Anti Aging and Collagen Powder.

[Mai72]

Getting old sucks and it's inevitable.

My thing with aging especially when it comes to the Western diet and lifestyle much of aging can be slowed down or maybe even reversed. I'm not naive. I know that a 60 year old will never ever look like a 20 year old. I don't care how well he/she took care of her body. But, could that same person look 10-20 years younger? And. more importantly could they feel 10-20 years younger as well. As you age you start slowing down, with every year past 35. But again, much of it has to do with premature aging. Our diets, lack of exercise, stress, and bad habits play a huge role.

Which brings me to collagen and collagen powder. Wrinkles form on our bodies when our collagen breaks down. Excessive sunlight, dietary habits and stress all form to break down collagen. What if we could take collagen powder? I've just started doing this. I mix one scoop with my morning spinach/kale smoothie.

The collagen powder I'm taking is from a company called Sports Research. You can't even taste to powder. I love the fact that I'm getting the full spectrum of amino acids. So, I know much of it is hype but their is promising research on collagen powder. Much of it is still new though, I guess we will have to wait a decade or more to see if it lives up to it's promise of maintaining youthful skin.

This is the bottle:

 

[J.Wilkins]

Given that the protein will be broken down into it's individual amino acids in your stomach it won't do anything any other protein containing all 8 EAA's won't do.

That protein powder will do less than a bottle of the cheapest whey protein you can find on the market.

The cells will age no matter what and THAT is what causes ageing, not collagen breakdown.

 

[Mai72]

Noooo!

I'm not trying to be 25 forever. My thing is if I can age gracefully I'll accept that. Yea, I know old age and death are inevitable. It's my ego getting in the way. I understand that. But, can I at least feel and look great for my age. And, as I move forward.

Thanks!

 

[PeterScott]

There are no fountains of youth, but paying attention to nutrition that maintains joint health is something those of us in middle age start to pay attention to:
https://nutritionreview.org/2016/12...tion-in-damaged-joints-tendons-and-ligaments/

I am not buying expensive Collagen or Gelatin supplements, but I am adding a small bit of vitamin C to my protein meals/shakes to make sure the pieces are in place to support joint health.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Noooo!

I'm not trying to be 25 forever. My thing is if I can age gracefully I'll accept that. Yea, I know old age and death are inevitable. It's my ego getting in the way. I understand that. But, can I at least feel and look great for my age. And, as I move forward.

Thanks!

Yeah but collagen is just low quality proteins so there is no use for them. Might as well buy some crackling, it's far cheaper and basically the same thing.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Hmm adding fruits and vegies to your diet will eventually help you and your face in anti aging.

No, it really won't.

A very strict low calorie diet consisting mostly of above ground veggies, fish, poultry, eggs, milk and some red meats will work though. Constant low calorie diets of all sorts work but avoiding fructose will help even more.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Given that the protein will be broken down into it's individual amino acids in your stomach it won't do anything any other protein containing all 8 EAA's won't do.

That protein powder will do less than a bottle of the cheapest whey protein you can find on the market.

The cells will age no matter what and THAT is what causes ageing, not collagen breakdown.

Sure, but different foods contain the amino acids in different ratios. Those ratios actually matter.

For instance, beans and rice are not complete proteins on their own - they don't have complete amino acid profiles. Together however, they are complete sources of protein, albeit poor sources of protein (except perhaps for beans, but even they have a low PDCAAS).

If you compare whey protein to collagen powder, the difference is in the amount of glysine they contain, glysine being the amino acid that collagen breaks down into. Now, glysine is used for structural tissues such as skin, tendons and cartilege. Whey protein simply doesn't have much of it.

Modern diets are actually fairly low in glysine because we don't eat a lot of organ meat, we don't eat tendons and other cartilege in most cases, and we are even told to avoid chicken skin because it is "too fatty". So, there is a potential difference here.

Does that mean that taking collagen powder will magically keep your skin young and healthy? No, but it will improve it if you are glysine deficient, which most of us probably are. I'd say collagen powder itself is unnecessary even if the idea behind it is sound - I'd rather take extra glysine in the form of organ meat, cartilege and skin. For instance, when I eat ribs, I eat the rib tips too. I always eat chicken skin and I eat the crunchy caps of cartilege too.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Sure, but different foods contain the amino acids in different ratios. Those ratios actually matter.

Not really as long as you get all EAA's in reasonable amounts. Even the cheapest whey would be better than collagen protein in this respect.

