Gelatin

My experience

I write about my experience with gelatin here.

Ray Peat writes about how he thinks tryptophan is not good for you. But if I get low, I get really bad emotionally. So I’m combining the gelatin with tryptophan from now on.

Research

From: http://kimsconnections.com/2011/09/gelatin-for-health/

The connective tissue for almost all your body structures is made of collagen. This includes your skin and bones; your muscles, ligaments, tendons, discs and cartilage; your arteries and blood cells; your heart, lungs, liver and other organs; your hair and nails. Typically, collagen production drops off with age. The result is that skin wrinkles and sags, bones lose density, joints ache, some organs enlarge while others get flimsier and weaker, arteries weaken and are less able to resist plaque formation.

Ray Peat: “Gelatin, Stress, Longevity”

Although Clive McKay’s studies of life extension through caloric restriction were done in the 1930s, only a few studies have been done to find out which nutrients’ restriction contributes most to extending the life span. Restricting toxic heavy metals, without restricting calories, produces about the same life-extending effect as caloric restriction. Restricting only tryptophan, or only cysteine, produces a greater extension of the life span than achieved in most of the studies of caloric restriction. How great would be the life-span extension if both tryptophan and cysteine were restricted at the same time?

Both tryptophan and cysteine inhibit thyroid function and mitochondrial energy production, and have other effects that decrease the ability to withstand stress. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, which causes inflammation, immunodepression, and generally the same changes seen in aging. Histidine is another amino acid precursor to a mediator of inflammation, histamine; would the restriction of histidine in the diet have a longevity promoting effect, too?

It happens that gelatin is a protein which contains no tryptophan, and only small amounts of cysteine, methionine, and histidine. Using gelatin as a major dietary protein is an easy way to restrict the amino acids that are associated with many of the problems of aging.

The main amino acids in gelatin are glycine and proline; alanine is also present in significant quantity. Glycine and proline are responsible for the unusual fibrous property of collagen. 35% of the amino acids in gelatin are glycine, 11% alanine, and 21% proline and hydroxyproline.

Some types of cell damage are prevented almost as well by alanine and proline as by glycine, so the use of gelatin, rather than glycine, is preferable, especially when the gelatin is associated with its normal biochemicals. For example, skin is a rich source of steroid hormones, and cartilage contains “Mead acid,” which is itself antiinflammatory.

Gelatin

  • The 1936 Cyclopedia of Medicine (G.M. Piersol, editor, volume 6) mentions the use of gelatin solution to quickly control nosebleeds, excessive menstrual bleeding, bleeding ulcers (using three doses of 18 grams as a 10% solution during one day), and bleeding from hemorrhoids and the lower bowel, and hemorrhage from the bladder. But since Selye’s work relating the thrombohemorrhagic syndromes to stress wasn’t known at that time, gelatin was thought of as a useful drug, rather than as having potentially far-reaching physiological effects, antagonizing some of the agents of stress-induced tissue damage.
  • friends and relatives of theirs had recovered from long-standing pain problems (arthritic and rheumatic and possibly neurological) in just a few days after taking 10 or 15 grams of gelatin each day.
  • and the relief of pain and inflammation is likely to be almost immediate, resembling the antiinflammatory effect of cortisol or aspirin.
  • But the specifically antiinflammatory amino acids in gelatin also antagonize the excitatory effects of the tryptophan-serotonin-estrogen- prolactin system.
  • The National Academy of Sciences recently reviewed the requirements for working adults (male and female soldiers, in particular), and suggested that 100 grams of balanced protein was needed for efficient work. For adults, a large part of that could be in the form of gelatin.
  • If a person eats a large serving of meat, it’s probably helpful to have 5 or 10 grams of gelatin at approximately the same time, so that the amino acids enter the blood stream in balance.
  • Asian grocery stores are likely to sell some of the traditional gelatin-rich foods, such as prepared pig skin and ears and tails, and chicken feet.

Glycine (against a balanced background of amino acids)

  • great variety of antistress actions
  • promotes natural sleep
  • helped to promote recovery from strokes and seizures, and to improve learning and memory.
  • A small dose of glycine taken shortly after suffering a stroke was found to accelerate recovery, preventing the spreading of injury through its inhibitory and antiinflammatory actions. Its nerve-stabilizing action, increasing the amount of stimulation required to activate nerves, is protective in epilepsy, too. This effect is important in the regulation of sleep, breathing, and heart rhythm.
  • But in every type of cell, it apparently has the same kind of quieting, protective antistress action.
  • The range of injuries produced by an excess of tryptophan and serotonin seems to be prevented or corrected by a generous supply of glycine. Fibrosis, free radical damage, inflammation, cell death from ATP depletion or calcium overload, mitochondrial damage, diabetes, etc., can be prevented or alleviated by glycine
  • In the context of the excitatory actions of estrogen, and the inhibitory action of glycine, it would be reasonable to think of glycine as one of the antiestrogenic substances.
  • Gelatin and glycine have recently been reported to facilitate the action of insulin in lowering blood sugar and alleviating diabetes. Gelatin has been used successfully to treat diabetes for over 100 years
  • Skin cells and nerve cells and many other cells are “electrically” stabilized by glycine, and this effect is currently being described in terms of a “chloride current.” A variety of mechanisms have been proposed for the protective effects of some of the amino acids, based on their use as energy or for other metabolic purpose, but there is evidence that glycine and alanine act protectively without being metabolized, simply by their physical properties.
  • Glycine’s antispastic activity has been used to alleviate the muscle spasms of multiple sclerosis. It is thought to moderate some of the symptoms of schizophrenia.
  • Pavlov’s observation of its effectiveness in stimulating the secretion of digestive juices occurred because the stimulating value of broth was already recognized.
  • In lungs, kidneys, liver, and other tissues, glycine protects against fibrosis, the opposite of what the traditional view would suggest.

Proline (against a balanced background of amino acids)

  • Some types of cell damage are prevented almost as well by alanine and proline as by glycine, so the use of gelatin, rather than glycine, is preferable, especially when the gelatin is associated with its normal biochemicals. For example, skin is a rich source of steroid hormones, and cartilage contains “Mead acid,” which is itself antiinflammatory.

Alanine (against a balanced background of amino acids)

  • Some types of cell damage are prevented almost as well by alanine and proline as by glycine, so the use of gelatin, rather than glycine, is preferable, especially when the gelatin is associated with its normal biochemicals. For example, skin is a rich source of steroid hormones, and cartilage contains “Mead acid,” which is itself antiinflammatory.

Ray Peat: “Tryptophan, Serotonin and Aging”

Tim O’Shea: “The Doctor Within: Collagen” The arteries weaken and are less able to resist plaque formation. Also they are more likely to develop a break in one of their 3 layers (this can result in aneurysm or dissection).

Amino acid composition

The amino acid analysis of gelatin (8) is variable, particularly for the minor constituents, depending on raw material and process used, but proximate values by weight are: glycine 21 %, proline 12 %, hydroxyproline 12 %, glutamic acid 10 %, alanine 9 %, arginine 8%, aspartic acid 6 %, lysine 4 %, serine 4 %, leucine 3 %, valine 2 %, phenylalanine 2 %, threonine 2 %, isoleucine 1 %,hydroxylysine 1 %, methionine and histidine <1% with tyrosine < 0.5 %.

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