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kleiner-Wasserbaer t1_j27sza9 wrote

Research is limited on if dietary supplementation of collagen is effective at improving joint/skin health and much of the research is funded by the companies that produce it so more research is needed. Collagen is broken down into amino acids in the stomach so there is not much risk to the supplements but the marketing of it is pretty much hype.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/collagen/

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autoantinatalist t1_j2826ir wrote

The limitation is whether supplements help at all. Some do, if you have a deficiency like iron. Newer ones we don't really know. But collagen is known to not absorb directly, it is broken down by digestion, so you are better off using the direct supplements it's made of like vitamin c and others.

If you have a collagen synthesis problem, that's generally not going to be solved by supplements because those are genetic and not dietary.

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antiquemule t1_j28tao0 wrote

Collagen is made from vitamin C? Tell me more!

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skisushi t1_j28v8gl wrote

No, but vitamin c is needed for collagen crosslinking, a process that strengthens your collagen. Deficiency leads to scurvy.

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Bussy_Enjoyer_69 t1_j28uwxr wrote

Vitamin C is a necessary cofactor for one of the initial steps in synthesizing collagen. People with vitamin C deficiency (ie., scurvy) develop swollen gums and other signs of damaged connective tissue as a result of impaired collagen synthesis

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BandComprehensive467 t1_j28wr39 wrote

Hmm there is risk as arthritis can be induced by collagen, CIA(collagen induced arthritis). Collagen applied on the skin is not broken down by the stomach, the immune system also breaks down collagen.

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DooDooSlinger t1_j29b3xa wrote

The breaking down of collagen in the stomach is absolutely not established. In fact I believe individual collagen molecules are quite stable at low pH. Many proteins are pH stable and resist various forms of degradation during digestion. A notable case is the proteins making up gluten, which freely travel to the intestines and are the cause of celiac disease.

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97screamingcacti t1_j29cina wrote

Even if the peptide is stable at low pH, there are many proteases and peptidases in the GI tract that break down proteins to be absorbed. If I remember correctly, only single amino acids can cross into the bloodstream, so whole ingested proteins never reach circulation. I am by no means a nutritionist, but knowing this I have a very hard time believing that collagen supplements do anything to increase the collagen levels in the body. I believe they are broken down just like any other protein

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TheActualUrtie t1_j2bofez wrote

I am probably misunderstanding this, but isn't mad cow disease caused by a protein? How does that happen if they're always broken down?

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CrateDane t1_j2d9qlb wrote

They're almost always broken down, but there are exceptions. In our gut, there is for example a cell type that's taking small samples of the proteins and longer peptides, in order to feed "information" to our immune system about what might be lurking in our gut. Unfortunately that includes prions. Some of the prions end up in neurons rather than the immune cells, and that's where the problem can happen. In principle it only takes one single prion to trigger the disease.

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CrateDane t1_j2d8xbo wrote

> If I remember correctly, only single amino acids can cross into the bloodstream

Small oligopeptides can also cross, via transporters (eg. SLC15A1) that can accept peptides of about 2-4 amino acids.

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