosed After the Damage Is Done

Osteoarthritis is typically diagnosed based on a combination of clinical symptoms, physical examinations and diagnostic tests, including X-rays. Key symptoms of osteoarthritis include:

  • Joint pain and tenderness — Affected joints may hurt during or after movement.
  • Stiffness — Joint stiffness may be most noticeable upon waking up in the morning or after a period of inactivity.
  • Loss of flexibility — There may be a loss of flexibility in the affected joint.
  • Grating sensation — You might feel a grating sensation or hear a popping or crackling sound, when you use the joint.
  • Bone spurs — These extra bits of bone, which feel like hard lumps, can form around the affected joint.

Your doctor will ask about any such symptoms and how long you’ve had them, as well as whether you’ve had past injuries or engage in activities that could contribute to joint damage. For instance, according to the Osteoarthritis Action Alliance (OAAA):4

“Certain occupations (e.g., construction, healthcare, farming, law enforcement, first responders, military) involving prolonged standing, squatting, lifting, kneeling, and repetitive motion with resultant excessive mechanical stress on a joint, raises the risk of OA and can worsen symptoms.

Osteoarthritis and back pain are the most common diagnoses related to disability-caused separation from the military, both during periods of peacetime and war.

High impact professional sports (e.g., hockey, soccer, and football), where there is not only repetitive loading with excessive force, but also increased joint trauma puts players at risk of OA. In addition to elite-level athletes (soccer, long-distance running, weightlifting and wrestling), non-elite soccer athletes are also at risk of developing OA.”

X-rays are commonly used to diagnose osteoarthritis, as they can reveal changes in joint structure. The problem is that by the time osteoarthritis is visible on an X-ray, the joint is already damaged. Research suggests, however, that earlier diagnosis may be possible.

Blood Biomarkers May Reveal Osteoarthritis Eight Years Before X-Rays Can

Researchers from Duke University conducted a study to find blood markers that could predict the development of knee osteoarthritis in women before any joint damage is visible on X-rays.5 In a group of 200 women, they found that just six specific blood proteins were able to indicate a 77% chance of developing OA, up to eight years before it could be seen on X-rays.

Predicting OA based on these blood markers was more accurate than using age, body mass index (BMI) or reports of knee pain, all of which showed much lower accuracy (51% for age and BMI, 57% for knee pain). The findings suggest that the joint tissue may already be undergoing changes long before OA is visible on an X-ray, hinting at an ongoing inflammatory process or “OA continuum.”

Moreover, the majority of the blood proteins that indicated the potential onset of OA also suggested the possibility of OA getting worse. So, the early changes leading to OA and the worsening of OA once it’s begun may share similar underlying processes.

“This tells us that there is an osteoarthritis continuum,” lead study author Dr. Virginia Byers Kraus told The New York Times. “You’re already on an escalator that’s leading you up the path to symptoms and X-ray changes way before we thought.”6 One day, a blood test may be used to diagnose osteoarthritis in its early stages, when treatment may be able to stop joint damage from occurring.

Save This Article for Later – Get the PDF Now

Download PDF

Osteoarthritis Is Caused by More Than Wear and Tear

Osteoarthritis is often described as a “wear and tear” disease because it typically involves the breakdown of joint cartilage due to repetitive use and load over time. However, the understanding of osteoarthritis has evolved, and it is now recognized as a more complex condition influenced by a combination of factors beyond just mechanical wear and tear.

While excessive or abnormal forces on your joints can accelerate the breakdown of cartilage, biomechanical imbalances that place uneven stresses on your joints can also contribute. Further, although osteoarthritis is not a traditional inflammatory arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation does play a role. Chemicals in the joint can cause inflammation and damage to the cartilage and surrounding structures. According to OAAA:7

“Osteoarthritis is not simply caused by ‘wear and tear’ of the joint but is rather a complex disorder characterized by molecular, anatomic and physiologic changes. As such a complex disease, there are a variety of risk factors — both modifiable and non-modifiable — that contribute to its onset and progression, some of which can be mediated with appropriate management strategies.”

There is growing evidence, for instance, linking metabolic syndrome — a cluster of conditions including high blood pressure, high blood sugar excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol levels — to an increased risk of osteoarthritis.8

Extra body weight also increases the stress on weight-bearing joints like the knees and hips, increasing osteoarthritis risk, but adipose (fat) tissue also produces inflammatory substances that may contribute to joint deterioration. In fact, the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) defines osteoarthritis as:9

“A disorder involving movable joints characterized by cell stress and extracellular matrix degradation initiated by micro- and macro-injury that activates maladaptive repair responses including pro-inflammatory pathways of innate immunity.

The disease manifests first as a molecular derangement (abnormal joint tissue metabolism) followed by anatomic, and/or physiologic derangements (characterized by cartilage degradation, bone remodeling, osteophyte formation, joint inflammation and loss of normal joint function), that can culminate in illness.”

Age is also a primary risk factor, as the cumulative effects of use on your joints are often compounded by an age-related decrease in the body’s ability to heal and maintain tissue. Hormonal changes, particularly during menopause, also play a significant role in the development of osteoarthritis in women. Genetics may also predispose individuals to osteoarthritis, influencing the durability of cartilage and the body’s repair mechanisms.

Is Osteoarthritis a Systemic Disease?

Growing recognition among medical professionals suggests osteoarthritis should be considered a systemic disease, not just a localized joint condition. Writing in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, one team of scientists proposed renaming the disease “systemic OA” to move away from the perception that it’s focused solely on joints. They explained:10

“Its pathogenic mechanisms involve a variety of systemic conditions that contribute to joint damage. These include metabolic dysfunction, chronic low-grade inflammation, neuroplastic pain, and the influence of the central nervous system in the development of neuropathic pain.

Besides, OA can negatively affect other aspects of health, such as quality of life, reduced physical activity, social isolation, depression, and anxiety. OA can be considered a complex system in which pathological interactions involve not only obesity and metabolic dysfunction, but also fragility syndrome, sarcopenia, neurological complications, and systemic energy redistribution.”

This has implications for the way osteoarthritis is treated as well, since conventional treatment typically relies on support care, such as medications, physical therapy and heating pads.11 Instead, the researchers noted that medical care for OA should be “more holistic and personalized.”12

In addition to considering individual factors like genetics, lifestyle must be addressed, and resolving obesity should be a primary treatment, along with maintaining muscle health to support the joints.

Tips for Osteoarthritis Prevention

Maintaining a healthy weight is a key part of osteoarthritis prevention. Reducing body weight if you’re overweight can decrease the stress on weight-bearing joints like hips and knees and lower inflammation levels associated with obesity. Obesity is also a leading cause of knee replacements. One Australian study of 56,217 patients showed that, of the patients who received a knee replacement due to osteoarthritis, 31.9% were overweight and 57.7% were obese.13

Consuming too much linoleic acid (LA) in seed oils is a primary factor driving the overweight and obesity epidemics. At a molecular level, excess LA consumption also damages your metabolism and impedes your body’s ability to generate energy in your mitochondria.

Examples of seed oils high in LA include soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, rapeseed (canola), corn and safflower. To limit LA in your diet, you’ll need to avoid most processed foods.

Injury prevention is also important, as it’s estimated that up to 12% of OA cases result from injuries caused by automobile or military accidents, falls or sports.14 “Proper precautions such as stretching and strengthening exercises, appropriate footwear and other devices, along with supportive workplace or athletic team policies, can help reduce onset and progression of OA in occupational and sports settings,” OAAA notes.

Consuming specific anti-inflammatory and healing foods is another strategy to support overall health and osteoarthritis prevention. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage, for instance, contain a compound called sulforaphane, which also helps reduce the risk of osteoarthritis,15 in part by blocking enzymes that are linked to joint destruction.

