Emma
Sgourakis

Gelatin is basically the cooked form of collagen.  Traditional diets were gelatin rich.  Muscle meat was not generally eaten on its own like it is today; a whole joint was stewed – the muscle, bone, skin, connective tissue etc. altogether, with the full spectrum of amino acids in one meal.  These days we throw away all the good bits.  Incorporating bone broths is one way to replace the missing nutrients, and powdered gelatin is also a handy addition to your pantry, to improve the amino acid profile of your diet to discourage inflammation.

Amino acids make up proteins and the particular ratios of certain amino acids make the protein in question either pro-inflammatory or non-inflammatory to the body when eaten.  Gelatin contains only minimal cystein, methionine and histadine, and no tryptophan: these amino acids are inflammatory, inhibit thyroid function, depresses immunity, decrease the body’s ability to withstand stress and are associated with many problems of degeneration and ageing.

Some of the main benefits of gelatin:

• The major amino acid in gelatin is glycine, which is low in muscle and organ meats.  It is anti-inflammatory, hydrophilic (hydrating), pro-thyroid, heals damaged intestinal lining (a.k.a. “leaky gut” and allergies) and improves hydrochloric acid insufficiency (weak stomach acid).
• This anti-inflammatory amino acid balance helps also to regulate metabolism, maintain lean muscle mass, preserve bone strength and joint mobility and regulate cellular health.
• Getting in enough gelatin helps the body regulate its own collagen production, improving the structural integrity of not just joint cartilage but also skin, hair and nails.
• Both glycine and proline (another amino acid that gelatin is rich in) are very Liver-protective (aids in Phase 2 Liver detoxification), increasing albumin and halting oxidative damage.
• Used as a major source of dietary protein, it’s an easy way to restrict the amino acids associated with premature ageing.
• Restricting dietary cysteine, while increasing dietary glycine (through a diet that emphasises things like broth, stew and additional gelatin) produces a greater extension of lifespan than achieved in most studies of total caloric restriction.
• Hormonally, glycine opposes estrogen and favours progesterone sparing (a very good thing).
• Gelatin balances the inflammatory protein makeup of muscle meat (eg: a gelatinous stew or steak + homemade jelly)
• Gelatin is a nice change from ‘beefy’-tasting broth: neutral in flavour you can add it to anything: sweet or savoury.

“People have asked me why I recommend gelatin since I recommend eating only whole foods.  That is right, but we rarely eat whole foods, including whole animal foods.  We throw away the  bones and skin and are told not to eat the skin because it has fat in it. However this is precisely here where the gelatin is found.  Gelatin contains thyroid-protective amino acids which can help balance  the anti-thyroid (thyroid-suppressing) amino acids prevalent in muscle meats (beef, lamb, poultry and fish), mainly cysteine and tryptophan.  In addition, the anti-thyroid amino acids are released in large quantities during stress and hypothyroidism itself increases the catabolism (tearing down) of protein even though general metabolism is slowed down.” – Dr Ray Peat: Gelatin, stress and Longevity.

Tips on getting more gelatin in:

• When eating meats, go for more gelatinous dishes like osso buco, lamb neck stew and oxtail soups rather than just ‘refined’ muscle meat all the time (steak or chicken breast).
• When you do have muscle meats, balance them by sipping a home made bone broth, and or making a jelly out of high quality gelatin with it (think roast lamb and mint jelly) or for dessert.
• Incorporate gelatin into custards (with organic egg yolks), mousses, panna cottas, soups, home made marshmallow or simply mixed with fresh fruit juices to make jelly (jello) or chewy jubes.
• Make sure to bloom and dissolve gelatin until completely clear before using in food or it may cause gas / bloating.  If your metabolism and/or gut lining is extremely damaged, use home-made broth first: 1-3 cups per day.
• Start with 1 tbsp gelatin or hydrolysed collagen (see below) daily.  If eating a large serve of meat, a good rule of thumb is to have 5-10 grams of gelatin at roughly the same time so that the amino acids enter the blood stream in balance.
• For an adult, gelatin can be a major form of protein in the diet, since the  essentiality of (need for) cystein and tryptophan decreases when growth slows.  Note however that it should not be relied on as the primary protein during pregnancy or adolescence as it doesn’t contain sufficient amino acids for these growth periods.

My thoughts on Bone Broth:

• I don’t recommend making broth out of just bones, particularly not the larger long bones. Not only is there the concern of glyphosate and heavy metals, which accumulate in animal bones, but bones don’t contain the levels of collagen that skin/hide, cartilage, ligaments and tendons do.
• I prefer to make what I call Gelatinous Broth, rather than Bone Broth, and use gelatinous cuts rather than bare bones.  The most gelatinous parts are the tailbones or joints with attached cartilage and tendons. For example, for chicken broth I use chicken wings and tips, and/or chicken feet, and carcasses, for beef broth I use oxtail, and for lamb broth, lamb necks …  Better still, with beef and lamb I’d rather just create a whole meal, keeping the meaty bits on the oxtail for example, and making a hearty gelatinous casserole instead.
• When making a good gelatinous broth, it’s important to cook it for no longer than 3 to 4 hours (2 hours for chicken) or you’ll denature amino acids, increase glutamic acid, and degrade nutrients, while increasing toxic free-radicals.

“(Broth’s importance) It’s mostly for the cartilage, ligaments and tendons, and most of the gelatin is released in 3 or 4 hours.  Excess cooking oxidises nutrients, especially if there’s marrow in the bone. After 6 or 8 hours, it starts to get a metallic taste, that I think is from the bone dissolving. I don’t think bones are usually good sources of calcium. (Regarding chicken) In The US, chickens are fed arsenic to make them grow faster, and it concentrates in the bones; you should find out what the chicken feeding practices are in your area.” – Dr Ray Peat

More convenient options:

• When I refer to gelatin and also collagen hydrolysate, it must be good quality, from a grass-fed source.  These are the products I co-created and use: Saturée Best Bloom Gelatin and Saturée Premium Collagen Hydrolysate.  These products are the highest grade available, and contain no detectable amount of glyphosate, since our products are made of hide, not bone.
• Hydrolysed collagen is a convenient option as it dissolves in cold liquids, so you can add it to juice / coffee / smoothies.  It won’t ‘gel’ however, so if you want to make things that set like jelly, panna cotta, marshmallows etc. you need to use gelatin powder instead.

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Disclaimer:  My posts are not meant to be individualised treatment plans, protocols, etc.  I share what I research and use, and that is it. They are meant to spark thought based on the normal anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of the body.  The information contained in this blog should not be used to treat or diagnose disease or health problems and is provided for your information only.