Saturday, September 20, 2008

Eat Collagen supplement or foods promote collagen?

If you wish to know more about the collagen, collagen supplement and more facts regarding collagen, please go to my previous post: Collagen supplement,must or waste?!

Collagen fibers are made from protein, and they are somewhat unusual in having large amounts of two amino acids, called hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline. Unfortunately, we haven't seen any research studies to support the addition of high lysine or high proline foods as a way of promoting collagen formation. Nonetheless, it would seem logical for consumption of foods high in lysine and proline to be potentially helpful in collagen support. Animal foods are the primary source of both amino acids. With respect to proline, egg whites appear to be an especially good source of proline from amongst the animal foods. And we've found one important exception to the animal versus plant proline rule - wheat germ. This plant-based component has much more proline than would normally be expected from a plant food.
All of the lean meats, the low-fat dairy products, and the fish would be especially concentrated sources of lysine. One plant food category would be an exception to the animal versus plant lysine rule - that category is legumes (and particularly peanuts). One final note about lysine, proline, and collagen would involve the importance of vitamin C. This vitamin is required to change proline into hydroxyproline (the collagen form) and lysine into hydroxylysine (once again, the collagen form). While you are trying to support your collagen tissue, you should remember that overall protein intake - both quality and quantity - is important. You may need to go beyond the RDA protein level of 46 grams (for adult women) and 56 grams (for adult men) to achieve this goal. You may also need to include a variety of foods that provide protein. Nuts, seeds, and legumes would all be food categories to consider.
Some of the diseases involving collagen damage have been found to improve with the addition of certain foods or food components to the diet. However, the research in this area tends to involve animals versus humans, and the experiments have often used food extracts or nutrient supplements instead of foods themselves. In this category, however, garlic has been a standout food, and two sulfur-containing nutrients - the amino acid taurine and the organic acid lipoid acid - have also shown the ability to support damaged collagen fibers.
Finally, you may want to consider two categories of phytonutrients as particularly important in a collagen-building meal plan. Those phytonutrients are catechins and anthocyanidins. In the research literature, the catechins found in green tea have been shown to help prevent breakdown of collagen, and for this reason we would definitely recommend that you consider green tea as a potential collagen support food. The anthocyanidins found in deep-colored, red-blue berries and fruits (including cherries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries) have been shown to work in a somewhat different way. These phytonutrients help the collagen fibers link together in a way that strengthens the connective tissue matrix.

We understand that you have no time to read through the bla..bla bla...so the very short list of collagen building fruit would be: Proline: egg white, wheat germ; Lysine: lean meat, fish, legume-peanut; Vitamin C;garlic; catechin:green tea; anthocyanidins:cherries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

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