A team of researchers from the University of East Anglia published a study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism that showed substances in cruciferous vegetables could slow the progression of osteoarthritis, or possibly prevent it.16

Sulforaphane did this by inhibiting metalloproteinases that have been implicated in the development and progression of osteoarthritis. The researchers found it also blocked inflammation to protect against cartilage destruction both in the lab and animal models.

Other natural compounds, like turmeric, are useful for relieving osteoarthritis pain. A 2021 randomized trial compared turmeric against paracetamol, a painkiller also known as acetaminophen.

Bioavailable turmeric extract was as effective as paracetamol against osteoarthritis pain and symptoms in the knee and was safe and more effective in reducing tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) and C-reactive protein (CRP).17 Acupuncture is another natural strategy that’s useful for pain relief and improving function in osteoarthritis.18

Bone Broth for Joint Health

Considering the underlying pathological processes leading to osteoarthritis start long before its symptoms, taking steps to support your joint health early on makes sense. One way to do this is by making homemade bone broth. Bone broth is made by simmering animal bones and connective tissue, which releases collagen and other nutrients into the broth.

Collagen is a major component of cartilage, the tissue that’s degraded in OA. While there are plenty of collagen supplements on the market, bone broth is by far the least expensive option. Collagen accounts for about 30% of the total protein in your body.

One of its primary functions is to provide structural support and strength to your tissues, such as skin, bones, tendons, ligaments and cartilage,19,20,21 allowing them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity. As such, collagen is crucial for repairing soft tissue, muscle and connective tissue, all of which tend to get weaker and less elastic with age.

Further, bone broth may help reduce joint pain and stiffness,22 including osteoarthritis pain.23 It helps reduce joint pain and inflammation, in part, courtesy of chondroitin sulfates, glucosamine and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage.

To make homemade bone broth, simply place bones in an Instant Pot, fill the pot with pure, filtered water — just enough to cover the bones — add salt and other spices to taste, then set it to cook on high for two hours if the bones are from a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) or four hours if organic and grass fed.

Using bones from CAFO beef can be problematic due to potential heavy metal contamination. So, when cooking these bones in the Instant Pot, it’s best to limit the time to two hours to avoid introducing heavy metals into your broth.

If you’re using beef bones from grass fed organic sources, you can safely cook them for four hours. Using bones from an organic source is even more important if you’re using chicken, as CAFO chickens tend to produce stock that doesn’t gel,24 which raises questions about the quality of the collagen you’re getting.

You can further customize your bone broth to align with specific health goals and nutritional needs. For instance, if you’re looking to support joint health, consider adding other ingredients that are rich in collagen such as chicken feet to maximize the health benefits.

Posted in Bones, Collagen, Joints, Linoleic Acid, Obesity, Osteoporosis | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: April 25, 2024

Is Eating Eggshells Beneficial?


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/04/25/eating-eggshells.aspx
Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     April 25, 2024

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Eggshells contain protein, magnesium, selenium and numerous other trace compounds to help augment your bones and joints, negating the need to take a calcium supplement
  • In spite of the calcium sources that are readily available, calcium deficiency is quite common, causing a condition known as hypocalcemia, evidenced by low levels of the mineral in your blood
  • Symptoms of a calcium deficiency include fatigue, mood changes, muscle stiffness, spasms and lapses in memory
  • Ground eggshells can be placed in several types of foods to give your calcium levels a quick boost without altering the taste, but preparing them correctly to eradicate bacteria is crucial

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published December 11, 2017.

As you’ve cracked eggs over a skillet or mixing bowl over the years, it may never have occurred to you that the eggshell, and not just the egg, may offer considerable nutritional benefits. A study entitled “Eggshell Membrane: A Possible New Natural Therapeutic for Joint and Connective Tissue Disorders,” published in Clinical Interventions in Aging, supported this hypothesis. Researchers tested the concept of using natural eggshell membranes in supplement form, or NEM, as a:

“Novel dietary supplement as it contains naturally occurring glycosaminoglycans and proteins essential for maintaining healthy joint and connective tissues … 500 mg taken once daily, significantly reduced pain, both rapidly (seven days) and continuously (30 days).”1

It may interest you to know that the researchers involved in the study concluded that none of the participants exhibited any adverse effects in the course of the study. A significant percentage of the participants experienced considerable improvements, and the authors deemed the crushed eggshell treatment to be “well tolerated.”2

Learning that not only were eggshells from hens “suitable for human consumption” but even nutritious, the blogger behind Healthy Food Tribe notes that for others interested in the science behind it, it’s important to understand a few things, namely:3

  • Crushed, powdered eggshells may be a good addition to your diet
  • How to prepare them
  • How to use and store them

Studies Analyze the Benefits of Eggshell Consumption

According to the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition,4 the ingredient that makes eating eggshells beneficial is calcium, or more specifically, calcium carbonate. Perhaps not surprisingly, that’s what 95% of the total makeup of eggshells consist of,5 which is similar to your own bones and teeth.

Researchers noted that consuming just half an eggshell can supply you with the recommended reference daily intake (RDI)6 of calcium, an amount the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined fulfills the nutrient needs by infants, children and adults.

In spite of the calcium sources that are readily available, calcium deficiency is quite common,7 causing a condition known as hypocalcemia. It’s evidenced by low levels of the mineral in your blood serum or plasma. Interestingly, anxiety and stress can contribute to this condition. Common symptoms of a calcium deficiency include:8

  • Overall fatigue
  • Muscle stiffness
  • Muscle spasms
  • Mood changes
  • Memory lapses

How Low Calcium Levels Can Bring About Osteoporosis

Around 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men worldwide over the age of 50 experience an osteoporosis-related fracture. In fact, in 2000, 9 million such breaks were recorded, 1.6 million of them were hip fractures, which can be life-threatening, as 20% of the individuals who’ve had a hip fracture die within a year.9

One of the most sobering statistics about this condition, though, is that the remedy most people gravitate toward (because it’s the go-to remedy doctors recommend) is toxic drugs, the side effects of which can range from serious to devastating, including doubling your risk of esophageal cancer.10

While a number of studies stress how important it is for people suffering from osteoporosis to keep moving to maintain muscle strength and build bone density, drugs prescribed to remedy the problem may thicken bones to make them bulkier but more porous in the process, and therefore more prone to breakage. People also often take calcium tablets in an effort to strengthen their bones and teeth and help prevent fractures.

A report from The Institute of Medicine, now known as The National Academy of Medicine, noted that calcium may be one of the most abundant minerals in your body, accounting around 1% to 2% of your total body weight. According to the report, calcium has more uses other than just for your bones:

“Over 99 percent of total body calcium is found in teeth and bones. The remainder is present in blood, extracellular fluid, muscle, and other tissues, where it plays a role in mediating vascular contraction and vasodilation, muscle contraction, nerve transmission, and glandular secretion.”11

It’s important to understand, however, that if your calcium levels are not low, taking in too much will not only not help you, it may, in fact, do more harm than good. Further, poor-quality calcium supplements may contain toxic metals in harmful amounts, including lead, cadmium, aluminum and mercury, according to a Canadian study,12 even though they may be labeled as being naturally sourced.

Save This Article for Later – Get the PDF Now

Download PDF

How Eating Eggshells Can Lower Your Osteoporosis Odds

For all of these reasons, ground eggshells can be an excellent stand-in for calcium supplements, which many people, both men and women, are directed by their doctors to take when aging begins the natural but preventable process of leaching calcium from bones, making bones thinner and weaker — a condition known as osteoporosis. The study added:

“In vitro eggshell powder stimulates chondrocyte differentiation and cartilage growth. Clinical studies in postmenopausal women and women with senile osteoporosis showed that eggshell powder reduces pain and osteoresorption and increases mobility and bone density or arrests its loss.

