CHAPTER 1

Collagen: Holding the Body Together

Collagen is the glue that holds the body together. The word comes from kolla, the Greek word for glue, and our ancestors made glue by boiling down the skin and sinews of animals. When we make broth, we turn skin, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments into a gelatin-rich liquid glue instead.

Cooking breaks down collagenous protein into gelatin, which provides the amino acids the body needs to make the “glue” we call connective tissue. In the form of twisted cables, collagen strengthens the tendons that connect muscle to the bone and the ligaments that connect bones together. As vast, resilient sheets, collagen supports the skin and internal organs, helps skin retain its youthful firmness, suppleness, and elasticity, and builds a barrier that prevents the absorption and spread of pathogenic substances, environmental toxins, microorganisms, and cancerous cells. As found in cartilage, collagen is the secret to well-lubed and well-cushioned joints.

Types of Collagen

Indeed, collagen is needed just about everywhere in the body, and constitutes between 25 and 35 percent of the body’s total protein. There are so many uses for collagen that as many as twenty-nine distinct types exist in animal tissues. Types I to V are the most common.

• Type I is found abundantly in skin, tendons, ligaments, internal organs, bones, and the vascular system. It constitutes 90 percent of the body’s collagen and is found just about everywhere except in cartilage.

• Type II is the cartilage builder, and occurs in the cornea and vitreous humour of the eye.

• Type III collagen teams up with type I to keep the walls of our arteries and other hollow organs strong and supple.

• Type IV ensures the health of cell basement membranes and the filtration system of capillaries.

• Type V is needed for the surfaces of cells, healthy hair, and the placenta during pregnancy.

Whatever their type, collagenous proteins are gigantic molecules that each contain more than one thousand of the protein-building blocks known as amino acids. The molecular structure is a triple helix. One-third of the amino acids are made up of glycine, a tiny amino whose small size is critical for structuring the very tightly packed molecular chains needed at the axis of the helix. Pointing outward, the team of proline and hydroxyproline twists into the tough, strong, and stable triple helix structure.

Figure 1: Collagen is a major structural protein comprised of three chains wound together in a triple helix formation (shown at left). Shown here is a small part of the entire collagen molecule of about 1,400 amino acids. Every third amino acid is glycine.

The structure of collagen varies somewhat among species, a fact that argues for our including bone broth from a variety of species in the diet. It also explains why taste and nutritional value can require different cooking times and preparation methods. For example, the amount of amino acids proline and hydroxyproline is lower in cold-water fish than in mammals. Accordingly, broth from fish is cooked short term, and gelatin obtained from fish is unsuited to many food processing and industrial applications.

Collagen and Aging

Collagen production in the body slows with age and ill health, causing skin, joints, and other body parts to become drier, less pliant, thinner, and weaker. The glue dries up and loses its stickiness, so to speak. This breakdown is most visible as sagging skin, but it can occur throughout the body. Tendons and ligaments lose elasticity, bones weaken, muscles atrophy, and cartilage cracks. Injuries are more likely to occur from repetitive motion, wear and tear, overexertion, or overuse at work, at the gym, or when playing sports. When the body is low in collagen and unable to produce enough of it, injuries are more likely to happen and are harder to heal. In addition, collagen plays a role in preventing and treating autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease.

“ Satisfaction

When my body consumes broth, I can hear it sigh, ahhhhhh! My body loves broth!

—Angie Libert, Ogden, Utah ”

Mainstream science holds that breakdown is inevitable with age. The usual recommendation is to take NSAIDs and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to block pain. This approach is self-defeating, however. Inflammation is a painful but needed first stage in the body’s healing process, one that sends nutrients to the site, leads to granular tissue formation, and ultimately the formation of collagen. Once the new collagen connects with threads to the damaged tissue, healing and strengthening can take place. Rather than take over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription drugs to block inflammation, the better solution is to give the body what it needs to produce optimum amounts of high-quality collagen.

Broth or Supplements?

The traditional way to accomplish this is by eating gelatin-rich homemade bone broth and plenty of collagen-rich foods such as chicken feet and pigs’ hooves. Sadly, such foods have largely disappeared from the modern dinner table, partly for reasons of convenience and partly because so many “health experts” warn against the fat and cholesterol found in these animal products. The result is that most first-world people today subsist on collagen-poor diets, suffer chronic ill effects throughout the body, and embrace pharmaceutical or nutraceutical solutions.

