Collagen and Joint Repair
 

Ok, I'd like to share this collagen product I've been taking for about 2 yrs now. A friend put me on to it as her friends told her about it. There are 1000's of reviews online and I'm realizing now that I haven't been taking enough...suggested dose is 2T two times per day, but people do take more depending on their joint conditions. One lady on another health group takes 9T per day and claims she has no stiffness in her knees now. She worked up to this dose...I'm going to start moving up and see if I can reduce this knee stiffness and if back stiffness is reduced, even better.

http://greatlakesgelatin.com/consumer/CollagenFAQ.php

Just about every online supplement company sells it and health food stores, I think...never looked for it there as online is always less cost.

I know you will all do your research. C

Is this gelatin that you're eating, Caroline?

edited to add: I couldn't find what it was made from but found it.
ick, I don't eat gelatin. Even when I need something to use as a setting agent I used to use agar agar and that's probably bad I don't know.

Lara, it's a Pure Protein Collagen Hydrolysate and they mention Gelatin on the front of can. It contains 20 amino acids and as I said I don't think I was taking enough as the lightbulb went off in the head today. I'm doing ALL I can to keep my knee moving and do no surgery. It's a beef protein. C

Lara, the hydrolyzed granules dissolve in hot/cold liquids and NEVER thicken. It's the process. One would never know it's a gelatin, but your inside body. People use it in liquids, foods, you name it...I use it in my morning coffee and later in the day in water.

I read about that on the website.

I'll leave that one for you, Caroline. Each to their own. :)
I couldn't take that if you paid me. :o

Lara, yes it's true we all pick and choose how we try to do our healing. It's all good no matter. Just sharing what seems to help a lot of people I've come across. I'd love not to work with anything but I'd be flat out otherwise.

Talking more with my other health friends and about the GL collagen. Glad I realized I wasn't taking enough. WHen I first learned of amino acids probably 20 yrs ago, I remember the statement: they are our body's building blocks.

Here is another informative link from this messenger.

http://aminoacidstudies.org/

I had a FIRST last night since upping my great lakes collagen and now up to 5-6T daily. Last night closer to bed, I took just about 2T in glass of water and did my normal sleep combo. Well, going to bed about 11PM my FIRST wake up was about 7AM...slept about 8 hrs straight thru. My normal night is sleeping 4-5 hrs and then a bathroom run and then back to sleep but last night was amazing. I'm believing more and more those amino acids are doing my body good.

One more comment today on this exciting news...I reported my great sleep to the person on my other group who kept saying, you are not taking enough...she takes upwards of 9T daily. She is a health consultant and in licensed in TX.

Here is what she said to me:

Collagen definitely
improves sleep and might even increase the
elasticity of the bladder allowing a
longer period between emptying.

My own sleep is so much improved
with only the collagen, no other
sleep aids what so ever. It's a
win win to me as collagen is a food and
provides at least 30% of my daily
protein in an easily prepared form.

I just talked to my neighbor who is up every hour during the night and now wears depends...she will get the GL collagen and take ENOUGH as I'm telling her about my experiences...she can't wait to get her can to start.

Gelatin
 

This eating of copious amounts of gelatin really worries me.

I honestly can not see how it could be healthy to get 30% of the daily quantity of protein from gelatin made from the highly processed skin of pigs or cows, in Argentina or Brazil no less. That's just for type A and type B. Then there's their Ossein gelatin that they make from the highly processed bones.

http://greatlakesgelatin.com/business/GeneralInfo.htm

______

Just to be clear - when I respond to posts I'm posting as me - Lara.
They are my personal concerns. Nothing to do with being mod..

Lara, have you ever worked with gelatin/collagen products? I have over the years from other companies in capsule forms and didn't really notice anything. I'm doing this primarily for joint health and as I said I was flabbergasted at my straight thru sleep last night.

I am having guidance on all this from the friend I mentioned. I believe she knows a lot as she consults many with their health issues.

I first learned about amino acids many years ago when I started my alternative journey and believe in these amino acid building blocks as they are called.

If you don't feel good about these amino acids and what they do, then that's your choice. This way of getting protein isn't for everyone.

I have so little faith in conventional medicine so I come from there as well.

I eat some protein but certainly not gobs of protein. I don't know how many grams of protein I truly get in a day. I don't depend on meats too much -- eat some but very moderate amounts.

Copious amounts of protein would be sitting down to a 1lb of steak which many consume. Maybe not so much in today's times.

Apart from the possible health concerns of eating lots of collagen of unknown provenance (who knows what chemical procedures were used to extract it from animal tissue?), it is a very unusual protein.

About 75% of its constituent amino acids are glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, alanine and glutamate. These are all "non-essential" amino acids, which means that they can be made in the body from non-protein dietary sources.

Collagen is very low in the essential amino acids (phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine). The essential amino acids can not be made from non-protein dietary sources.

Getting 30% of daily protein from highly-processed collagen does not look like a good plan to me.

Caroline,

I'm very sorry if I wasn't clear...

My concern in the post that I replied to earlier is that someone would be getting 30% of their daily intake of protein from hydrolized gelatin.

Obviously I've not "worked" with Gelatin as I've written already that the whole concept is not for me.

I'm very aware of the recent fads for bone broths etc., however it concerns me that people don't know exactly what they're consuming despite the great name of "Great Lakes Gelatin" which acts as a calming influence for people in the USA thinking it's sourced locally perhaps? More likely the great lakes of Patagonia.