The bioavailability of calcium from this source, as tested in piglets, was similar or better than that of food grade purified calcium carbonate. Clinical and experimental studies showed that eggshell powder has positive effects on bone and cartilage and that it is suitable in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.”13

Many foods contain calcium, the healthiest dairy options being hormone-free, grass fed raw milk, butter, yogurt and cheese, as well as green vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, spinach and kale, as well as canned sardines and salmon with bones intact, almonds and sesame seeds.

However, powdered eggshells add to your calcium intake dramatically. In addition, they contain magnesium and selenium, as well as trace amounts of potassium, zinc, manganese, iron and copper.14 The featured video notes that they also contain glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid. The video also lists other compounds in the shell membrane, such as type I collagen.

“Eggshell membrane is primarily composed of fibrous proteins such as collagen type I … (as well as) glycosaminoglycans, such as dermatan sulfate and chondroitin sulfate and sulfated glycoproteins including hexosamines, such as glucosamine. Other components identified in eggshell membranes are hyaluronic acid, sialic acid, desmosine and isodesmosine, ovotransferrin, lysyl oxidase, lysozyme, and β-N-acetylglucosaminidase.”15

Best Procedure for Eggshell Consumption

The 2003 study explains that the best way to consume and digest eggshells is in powdered form, but first, they must be cleaned properly to get rid of any bacteria that may be hanging around. To say that eating eggshells right after peeling them is not recommended is a gross — in every sense of the word — understatement. Also keep in mind that organic, pastured eggs are not only recommended but crucial.

The best way to prepare eggshells is to powder them in a grinder, such as a coffee grinder or food processor, but again, make sure they’re organic, pastured and dried properly before you grind or eat them. Also, it’s important to remember NOT to remove the membrane, the ultrathin “skin” between the shell and the outer shell, as this is where the nutrition comes from. Luckily, preparing your eggshells is an easy process:

  1. Once you’ve used one or more organic eggs, save the shells, drop them into boiling water for about five minutes to clean them and remove bacteria.
  2. Spread the shells on a paper towel placed on a baking sheet to dry. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Remove the paper towel, spread the shells out on the baking sheet and bake for around 10 minutes to further eradicate harmful bacteria. This step also serves to further dry them, which makes them easier to grind.
  4. Grind the dried, baked eggshells in a coffee grinder (or a good-quality blender that grinds them very finely) until they attain a powdery substance.
  5. Store the powder in an airtight container to keep out moisture.

Ways to Use Your Powdered Eggshells

I personally take one teaspoon of ground eggshells twice a day. They easily mix in water and have virtually no flavor. I love them because the extra calcium helps lower phosphate in my diet which is particularly challenging for kidney health. However, it is important to make sure you also add magnesium to balance the calcium otherwise you can develop a mineral imbalance that can lead to cramps.

According to one study,16 an eggshell contains around 2.07 grams of calcium. Therefore, adding half an eggshell to a smoothie can already get you close to the recommended reference daily intake of calcium (1,300 mg).17 This amount may be enough, since you’ll have to consider the calcium you get from your other meals, too.

Other ways to get the benefits of powdered eggshells, without affecting the flavor of the foods, include:18

  • In homemade pasta sauce or salad
  • In juice or even water; stir it in and drink it down quickly before it settles to the bottom of the glass
  • Coffee, as powdered eggshells are said to reduce or even eliminate bitterness when it’s added to the grounds before brewing

Besides taking calcium through food or supplements, and aside from cleaning and crushing eggshells for consumption with food, you can also take the NEM supplements with the membrane intact to benefit your joints, although scientists say more studies are needed. Besides the dietary intake of eggshells, you may find it interesting to learn that animal husbandry and gardening gurus alike have taken advantage of the benefits obtained through eggshells, including:

  • Composting
  • Chicken feed
  • Pest control in gardens
  • Healthier tomatoes
  • Bird feed

One of the most amazing things about this way of supplementing your diet is that it’s not just inexpensive, but it’s almost free. However, another caution is for moderation. More is not better in this regard, but if your calcium level isn’t where it should be, augmenting your intake with powdered eggshells is a viable option.

Posted in Bones, Collagen, Eggs, Food, Minerals | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: July 5, 2023

Collagen for Soft Tissue Injury and Repair


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/07/02/collagen-for-soft-tissue-injury-repair.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     July 02, 2023

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Collagen-based tissue includes tendons, ligaments, cartilage and fascia — basically connective tissue — all of which tend to get weaker and less elastic with age
  • Connective tissue requires very specific raw materials, namely animal-based collagen such as gelatin and bone broth. Your body cannot produce the essential amino acids that make up collagen, so you must obtain them through your diet
  • Collagen is high in glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, and relatively low in branched-chain amino acids, which are the primary ones that stimulate mTOR, muscle anabolism and muscle building. For that reason, it does not count toward your daily protein intake
  • To optimize endurance, use a heart rate monitor and calculate your max heart rate based on the formula of 180 minus your age. This formula gives you your maximum aerobic function
  • 180 minus your age is the heart rate at which enough oxygen is being put through your body to fuel fat burning, and to not put you into glycogen or sugar burning

Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published October 14, 2018.

Mark Sisson, a former elite endurance athlete that qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic marathon trials, founder of the popular website Mark’s Daily Apple and a leader in the paleo movement, was one of the first to help me understand the importance of burning fat for fuel.

Here — after we cover some of the basic benefits of high-intensity interval training and strength training, we segue to the topic at hand, namely the use of collagen for soft tissue injuries and repair, along with a few other useful fitness tips.

“How I came to [learn about collagen] was how I arrived at a lot of my epiphanies — I had a life crisis. I play ultimate Frisbee once a week, every week for the last 15 years now. But about five or six years ago, I started to develop severe Achilles’ heel tendinosis.

Ultimate Frisbee is a very fast-paced game … There’s lots of running … [and it] requires a lot of agility, a lot of side-to-side quick movement, as well as raw speed …

I found over a couple of years, in my late 50s, that I was starting to get these real severe Achilles’ problems. I couldn’t sprint. My Achilles’ were really tender. They were getting thick. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon [who] said, ‘You have severe Achilles’ tendinosis.’ I go, ‘What does that mean?’ ‘Well, you’re screwed, basically. You can’t play sports again’ …

An orthopedist in Southern California said, ‘Well, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take the back of your heel, slit it open and scrape the Achilles’ down to the raw meat. We’re going to pack it up in a cast for three months, then you’ll do nine months of rehab and you’ll be 85% of where you were.’ I’m like, ‘No. That’s not going to happen, Doc … ‘

I went back to my house and said, ‘You know, there’s something I was doing wrong here.’ I started to do the analysis and I thought, ‘Here I am stressing my Achilles’, which is attached to the calves, so I’m really stressing the calves, the plantar fascia and everything around it, on a regular basis. I’m not giving my body the raw materials it needs to recover from that stress. It is that simple.'”

Collagen for Soft Tissue Repair

Collagen-based tissue includes tendons, ligaments, cartilage and fascia — basically connective tissue — all of which tend to get weaker and less elastic with age. Injuries are also worsened by the fact that there’s very little blood supply in connective tissue, which slows down recovery.

While a muscle injury is fairly easy to fix and recover from, connective tissue require very specific raw materials, namely animal-based collagen such as gelatin and bone broth. This collagen material is amino acids that get incorporated into your body to become this matrix of connective tissue. Sisson adds:

“Even if you say, ‘Well, I can get all of these raw materials from the amino acids in the meat that I’m eating, or in the protein drinks that I’m drinking,’ the reality is you can get some of those, but not in the quantities that you probably need, particularly as you get older and particularly if you start stressing these tendons, ligaments, cartilage and other connective tissue and fascia.

Having done the analysis, I started supplementing 40 grams of collagen a day. Within four months, my Achilles’ were better. I could have two scars on the back of my leg and be all pissed off about the surgery that I had that didn’t quite come out the way I was promised.

