immwork t1_j298ln1 wrote
Collagen is broken down into amino acids which are not fungible (despite what some folks erroneously believe). Of particular note is glycine, which should be considered a semi-essential amino acid. That is to say, although we can synthesize some glycine, we can't synthesize enough to fully meet our body's needs.
The human body can produce glycine from serine, but only to the tune of perhaps 3g/day. Evidence suggests this is inadequate, and more like 10g/day of glycine is required. Thus having a dietary source of glycine, which would include collagen supplementation but could also be met by hipster bone-broth or just eating tendons (pho for the win!).
DooDooSlinger t1_j29c77f wrote
This is incorrect. Collagen is not fully degraded during digestion and polypeptides do enter general circulation. The implications are unclear but there are several studies and meta analyses which point towards applications.
immwork t1_j29fw16 wrote
I'm happy to be corrected. Mostly I wanted to push back on the myth that proteins are somehow digested into some sort of universal protein sludge that's completely interchangeable.
My primary point is that we get glycine from collagen and that we need it because we can't make enough. I'm sure your expertise exceeds mine, but do I have that right?
DooDooSlinger t1_j2agerz wrote
It's unclear - the mechanism is far from understood. We get glycine from almost any protein source so that's definitely not it. But oligopeptides can definitely have hormonal effects so who knows, maybe degradation products of collagen exert hormonal effects which lead to increased synthesis. Obviously totally hypothetical
[deleted] t1_j2ar41b wrote
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[deleted] t1_j2dcbxa wrote
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iamaxc t1_j2aums5 wrote
obviously this is a hot topic and while there are some human studies, the rodent ones should be taken with a grain of salt. Collagen isn't in a typical rodent diet so it makes sense they haven't evolved to digest it the same way that humans can digest proteins. Factor in cooking and the picture gets even muddier.
[deleted] t1_j2akq0r wrote
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