I also have read, for my own interest, many abstracts in PubMed since you alerted me to this product and most of them were specifically regarding malnutrition or protein undernutrition.

Consuming 30% of the daily intake of protein from gelatin produced in the way described on their site is definitely something I could not do.

Caroline, an option that you could consider is getting your dietary protein from natural sources.

Good natural sources include (in no particular order): fish, meat, pulses (beans and peas), nuts, eggs and cheese.

People who get their dietary protein from some combination of these natural sources are (unless they have some underlying medical problem), very unlikely to be deficient in any amino acid so there is not need for them to eat amino acid/protein dietary supplements.

Kiwi, I eat very well, this is an adjunct to what I already do. There are foods I have been eliminating for my reasons.

Caroline, which one of these are you using now... 9 tablespoonfuls?

http://www.greatlakesgelatin.com/consumer/supFacts.php

from what I see here:
http://www.greatlakesgelatin.com/con...cidContent.php

your dosing would give you about 5000mg (+ or - 500mg) of arginine, and about 2500mg of lysine.

People who consume much more arginine daily than lysine, may trigger or activate latent Herpes simplex, and Herpes Zoster virus in the body. Both these viruses use arginine to replicate and may activate when arginine becomes higher than lysine. These gelatin products are very high in arginine, and are mentioned on many sites as triggers for viral activation (shingles).

Here is one example by Dr. Perlmutter MD:
https://www.facebook.com/DavidPerlmu...92789767420120

So if you continue with that very high intake of gelatin you may encounter over time the shingles or a reactivation of cold sores. I saw this commonly in nursing home patients receiving Arginaid for bed sores.
http://www.nestlenutritionstore.com/...l#.VeSV5Zd53To
Arginaid has 4.5 grams of arginine per dose. The above link is an example of what Arginaid is.

No, I am not taking 9T per day, this is the dose the health consultant takes and when she said her knees are not stiff, this is when I realized I was not taking enough all the time I've been on GLH...I was NOT measuring. Now I am, and taking most days 4-5T.
The general dose on cannister is 2 rounded T two times per day.

The night before I slept 8 hrs straight thru.
Last night I slept 7 hrs straight thru.
And I'm not taking it for sleep, but I'm sleeping better with GLH.

I may never get up to 9T and as my friend says, everyone is unique for their needs and what our body uses best.

My neighbor just started it today, she is the one with horrid OA and wakes up every hour during the night to pee....she has HOPE that it will help her. She is taking the recommended dosage to start out. She has a stomach issue and was concerned but it did not bother her and I read in some notes that it helps gastro issues. She is excited and I hope she will be another good testimony.

The great lakes company has been producing gelatin since the 20's and formulated the hydrosylate about 6 yrs ago. Remember the Knox gelatin, I've taken that off and on years ago.

I believe this product has a balanced amount of amino acids and the herpes thing, I guess if a person is in an outbreak they should stay away from it. Until better. People with a history of herpes need to be taking Lysine anyway as I recall over many years from reading on herpes. For me too, I believe my grape seed ex keeps me in good immune health too. I had herpes many many years ago and grape seed does have anti viral properties in it.

The company is very helpful with information and if anyone wants to ask questions they are there for people. I am hanging with it as my goal is less stiff knees. Time will tell with the proper dose. And I know it's not for everyone to try. I totally get that.

From what I found, it is the high glycine content that helps with the sleep.

The aminos in that product are NOT balanced. They are only the aminos found in animal collagen, and not in other parts of the animal meat etc.

Please reread kiwi's posts on this thread.

Eliminating excess amino acids happens in the kidney. Most elderly people have some loss of kidney functions, and so this could be a problem. Using this now and then in lower doses might be safer for you. But you will do what you want anyway, I suppose. There will be other readers here, so I hope they pay attention to the the links I found and the data too.

MrsD, I'm having faith in this company and their product. Thanks for all the red flags etc...

This is not about the company at all. The market for gelatin is quite large and has been for decades. Their website is quite transparent and provides alot of information, so people can choose what they decide to do with the product.

This is about biological tolerability, and the uniqueness of each person to be able to use this product based on their own medical status and situation.

Yes, there are probably 100's of collagen products out there and have no idea if any others are amino acid based. I just read about every 94 reviews on iherb and didn't find a negative one. I may have missed some, but read a lot. Read many of the 1500+ on amazon and 95% positive, there will be negative comments no matter what.

My neighbor called a little while ago in almost tears of joy with what she has experienced with one dose today. I'll post more about her when she reports more to me. She has major stomach, arthritis and sleep issues and throw in glaucoma and hearing loss.

I tend to look for the positive aspects of this collagen. I think it's a superb product.

Tomorrow is the month 20 yrs ago when Pycnogenol, then grape seed ex found me....talk about a miracle.

Happy September.

I just found this info from Yohanan who often posts on the other two health groups I'm a member of. This is on Collagen Depletion and talks about the types of collagen. I believe I will get on Lysine for a while again.

http://outoftheboxremedies.net/2013/...tion-with-age/

We're all aging, why not take some support to go more gracefully and healthy.

Since reading Yohanan's types of collagen, I've decided to get back on Twin Labs MaxLife II chicken cartlidge. I took it probably 10 yrs ago and my issues were much less than they are today so I don't remember my outcome with the Twin Lab product. He says the Type II collagen is what is needed for osteoarthritis...what I'm doing collagen primarily for anyway.

I'm still taking GLH but much less and will add MaxLife II as soon as it arrives.