But I’m here telling you that I just got off the track, where I ran 32 seconds for a 200 at age 65. And that’s the first time I’ve been to the track in probably six months …

If you talk about gelatin, collagen peptide or collagen bone broth, we’re talking about the same peptide. We’re talking about glycine, proline, hydroxyprolines — some of these really specific amino acids — dipeptide, tripeptide that actually cross into the bloodstream as a unit and get incorporated into the body.”

Your Body Selectively Takes Collagen Into Stressed Areas

The Achilles’ tendon can be envisioned as a coiled spongy spring, full of fluid. Each time you stress it, the tendon tightens, pushing the fluid out. As the tendon relaxes, fluid flows back in. Sisson cites research showing that when subjects were given a collagen drink 15 minutes before performing a jump rope exercise, collagen peptides in the bloodstream surrounding the tissue were incorporated at over two times the normal speed.

“That was a fascinating study to me, which indicated that it’s really happening the way I envisioned it — that the body will selectively take in these collagen peptides into the area being stressed, particularly if you don’t have any other source of raw material in your diet,” Sisson says.

“Even in the paleo world … you’re eating choice cuts of meat, but you’re not gnawing on the bones or the skin or the tendons or other nether parts of the animal … Most of us don’t make bone broth anymore. We’ve had decades of not having any access to collagen.

I see it in pro-sports, where athletes are tearing anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs), medial collateral ligaments (MCLs), tendons and all kinds of stuff. I’m going to have to say that a lot of this is because their diet is so horrible to begin with, and then they don’t take in supplemental collagen that I think would be probably wise on their part.”

Download this Article Before it Disappears

Download PDF

The Difference Between Collagen and Other Protein

As mentioned, the collagen Sisson recommends for soft tissue repair is high in glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, and relatively low in branched-chain amino acids, which are the primary ones that stimulate the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), muscle anabolism and muscle building.

For that reason, while 40 grams sounds like a lot, it does not count toward your daily protein intake, which I typically recommend keeping around 0.5 grams per pound of lean body mass. Above that, you start running the risk of overstimulating mTOR, which speeds aging and raises your risk for chronic disease, including cancer.

Since mTOR is not stimulated by collagen peptides, you don’t have to worry about exceeding your protein intake when taking a collagen supplement.

“Twenty grams a day is for my maintenance level of collagen,” Sisson says. “But you hit the nail on the head. Collagen is such a unique protein blend of amino acids and it’s so specific to collagenous material in the body that it does not sustain life.

When you buy a collagen product and it says 10 grams per serving or 20 grams per serving of protein, because it is protein and it has to say protein on it, when you look at the supplement facts panel on the back, it’s zero of the daily value. In other words, it cannot sustain life.”

Back in the ’80s, a 500-calorie-a-day liquid protein diet was all the rage. Medifast and OPTIFAST were two of the big brand names. This liquid protein was in fact collagen. People believed they were getting 500 calories in the form of protein on a daily basis, but because it was collagen, it was not enough to live on. People actually died on this diet.

I actually had a number of patients on this program in the mid-’80s before I understood nutrition. Now I realize that a 500-calorie partial fast can actually be very healthy but should only be done a few times a week, and must be cycled in with a high-protein, high-carb diet in a really specific sequence. Also, there are better proteins than collagen for a partial fast. I go into great details on this in my book, “Keto Fast.”

“They had congestive heart failure, arrhythmias and things like that, because it was not the right kind of protein to build muscle,” Sisson says. On the other hand, as long as you didn’t pursue it for too long or too exclusively, you could significantly improve health as it maximized autophagy.

“That’s the good news-bad news … A lot of people wound up having great skin, hair and nails and lost some weight. That was the upshot of that. Anyway, it was such an interesting concept that even the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration say, ‘You can’t live on collagen protein.’

They’re basically acknowledging that if you eat collagen protein, you’re doing it for skin, hair, nails, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, bones and fascia — a lot of structural components in our body that are well-served by doing a daily dose of some form of collagen.

That’s also why bone broth has become all the rage in the health food circles in the last five years … Here’s my shameless plug. I had such a great experience with supplementary collagen, I created a collagen product line within my Primal Kitchen food line, as I am so clear on people needing to supplement with collagen on a regular basis.”

Types of Collagen

While 28 different types of collagen have been scientifically identified, most supplements will contain one or more of just three of these, which are known simply as:1,2,3

  • Type 1 — collagen found in skin/hide, tendon, scales and bones of cows, pigs, chicken and fish
  • Type 2 — formed in cartilage and typically derived from poultry
  • Type 3 — fibrous protein found in bone, tendon, cartilage and connective tissues of cows, pigs, chicken and fish

Types 1, 2 and 3 comprise 90% of the collagen in your body.4 When talking about collagen supplements, you also need to know the difference between unhydrolyzed (undenatured) or hydrolyzed (denatured) collagen. In their natural, hydrolyzed state, collagen molecules are poorly absorbed due to their large size.

Hydrolyzation refers to a processing technique that breaks the molecules down into smaller fragments, thereby enhancing intestinal absorption. For this reason, most collagen products are hydrolyzed. As for the difference between collagen and gelatin: Collagen is the raw material and gelatin is what you get when you cook the collagen.5

“Bovine-sourced collagen are the basic element, probably covering 80% of the bases,” Sisson says. “There are different sources of different blends of collagen peptides. Some are higher in proline. Some are higher in glycine. Some are higher in hydroxyproline.

But they all have kind of the same sorts of dietary peptides, just at relatively different levels and different amounts … And then we have hyaluronic acid, which is another factor in some of these products.

I’m basically saying that [you can] cover 80% of your needs with a 100% grass fed, naturally derived bovine source of Type 1 and a little bit of Type 2 collagen … As for the rest, you’re just splitting hairs. That’s how I feel about the Type 1 and Type 2 stuff.”

Nonorganic Collagen, Bone Broth Products Likely CAFO-Derived

Keep in mind that many collagen supplements are made from animal parts derived from animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and may contain unwanted contaminants, including heavy metals,6 chemicals such as butylparaben, and drugs,7 including antibiotics.

If you do not consume factory-farmed/CAFO meats, you likely should not be consuming CAFO collagen and bone broth products. While CAFO-derived collagen, bone meal or bone broth may not be acutely toxic, purchasing food products from factory farms is a problematic practice.

I recommend eating mostly organic and grass fed foods — and that includes collagen from these sources — as each and every source will add to your overall toxic load. To avoid exposure to CAFO-related contaminants, make sure the product is “100% USDA Organic” and/or certified grass fed by the AGA.

On Dosage

When it comes to dosage, there are no hard and fast rules. Sisson, being willing to experiment on himself, decided for a larger-than-normal dose and took 20 grams of collagen twice a day to start. After a few months, he cut down to a maintenance dose of 20 grams a day.

“I thought, I’m just going to bathe my Achilles’ in this raw material,” he says. “I think there’s a rate limiter on how much your body can absorb … It’s not like you’re going to hurt yourself … [But] you still have to deaminate the excess.

Some of it might be converted into glucose, because there’s that whole gluconeogenic aspect of excess protein. I used to think I had high protein requirements but all of a sudden I was like, ‘Geez, my daily protein requirements might be 50 to 75 grams a day.’

I feel great doing that. Anything I eat beyond that isn’t building more muscle, isn’t causing me to burn more fat. It’s just extra calories that the body has to figure out what to do with.

Again, do I convert it to glucose and burn it? Do I convert it to glucose and store it as fat? Do I deaminate it and pee it out? Do I keep it temporarily in the nebulous amino acid pool or sink that’s in the body?

In the last couple of years as I look more into this whole protein thing, I don’t even think in terms of meal-to-meal or even day-to-day. I sort of look at protein intake in three and four day clumps.

If I get 180 grams of protein over three days, I don’t care how it came in or when it came in. That’s enough to keep me going, because the body is so efficient at recycling, particularly when you’re fat-adapted and keto-adapted. It’s so efficient at not feeling like it needs to dispose of that protein.”