“ Hair, Skin, Teeth, and Nails

I was a vegetarian for nearly thirteen years of my life but finally started appreciating the organic grass-fed animal protein the Lord has provided. Over the past several years I have had so much success with bone broth and credit it with growing enamel back into my front right incisor. I have also noticed that my skin tissue, hair, and nails are more vibrant and structurally sound. I feel so nourished and satisfied, and really that is what holistic nutrition is all about!

—Amber K., Greensboro, North Carolina ”

In terms of joint health, those who don’t give up so easily may turn to the popular supplements glucosamine and chondroitin. Although both of these have well-proven benefits, they provide only two of the many raw ingredients the body needs for collagen production.

A more comprehensive solution is gelatin powders or supplements or whole cartilage products, preferably from pastured cows or chickens. In terms of gelatin powders, the best offer several versions of collagen: types I and II to nourish skin, hair, and nails, and collagen type II to support connective tissue, joints, ligaments, and tendons. Most people benefit from both. Some trendy new products contain collagen from velvet deer antler, green-lipped mussels, sea cucumbers, or other exotic collagen sources. These products may even be pumped up with pomegranate or other additions to provide vitamin C and other collagen-building support for the body.

What Is Gelatin?

Gelatin differs from meat concentrates in that it consists of only the denatured collagen component. It’s intended to be added to other foods to improve digestibility or to be taken alone as a supplement to improve hair, nails, skin, or joints. It is a food as opposed to a food additive and consists of 84 to 90 percent protein, 1 to 2 percent mineral salts, and 8 to 15 percent water. In the food industry, gelatin is widely used to replace cream, egg yolks, and other ingredients in low-calorie, low-fat products that would otherwise lose acceptable texture and mouthfeel. Gelatin is a constituent of many commercial ice creams, yogurts, marshmallows, frostings, and most other processed, packaged products not targeted to the vegan market. Isinglass, a purified form of gelatin derived from fish bladders, is widely used in the wine and beer industries to accelerate the fining, or clarifying, of the products. A 2007 study in the Journal of Food Science suggests bovine gelatin sprays may soon be used to extend the shelf life of meat by blocking water loss and lipid oxidation. Gelatin also has a long history of commercial applications, most famously in the gelatin silver prints of black-and-white photography.

How Now Mad Cow

Despite the multiple health benefits of gelatin, some people avoid it because of fear of mad cow disease. In fact, most gelatin today is hide gelatin, not made from brains. Furthermore, processing procedures such as degreasing, acid demineralization, alkaline purification, washing, filtration, ion exchange, and sterilization reduce the chance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to about zero. Back in 1992, the FDA took the mad cow fear seriously enough to forbid the import of any cow products including gelatin from countries where BSE had occurred, but the ban on gelatin was lifted in 1997. The main reason was that there have been no cases to date implicating either commercial or homemade gelatin in mad cow disease or any other neurological disorders.

Interestingly, high-end supplements marketed for bone health are increasingly likely to contain collagen, as studies suggest it’s even more important than calcium and other minerals for building strong flexible bones and preventing osteopenia and osteoporosis. Indeed, collagen is the likeliest reason bone broth supports bone health (and not its calcium content, which is surprisingly low. See chapter 3, here).

Despite the booming supplement business, the most popular and heavily marketed products contain collagen and collagen enhancers for external use. These include creams, lotions, nail treatments, facial firming gels, and eye pads. In medicine, collagen and cartilage can be found in wound-dressing materials and skin substitutes for burn victims.

The FDA has also approved injectable collagens for cosmetic use. Purified to closely resemble human collagen, bovine collagens are injected to smooth out the fatigue and fret lines that furrow the aging face. Possible side effects are rashes, muscle pain, and headaches, and the results don’t last. Sooner or later the body metabolizes injected collagen.

While many of the new collagen technologies look promising, common sense argues for ancestral wisdom. It’s time to put gelatin-rich bone broth back on the daily menu and nourish the body from the inside out.