Collagen and Gelatin Are Crucial for Optimal Health

From an article by Dr Mercola and Ray Pete

Jun 26, 2023

(Full article go to Collagen and Gelatin Are Crucial for Optimal Health)

Pictures: Collagen is available in the form of gelatine and collagen powders from various animal sources. This makes it easy to put back the collagen that is missing from our modern diet.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Collagen is the major protein type in your connective tissues and accounts for about 30% of the total protein content in the human body. It needs to be regularly replaced and maintained. Red meat (or any other proteins source) by themselves will not provide enough of the right amino acids (protein building blocks) for replacement and maintenance of collagen.
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.
Gelatine is cooked collagen, which makes it more digestible and easier to absorb
Many degenerative and inflammatory diseases can also be helped by eating more gelatine-rich foods. Red meat, on the other hand, contain high 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 show 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, haemorrhoids and even stroke

Introduction

Connective tissue provides structural support to our body’s tissues. Collagen is the main protein in connective tissue. Collagen is so important that it makes up about 30% of the total protein content of our bodies. Collagen is found in skin, bones, tendons, ligaments and cartilage^1,2,3 . It gives strength alongside elasticity and plasticity. The amount, and particularly the quality of collagen production in our bodies decreases with age and toxic damage to our tissues.

The amino acid content of Collagen

(Amino acids are the molecular building blocks of proteins…)

Nearly one-third of the amino acids in collagen is glycine. It is also high in proline, hydroxyproline and alanine. These amino acids are the building blocks for the matrix of connective tissue.

Dietary collagen heals and repairs

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 supplements include:

Deeper sleep due to its glycine content
Reduced joint pain and stiffness, including osteoarthritis pain
Improved gut health and digestion, thanks to the presence of glycine
Improved blood pressure and reduced cardiovascular damage
Improved glucose tolerance

(Note: some of these are laboratory-based investigations; as such, they give a strong but not absolute indication of health benefits in humans)

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 contains 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 tend to increase inflammation.

Table: amino acid differences between gelatine and beef

amino acid ratios of gelatin and collagen versus red meat

Table: amino acid content of collagen peptides compared with whey

Don’t rely exclusively on meat and whey powder for your quality protein needs - have a collagen-only day or two per week

It’s still important to eat animal protein that is higher in branched-chain amino acids to stimulate mTOR and, thus, promote muscle protein synthesis. However, since the branched-chain amino acids are shown to reduce lifespan slightly, it’s wise not to use them every day but to have one to three collagen days (with minimal whey and meat and slightly reduced calories) per week (collagen is extraordinarily low in branched-chain amino acids).

Our ancestors never had access to gelatine 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 gelatine into our diets.

Collagen is important for degenerative diseases

According to Ray Peat, who was a biologist with a specialisation in physiology,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.

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. See Pete’s article “Gelatin, Stress, Longevity,”

Glycine for sleep, bleeding, stroke, muscle spasm and pain

In the same 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 stabilising 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 gelatine 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.

Both collagen and gelatine are likely to have similar health benefits.

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. the next best alternatives are “certified organic”, and non-cattle skin (see original Dr Mercola article).

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/gelatine.

Acknowledgement:

Dr Mercola and Ray Pete: Collagen and Gelatin Are Crucial for Optimal Health