The Importance of Pulsing Your Protein and Carb Intake

Personally, I’ve found I need to pulse my protein intake. I’ll restrict it below 15 to 40 grams a day a few days a week, then increase it to 70 to 100 grams on my strength training days or post partial fast. While you don’t want to chronically stimulate mTOR, you also don’t want to chronically suppress it. So, pulsing or cycling seems to be the best way to go about it.

The same can be said for carbohydrates. While nutritional ketosis requires you to severely restrict net carbs while increasing dietary fats, chronic carb restriction is inadvisable. This is why I recommend cycling in and out of ketosis once you’ve established that your body can efficiently burn fat. As explained by Sisson:

“I don’t like the word ‘ketogenesis’ because it connotes an excess of ketones in the bloodstream. To think that you’re going to have an excess of ketones in the bloodstream all the time for the rest of your life is ridiculous. I talk about keto in the same breath that I talk about fat-adapted and keto-adapted. The term I use is ‘metabolic flexibility.’

We want to be able to burn fat when it’s available on our plate. We want to burn fat when there’s no food available. We want to burn glycogen when it’s in our muscles and there’s none available.

We want to burn carbohydrate on our plates, and when it’s available [as] glucose in the bloodstream. We want to burn ketones when there’s no glucose. And, as the very last resort, we want to burn amino acids because it is a substrate in the absence of other substrates.

But metabolic flexibility means we’ve developed this internal combustion system that is equally adapted, extracting calories from all these substrates, not just dependent on carbohydrate every three or four hours, which was the old paradigm. But certainly, also not just adhering to a keto diet for the rest of your life with no more than 20 or 30 grams of carbs a day.”

Living Your Best Life

While I believe wearable fitness trackers, like an Oura ring that has no EMF when it is airplane mode, can be valuable, Sisson is a self-proclaimed “anti-wearable tech person.” Instead, he believes it’s important to become more intuitive in your approach to lifestyle choices.

“How do you look, feel and perform? When you wake up in the morning and you do a workout, are you ready for that workout? Do you feel like doing that workout? Are you excited about the workout? Do you have enough energy when you wake up in the morning?

If you’re not hungry, do you still have to eat? No. If you’re not hungry, why are you going to eat in the first place? A lot of this is just developing an intuitive sense so that even if you eat the wrong thing, you don’t beat yourself up …

I’m trying to take this high-tech movement and swing it back to using the information to get you to identify when you are ready to do something you’re not yet ready to do. A good example would be a heart rate monitor. I train with a heart rate monitor …

Now, after years of using one, I know what my heart rate is at different levels. In fact, the only reason I ever used a heart rate monitor after the first couple of years was to keep me below a certain level [of exertion], because I knew if I went above a certain level, I was in that black hole of [over]training.”

How a Heart Monitor Can Improve Your Endurance

Sisson has a counterintuitive recommendation and approach to endurance training. While 220 minus your age is your theoretical max heart rate, Sisson recommends using 180 minus your age. This formula gives you your maximum aerobic function. What this means is that that’s the heart rate at which enough oxygen is being put through your body to fuel fat burning, and to not put you into glycogen or sugar burning.

“A lot of people say, ‘I’m 40 years old. That means I have a max training heartrate of 140. But Mark, I can train at 160 and 165 all day long. I could run six-minute miles. And when I do what you say, and I train at 140 as a max heartrate, I’m doing nine-and-a-half- to 10-minute miles. I’m almost walking. That can’t be accurate.’

My response is, ‘It’s entirely accurate. Here’s the issue. You perform well as a sugar burner. You’re a great sugar burner. When you are training at 165 or 170 heart rate and you feel pretty good about it, you’re great at burning sugar. But you suck at burning fat. The fact that you suck at burning fat is demonstrated by the fact that you can’t do much work at 140 beats a minute.’

How Mark Allen became the premiere Ironman in the world is because Dr.[Phil] Maffetone coached him … [to keep] that metric. They go for long periods of time, never exceeding that heart rate … They don’t use speed or miles per hour to dictate how fast they’re going.

Over time, what they find is they become more and more efficient at that heartrate. All of a sudden, those nine-and-a-half-minute miles become eight-and-a-half-minute miles, and then eight-minute miles, and then seven-minute miles.

The next thing you know, this guy who’s 40 years old complaining about how slow he’s going, if he’s done it for several weeks, he’s all of a sudden going, ‘Mark, I’m running six-minute miles at 140 beats a minute. Imagine what I can do when I get in a race and then I’m throttling it up at 160 or 165 beats a minute.’

At six-minute miles at 140 beats a minute, we know based on how hard the heart is not working, that he’s burning fat, because he would not be able to supply that much oxygen to fuel that amount of work on sugar.

You have to understand the science. But when you do, and you realize as long as you’re willing to spend time in this zone, you become more and more efficient. That is what endurance is all about. It’s about how efficient you are.”

More Information

For more fitness, diet and health tips, check out Sisson’s blog on marksdailyapple.com. There you can also find his books, which include “The Primal Blueprint,” “The Primal Connection,” “Primal Endurance” and “The 21-Day Total Body Transformation.” If you subscribe to his newsletter you get a free copy of his fitness e-book.

His latest book, “The Keto Reset Diet,” is available on Amazon and ketoreset.com. Sisson also sells whey, collagen protein, unsweetened organic ketchup, mayonnaise and salad dressings made with avocado oil on primalkitchen.com.

Posted in Collagen, Heart, Keto, Protein | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: June 23, 2023

Collagen and Gelatin Are Crucial for Optimal Health


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/06/23/collagen-and-gelatin-for-optimal-health.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     June 23, 2023

collagen and gelatin for optimal health

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Collagen accounts for about 30% of the total protein content in the human body and needs to be replaced. Red meat will not provide enough amino acids to allow you to build strong connective tissue
  • Collagen provides structural scaffolding for your various tissues to allow them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity, and is crucial for repairing soft tissue, muscle and connective tissue. Gelatin is cooked collagen, which makes it more digestible and easier to absorb
  • Many degenerative and inflammatory diseases can also be ameliorated by eating more gelatin-rich foods. Red meat, on the other hand, contains far higher levels of the antimetabolic amino acids cysteine and tryptophan, which you want less of if you struggle with degenerative and/or inflammatory conditions
  • Life extension studies have shown that restricting only tryptophan, or only cysteine, produces a greater life span extension than caloric restriction
  • Collagen is rich in glycine, which can be helpful for all sorts of bleeding problems, including nosebleeds, excessive menstrual bleeding, bleeding ulcers, hemorrhoids and even stroke

Collagen accounts for about 30% of the total protein in your body. One of its primary purposes is to provide structural support and strength to your tissues, such as skin, bones, tendons, ligaments and cartilage1,2,3 by allowing them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity.

As such, collagen is crucial for repairing soft tissue, muscle and connective tissue. Connective tissues include tendons, ligaments, cartilage and fascia, which tend to get weaker and less elastic with age. Connective tissue injuries are also problematic since there’s very little blood supply in connective tissue, which slows down recovery.

Nearly one-third of the amino acids in collagen is glycine. It is also high in proline, hydroxyproline and alanine, which are the building blocks for the matrix of connective tissue. Your body uses the amino acids in collagen to rehab stressed areas and places in your body where it’s needed the most. Other lesser-known health benefits of collagen supplementation include:

Deeper sleep due to its glycine content4
Reduced joint pain and stiffness,5 including osteoarthritis pain6
Improved gut health and digestion, thanks to the presence of glycine7
Improved blood pressure and reduced cardiovascular damage8
Improved glucose tolerance9
Reduced inflammation and oxidative damage, as glycine inhibits the consumption of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). NADPH is used as a reductive reservoir of electrons to recharge antioxidants once they become oxidized

Important Differences Between Collagen and Red Meat

The chart below details the amino acid ratios of gelatin and collagen versus red meat (beef). As you can see, gelatin/collagen contain vastly more of the important amino acids to rebuild your connective tissue than beef. Since one-third of your body’s protein is collagen, it makes no sense to eat only muscle meat, as it will not provide enough amino acids to allow you to build strong connective tissue.