For example, matching the amino acid profile for collagen will not do anything since your body will produce collagen at it's own rate and if you are missing one non essential amino acid for it to do so it will simply make that amino acid on it's own.

For instance, beans and rice are not complete proteins on their own - they don't have complete amino acid profiles. Together however, they are complete sources of protein, albeit poor sources of protein (except perhaps for beans, but even they have a low PDCAAS).

If you compare whey protein to collagen powder, the difference is in the amount of glysine they contain, glysine being the amino acid that collagen breaks down into. Now, glysine is used for structural tissues such as skin, tendons and cartilege. Whey protein simply doesn't have much of it.

Modern diets are actually fairly low in glysine because we don't eat a lot of organ meat, we don't eat tendons and other cartilege in most cases, and we are even told to avoid chicken skin because it is "too fatty". So, there is a potential difference here.

Does that mean that taking collagen powder will magically keep your skin young and healthy? No, but it will improve it if you are glysine deficient, which most of us probably are. I'd say collagen powder itself is unnecessary even if the idea behind it is sound - I'd rather take extra glysine in the form of organ meat, cartilege and skin. For instance, when I eat ribs, I eat the rib tips too. I always eat chicken skin and I eat the crunchy caps of cartilege too.

High dosages of glycine will not add to collagen production or tendon/cartilage production at all, it doesn't work like a signalling substance in this respect and given that it's not essential (your body makes it from serine if it's needed) ingesting extra amounts of it doesn't really do anything and since it's not an essential amino acid you can't be glycine deficient.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Not really as long as you get all EAA's in reasonable amounts. Even the cheapest whey would be better than collagen protein in this respect.

For example, matching the amino acid profile for collagen will not do anything since your body will produce collagen at it's own rate and if you are missing one non essential amino acid for it to do so it will simply make that amino acid on it's own.



High dosages of glycine will not add to collagen production or tendon/cartilage production at all, it doesn't work like a signalling substance in this respect and given that it's not essential (your body makes it from serine if it's needed) ingesting extra amounts of it doesn't really do anything and since it's not an essential amino acid you can't be glycine deficient.

Link

Quote from that link:
1. We don’t make enough glycine to cover our body’s needs
Most people view amino acids in one of two ways: either they’re essential, meaning our bodies can’t synthesize them, or they’re inessential, meaning our bodies can. In actuality, there’s a third category: amino acids can be conditionally essential. Glycine, the primary amino acid in collagen, is synthesized from the amino acid serine to the tune of 3 grams per day. That’s not nearly enough. The human body requires at least 10 grams per day for basic metabolic processes, so we’re looking at an average daily deficit of 7 grams that we need to make up for through diet. Even more in disease states that disrupt glycine synthesis, like rheumatoid arthritis.

So yeah, we make it from serine, but we can only make a limited amount per day.

 

[J.Wilkins]

Link

Quote from that link:
1. We don’t make enough glycine to cover our body’s needs
Most people view amino acids in one of two ways: either they’re essential, meaning our bodies can’t synthesize them, or they’re inessential, meaning our bodies can. In actuality, there’s a third category: amino acids can be conditionally essential. Glycine, the primary amino acid in collagen, is synthesized from the amino acid serine to the tune of 3 grams per day. That’s not nearly enough. The human body requires at least 10 grams per day for basic metabolic processes, so we’re looking at an average daily deficit of 7 grams that we need to make up for through diet. Even more in disease states that disrupt glycine synthesis, like rheumatoid arthritis.

So yeah, we make it from serine, but we can only make a limited amount per day.

1. That is quite irrelevant since apart from very calorie restricted vegan diets you'll get more than enough and if you read the actual study instead of the conclusion the restriction in production is purely theoretical.

Given that a 200 Kcal serving of pork, skinless chicken breast or beef is 3 grams on it's own. It's hard to avoid getting enough glycine from dietary means. http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-000094000000000000000.html

Glycine can do anything for anyone everywhere if you read about it on the sites, it became very trendy when some of the bigger supplement companies decided that selling dirt cheap whey was not making them enough. So they added glycine to their powder and let everyone know about all the wonders of glycine. Guess what the company the author of the article you quoted is selling? Take a look at Primal Kitchen, Mark is affiliated with them.

There is no reason what so ever to think about supplementing glycine (or "collagen protein") for healthy adults who are not on a very calorie restricted vegan diet. You don't need to worry about it.