Importantly, collagen contains higher amounts of specific amino acids with anti-inflammatory and other healing properties, while red meat is higher in amino acids that induce inflammation. I’ll discuss these differences further below.

amino acid ratios of gelatin and collagen versus red meat

I believe it is still important to eat animal protein that is higher in branched chain amino acids to stimulate mTOR and muscle protein synthesis, but it is wise not to use this exclusively as the amino acids in red are relatively high in animal protein and have been shown to negatively correlate with longevity.

Interestingly, collagen and gelatin are extraordinarily low in these amino acids. This is why I personally shoot to have about one-third of my protein as collagen or gelatin. I have cut down my egg and meat intake by 50% and replaced the protein with gelatin and collagen. One of the reasons I did this was based on the late Ray Peat’s take on the importance of balancing these important amino acids.

Our ancestors never had access to gelatin or collagen products as food sources like we have today, so they typically obtained their collagen from eating the whole animal, including the connective tissue. Since most of us are not doing that today, it would seem important to integrate some collagen and gelatin into our diets.

Collagen Is Important for Degenerative Diseases

According to Peat, who was a biologist10 with a specialization in physiology,11 collagen — especially the cooked form, which is gelatin — also helps protect your cells against stress. He points out that amino acids in their free state have many hormone-like functions.

For example, during stress, cysteine and tryptophan are released in large quantities, and these amino acids have antimetabolic effects. Other amino acids act as nerve-modifiers, triggering excitation or inhibition, while others, especially glycine, have cell-protective, anti-stress effects.

As such, many degenerative and inflammatory diseases can be ameliorated by eating more gelatin-rich foods. Red meat, on the other hand, contains far higher levels of the antimetabolic amino acids cysteine and tryptophan, which you want less of if you struggle with degenerative and/or inflammatory conditions.

Download this Article Before it Disappears

Download PDF

We’ve Followed a Flawed Paradigm

Peat stressed that the conventional “lock and key” paradigm of endocrinology, which teaches that hormones signal cells that have suitable receptors for it, is flawed. Instead, his research brought him to the understanding that cellular responses were in fact dependent on the state of the cells, and that state is modified by nutrients, metabolites, hormones and neurotransmitters in its surroundings.

By fixating on a flawed paradigm, we’ve ended up with what Peat referred to as “monstrous distortion of the official dietary recommendations.” For example, most studies trying to determine the nutritional requirements for protein were done for the agricultural industry and were designed to identify the cheapest way to achieve maximum growth in the shortest time possible.

But maximizing growth doesn’t mean you’re also maximizing health and longevity. Quite the contrary. Polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) like linoleic acid (LA), for example, produce rapid weight gain in young animals, which translates into rapid profits. But if we’re looking for optimal human health, that’s not what we want. And, indeed, there’s overwhelming evidence showing excessive PUFA consumption is wrecking human health.

Similarly, amino acids in proteins were defined as “essential” based on their contribution of growth in animals, again ignoring factors such as longevity, brain development and optimal health.

According to Peat, what little research has been done in this area suggests the human requirement for tryptophan and cysteine is very low in adulthood. So, the high intake of red meat and virtually no consumption of connective tissues rich in collagen and gelatin is not doing your health any favors.

Collagen for Life Extension and Disease Prevention

According to Peat, life extension studies have shown that “Restricting only tryptophan, or only cysteine, produces a greater extension of the life span than achieved in most of the studies of caloric restriction,” which is rather remarkable. In his archived article “Gelatin, Stress, Longevity,” Peat explained:12

“Both tryptophan and cysteine inhibit thyroid function and mitochondrial energy production, and have other effects that decrease the ability to withstand stress. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, which causes inflammation, immunodepression, and generally the same changes seen in aging.

Histidine is another amino acid precursor to a mediator of inflammation, histamine; would the restriction of histidine in the diet have a longevity promoting effect, too?

It happens that gelatin is a protein which contains no tryptophan, and only small amounts of cysteine, methionine, and histidine. Using gelatin as a major dietary protein is an easy way to restrict the amino acids that are associated with many of the problems of aging …

When cells are stressed, they form extra collagen, but they can also dissolve it, to allow for tissue remodeling and growth … When collagen is broken down, it releases factors that promote wound healing and suppress tumor invasiveness. Glycine itself is one of the factors promoting wound healing and tumor inhibition.

It has a wide range of antitumor actions, including the inhibition of new blood vessel formation (angiogenesis), and it has shown protective activity in liver cancer and melanoma …

When we eat animal proteins in the traditional ways (for example, eating fish head soup, as well as the muscles, or ‘head-cheese’ as well as pork chops, and chicken-foot soup as well as drumsticks), we assimilate a large amount of glycine and gelatin. This whole-animal balance of amino acids supports all sorts of biological process[es], including a balanced growth of children’s tissues and organs.

When only the muscle meats are eaten, the amino acid balance entering our blood stream is the same as that produced by extreme stress, when cortisol excess causes our muscles to be broken down to provide energy and material for repair.

The formation of serotonin is increased by the excess tryptophan in muscle, and serotonin stimulates the formation of more cortisol, while the tryptophan itself, along with the excess muscle-derived cysteine, suppresses the thyroid function …

The range of injuries produced by an excess of tryptophan and serotonin seems to be prevented or corrected by a generous supply of glycine. Fibrosis, free radical damage, inflammation, cell death from ATP depletion or calcium overload, mitochondrial damage, diabetes, etc., can be prevented or alleviated by glycine.

Some types of cell damage are prevented almost as well by alanine and proline as by glycine, so the use of gelatin, rather than glycine, is preferable … Gelatin has been used successfully to treat diabetes for over 100 years. Glycine inhibits lipolysis … and this in itself will make insulin more effective, and help to prevent hyperglycemia. (A gelatin-rich diet can also lower the serum triglycerides.)

Since persistent lipolysis and insulin resistance, along with a generalized inflammatory state, are involved in a great variety of diseases, especially in the degenerative diseases, it’s reasonable to consider using glycine/gelatin for almost any chronic problem.”

Glycine for Bleeding, Stroke, Muscle Spasms and Pain

In his article, Peat reviewed several conditions that can be successfully treated with glycine. For example, all sorts of bleeding problems, including nosebleeds, excessive menstrual bleeding, bleeding ulcers, hemorrhoids and even stroke may benefit from a gelatin-rich, and hence glycine-rich diet.

According to Peat, glycine, taken shortly after a stroke, limits the damage and accelerates recovery. Glycine may also be protective in epilepsy, by stabilizing nerves and raising the amount of stimulation required to activate nerves. Glycine also has antispastic effects that can help alleviate muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis. He also shared the effects of his personal experimentation with gelatin:13

“For years I hadn’t slept through a whole night without waking … The first time I had several grams of gelatin just before bedtime, I slept without interruption for about 9 hours.

I mentioned this effect to some friends, and later they told me that friends and relatives of theirs had recovered from long-standing pain problems (arthritic and rheumatic and possibly neurological) in just a few days after taking 10 or 15 grams of gelatin each day.

For a long time, gelatin’s therapeutic effect in arthritis was assumed to result from its use in repairing the cartilage or other connective tissues around joints, simply because those tissues contain so much collagen …

Some of the consumed gelatin does get incorporated into the joint cartilage, but that is a slow process, and the relief of pain and inflammation is likely to be almost immediate, resembling the anti-inflammatory effect of cortisol or aspirin.

Inflammation produces fibrosis, because stress, hypoxia, and inadequate supply of glucose stimulate the fibroblasts to produce increased amounts of collagen. In lungs, kidneys, liver, and other tissues, glycine protects against fibrosis, the opposite of what the traditional view would suggest.

Since excess tryptophan is known to produce muscle pain, myositis, even muscular dystrophy, gelatin is an appropriate food for helping to correct those problems, simply because of its lack of tryptophan. (Again, the popular nutritional idea of amino acids as simply building blocks for tissues is exactly wrong — muscle protein can exacerbate muscle disease.)”

According to Peat, any condition involving excess prolactin, serotonin and/or cortisol, including autism, postpartum and premenstrual problems, Cushing’s disease, diabetes, and impotence “should” benefit from a diet low in tryptophan.

“In some of the older studies, therapeutic results improved when the daily gelatin was increased,” he noted. “Since 30 grams of glycine was commonly used for treating muscular dystrophy and myasthenia gravis, a daily intake of 100 grams of gelatin wouldn’t seem unreasonable, and some people find that quantities in that range help to decrease fatigue …

For adults, a large part of that could be in the form of gelatin. If a person eats a large serving of meat, it’s probably helpful to have 5 or 10 grams of gelatin at approximately the same time, so that the amino acids enter the blood stream in balance.”

What Is the Difference Between Gelatin and Collagen?

While collagen and gelatin have the same basic amino acid composition, their properties differ due to differing manufacturing processes. Put simply, gelatin is basically cooked collagen,14 which makes it more digestible and easier to absorb. This is particularly important if you have compromised digestion.

Collagen is made from animal bones, skins, tendons and other connective tissues. The collagen is extracted through an acid or alkali treatment followed by purification and does not involve heat. Since the molecular structure is larger, collagen does not dissolve in water.

When collagen is heated, the molecular bonds break down, giving you gelatin hydrolysate or hydrolyzed gelatin (other terms to describe gelatin include collagen hydrolysate or collagen peptides). Since the peptide chains are shorter, gelatin can be dissolved in water, where it forms a thick gel.

In terms of health benefits, these differences are likely minimal, because when collagen is ingested, it gets broken down in your gastrointestinal tract into shorter peptides that are the same as gelatin. Since only free amino acids can enter your bloodstream, collagen and gelatin have essentially identical systemic effects, as their basic composition is the same. That said, gelatin may be preferable if you have ulcers or other GI problems.

Types of Collagen

While 28 different types of collagen have been scientifically identified, most supplements will contain one or more of just three of these,15,16,17 as they comprise 90% of the collagen in your body.18

  • Type 1 — collagen found in skin/hide, tendon, scales and bones of cows, pigs, chicken and fish
  • Type 2 — formed in cartilage and typically derived from poultry
  • Type 3 — fibrous protein found in bone, tendon, cartilage and connective tissues of cows, pigs, chicken and fish

Choose Your Collagen Source Wisely

Historically, traditional diets provided ample collagen in the form of broth made from boiled chicken feet or beef bones. These are by far your best alternatives. If you decide to use a collagen or gelatin supplement, here are some general considerations to take into account when shopping around:

• Is it organic and/or grass fed certified? — Laboratory testing has revealed many popular collagen and bone broth products contain potentially hazardous contaminants typically associated with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), such as heavy metals,19,20 chemicals like butylparaben, and various veterinary drugs,21,22 including antibiotics.

To avoid contaminants, make sure your collagen supplement is certified “100% Organic” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)23 or, better yet, certified grass fed by the American Grassfed Association (AGA), which has the most rigorous standards. This also applies to gelatin, although it can be a bit more difficult to find, and if you do, it can run about $50.

It appears that collagen and gelatin provide virtually identical protein profiles and biological benefits. Collagen has the benefit of being available in affordable organic choices. Gelatin can be used to improve the texture and satiety of foods. So, they both can improve your health; you just need to choose the one that works best for you.

• What raw materials is it made from? — Nonorganic collagen is almost universally made from hydrolyzed cattle hides, not beef bones. When made from cattle hide, even organic certification becomes questionable, because hides, organic or not, are still scraps from the leather tannery industry and have undergone intense processing with harsh chemicals.

Raw, newly skinned hides arrive to the tannery on large pallets, where they can remain to rot for weeks before being processed. Even though they’re salted, they’re not entirely preserved and the stench is overwhelming. The tannery process itself typically involves an acid bath and processing with harsh chemicals such as sulfuric acid or chromium salts.

Hides with scars and imperfections are discarded once they’ve gone through this processing, and these castoffs are what are used to make bovine hide-based collagen supplements.

The already processed scraps then undergo additional processing to dissolve the hide and release the collagen peptides. So, while the raw hide may have come from an organically-raised, grass fed cow, after all that chemical processing, just how organic is the final product?

While my personal preference used to be grass fed organic collagen made from beef bones (not hide), I’m now leaning more toward powdered gelatin, as it’s more easily digested.

That said, I still believe the natural approach is best. Making homemade bone broth using bones and connective tissue from grass fed, organically raised animals isn’t very complicated and will produce the best results. If you prefer chicken broth, consider using organic chicken feet. The claws are particularly rich in collagen.24

And, to reiterate, eating muscle meat will not provide you with the important amino acids that are necessary for building collagen. Considering about one-third of the proteins in your body are collagen, it makes sense to ensure you’re getting enough collagen/gelatin.

Beware: Jell-O Contains No Gelatin

In closing, do NOT make the mistake of using Jell-O brand25 “gelatin” snacks. Remarkable as it may seem, the ready-to-eat Jell-O cups contain no gelatin whatsoever. Instead, they’re using carrageenan, which can induce inflammation and contribute to a wide variety of chronic diseases.26 It can also cause digestive side effects.27

Jell-O powder28 does contain gelatin, but sugar is the No. 1 ingredient, plus it contains food coloring and preservatives with questionable safety. What you want is a pure gelatin powder without sugar and other additives.

Posted in Collagen, Food | No Comments »

Posted by: | Posted on: May 4, 2022

Why Collagen Is Crucial for Bones and Skin


Reproduced from original article:
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2022/05/04/collagen-for-bones-and-skin.aspx
The original Mercola article may not remain on the original site, but I will endeavor to keep it on this site as long as I deem it to be appropriate, and will not be bullied into removing it.

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola     Fact Checked     May 04, 2022

collagen for bones and skin

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

  • Collagen is the most common and abundant of your body’s proteins. One of its primary purposes is to provide structural scaffolding for your various tissues to allow them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity
  • Collagen is part of the secret of why tendons have the tensile strength of wire ropes and why healthy bones are so hard yet not brittle. As minerals are incorporated into the collagen, it cases the collagen fibrils to contract. This stress generates a mineral-collagen composite material composed of high-tensile fibers with properties reminiscent of reinforced concrete
  • Loss of collagen is also one of the biggest contributors to visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles and dull or sagging skin. When your collagen level is high, your skin will tend to be soft, smooth and firm, because the collagen allows skin cells to repair and renew themselves continuously
  • Collagen is crucial for connective tissues such as tendons, ligaments, cartilage and fascia, and these too tend to get weaker and less elastic with age. Connective tissue requires very specific raw materials in order to heal, namely animal-based collagen such as gelatin and bone broth
  • Homemade bone broth using bones and connective tissue from grass fed, organically raised animals will produce the best result. If using a supplement, make sure it’s made from grass fed organic animals, such as beef bones. Collagen supplements made from cattle hides can be problematic, even if organic and grass fed

Collagen is the most common and abundant of your body’s proteins. One of its primary purposes is to provide structural scaffolding for your various tissues to allow them to stretch while still maintaining tissue integrity. While it’s commonly known that a collagen-rich diet can help counteract signs of aging in your skin, it’s also crucial for bone health,1,2,3 and this is less widely known.

Collagen’s Role in Bone

Bone is created as collagen fibrils mineralize together with carbonated hydroxyapatite (calcium apatite). Combined, they form a hybrid material that is very strong yet flexible.

What’s more, as other minerals (such as strontium- and calcium-based minerals) are deposited inside the collagen, it causes a reaction that triggers the collagen fibrils to contract. This stress generates a mineral-collagen composite material composed of high-tensile fibers with properties “reminiscent of … reinforced concrete,” to quote an April 2022 paper in the journal Science.4,5

In short, this explains why tendons have the tensile strength of wire ropes and why healthy bones are so hard yet not brittle. As explained by Phys.org, which reported the findings:6

“A team at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) has discovered new properties of collagen: During the intercalation of minerals in collagen fibers, a contraction tension is generated that is hundreds of times stronger than muscle strength …

This contraction of the fibers apparently occurs during mineral incorporation into the collagen, putting the mineral under enormous pressure, which increases the fracture strength of the composite …

The strength of bones is based on the structural interplay of soft, organic collagen fibers and the hard, crystalline mineral particles embedded in them, thus a hybrid material. The collagen gives the mineral particles an active pre-stress.

Civil engineers use a comparable mechanism in pre-stressed concrete with the aid of high-strength steel and thus produce crack-resistant structural elements.

‘It is also interesting from a medical or biological point of view to understand what happens in the process of mineralization in bones,’ says Dr. Wolfgang Wagermaier, group leader at the MPICI. He adds, ‘Many bone diseases are associated with changes in mineral content in bones and thus altered properties.’”

Collagen Can Help Improve Your Skin

Loss of collagen is also one of the biggest contributors to visible signs of aging, such as wrinkles and dull or sagging skin. When your collagen level is high, your skin will tend to be soft, smooth and firm, because the collagen allows skin cells to repair and renew themselves continuously.

By the time you reach your 80s, you have about four times less collagen than you did in your youth, which brings about the skin issues. A collagen-rich diet can go a long way toward slowing down these visible signs of aging.7,8,9 It also benefits your hair and nails.

That said, certain environmental and lifestyle factors can also have a negative impact on your collagen production, regardless of your age, making healthy, youthful skin hard to attain. Factors that can slow your body’s ability to manufacture collagen include:

Hormone imbalances and thyroid dysfunction Pollution and dust
Overwork Hydrogenated cooking oils
Processed foods Nutritional deficiencies
Fluoridated water Radiation
Excessive sun exposure Sugar
Stress Poor liver or kidney function

If you’re vegetarian, you may also have a more difficult time keeping up your collagen intake, because it’s stored in animal bones. It’s one of the reasons why bone broth is now considered a superfood.

When it comes to skin health, it’s important to realize that topically applied collagen cannot cross into deeper skin layers, so most collagen-containing skin creams are likely a waste of money. To really make a difference, you need to tackle the problem from the inside-out, making sure you’re getting enough collagen, either through collagen-rich foods or a supplement.

Collagen for Soft Tissue Injury and Repair

Collagen is, of course, also crucial for connective tissues such as tendons, ligaments, cartilage and fascia, and these too tend to get weaker and less elastic with age. Connective tissue injuries are also problematic due to the fact that there’s very little blood supply in connective tissue, which slows down recovery.

Collagen is high in amino acids such as glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, which are the building blocks for the matrix of connective tissue. Your body automatically takes collagen into stressed areas and places where it’s needed the most.

While a muscle injury is fairly easy to fix and recover from, connective tissue requires very specific raw materials in order to heal, namely animal-based collagen such as gelatin and bone broth.

Collagen is high in amino acids such as glycine,10 proline and hydroxyproline, which are the building blocks for the matrix of connective tissue. Interestingly, your body automatically takes collagen into stressed areas and places where it’s needed the most.

On a side note, collagen will not count toward your daily protein intake, because it’s very low in branched-chain amino acids (such as leucine, isoleucine and valine, found in meat), which are the primary amino acids that stimulate muscle anabolism and muscle building.

Other Health Benefits of Collagen

Health benefits provided by collagen supplementation, aside from what I’ve already mentioned, include:

Deeper sleep and serotonin release due to its glycine content11
Reduced joint pain and stiffness,12 including osteoarthritis pain13
Improved gut health and digestion, thanks to the presence of glycine14
Improved blood pressure and reduced cardiovascular damage15
Improved glucose tolerance16
Reduced inflammation and oxidative damage, as glycine inhibits the consumption of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH). NADPH is used as a reductive reservoir of electrons to recharge antioxidants once they become oxidized

Types of Collagen

While 28 different types of collagen have been scientifically identified, most supplements will contain one or more of just three of these, which are known simply as:17,18,19

  • Type 1 — collagen found in skin/hide, tendon, scales and bones of cows, pigs, chicken and fish
  • Type 2 — formed in cartilage and typically derived from poultry
  • Type 3 — fibrous protein found in bone, tendon, cartilage and connective tissues of cows, pigs, chicken and fish

Types 1, 2 and 3 comprise 90% of the collagen in your body.20 As for the difference between collagen and gelatin: Collagen is the raw material; gelatin is what you get when you cook the collagen.21

Choose Your Collagen Source Wisely

Historically, traditional diets provided ample collagen in the form of broth made from boiled chicken feet or beef bones. These are by far your best alternatives. If you decide to use a collagen supplement, it’s important to know what to look for. Here are some general questions to ask when shopping around:

•Has it been hydrolyzed? — Collagen supplements can be either unhydrolyzed (undenatured) or hydrolyzed (denatured). In their natural, unhydrolyzed state, collagen molecules are poorly absorbed due to their large size. Hydrolyzation refers to a processing technique that breaks the molecules down into smaller fragments, thereby enhancing intestinal absorption.

For this reason, most collagen products are hydrolyzed. However, the processing that most collagen supplements undergo to become hydrolyzed can also result in questionable byproducts that are best avoided. I review some of these problems in the video above.

•Is it organic and/or grass fed certified? — Laboratory testing has revealed many popular collagen and bone broth products contain potentially hazardous contaminants typically associated with concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), such as heavy metals,22,23 chemicals like butylparaben, and various veterinary drugs,24,25 including antibiotics.

To avoid contaminants, make sure your collagen supplement is certified “100% Organic” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)26 or, better yet, certified grass fed by the American Grassfed Association (AGA), which has the most rigorous standards. This also applies to gelatin, commonly used in cooking and baking.

•What raw materials is it made from? — Nonorganic collagen is almost universally made from hydrolyzed cattle hides, not beef bones. When made from cattle hide, even organic certification becomes questionable, because hides, organic or not, are still scraps from the leather tannery industry and have undergone intense processing with harsh chemicals.

Raw, newly skinned hides arrive to the tannery on large pallets, where they can remain to rot for weeks before being processed. Even though they’re salted, they’re not entirely preserved and the stench is overwhelming. The tannery process itself typically involves an acid bath and processing with harsh chemicals such as sulfuric acid or chromium salts.

Hides with scars and imperfections are discarded once they’ve gone through this processing, and these castoffs are what are used to make bovine hide-based collagen supplements. The already processed scraps then undergo additional processing to dissolve the hide and release the collagen peptides. So, while the raw hide may have come from an organically raised, grass fed cow, after all that chemical processing, just how organic is the final product?

My personal preference is to use a less denatured (unhydrolyzed) grass fed organic collagen supplement made from beef bones (not hide). Unhydrolyzed products tend to have a more balanced amino acid profile, and grass fed beef bones will avoid most contaminants.

That said, I still believe the natural approach is best. Making homemade bone broth using bones and connective tissue from grass fed, organically raised animals isn’t very complicated and will produce the best results. If you prefer chicken broth, consider using organic chicken feet. The claws are particularly rich in collagen.27

Posted in Amino Acids, Blood Pressure, Bones, Collagen, Pain, Skin, Sleep | No Comments »