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Multiple Myeloma an incurable disease, but I have spent the last 25 years in remission using a blend of conventional oncology and evidence-based nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle therapies from peer-reviewed studies that your oncologist probably hasn't told you about.
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MM is as much of a bone cancer as it is a blood cancer because, according to the ACS, 90% of MMers experience bone damage at some point during their MM experience. Therefore, maintaining bone health is essential for me. Further, several of the chemotherapy regimens that I underwent during my conventional MM therapy caused heart damage. All to say that collagen (COL) is essential to my life. But, as the article linked below explains, applying collagen to your skin does little add collagen to your heart, bones, etc.
“Therefore, I supplement collagen daily by adding a scoop of collagen powder to my kale fat burner smoothie every morning.”
And younger looking skin? Okay, that’s important to me too.
I used to consider COL to be something you rubbed on your skin in an effort to look younger. I take my nutritional supplementation seriously and therefore looked down on COL. I’ve since learned that collagen supplementation is about much more than younger looking skin. Knowledge is power as they say.
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If you aren’t aware, COL is the most abundant protein in your body. It works like glue by giving your tissues shape, strength, and integrity. Collagen is also important for teeth density and giving you a healthy set of teeth.
Though frequently mentioned in the beauty industry, there’s something about COL that the big companies don’t want you to know: Collagen is pretty much useless when applied topically. Yes, I said it! However, when consumed, it does wonders to your health and well-being.
If you’re serious about keeping yourself healthy, keep reading this article to understand some of the basics of collagen and its proven health benefits! You can find more info in this guide from Perfect Keto
What is Collagen
COL is a “glue-producing” protein and is concentrated in the extracellular matrix (ECM) which is the layer supporting every single tissue cell in the body. Simply put, it’s a net that holds everything together, so they could form, function, and heal. That’s the reason why 30% of your total body protein is collagen.
Like every other protein in the body, COL is made from amino acids. We’ll discuss the sources of these amino acids later. Vitamin C, too, is important for COL synthesis as it helps bonding the amino acids together.
Types of Col
Most people aren’t aware of this, but COL comes in 28 types! However, there are 5 common types you should know about:
Col I
Collagen I’s fibrils are incredibly strong and used in almost every tissue in the body such as tendons, bones, cartilage, and teeth.
Col II
Found mostly in cartilage.
Col III
Can be found alongside collagen I in muscles, organs, arteries, reticular fiber (a special connective tissue that forms the liver, adipose tissue, bone marrow, spleen and more)
Col IV
Gives external support to skin cells.
Col V
Found in the bone matrix, cornea, and connective tissues.
Health Benefits of COL
Research has found that adequate COL levels are needed for the proper functions of:
Skin
Nails
Hair
Muscles
Tendons, joints, and ligaments
Bones
Tissues
Eyes
Gut
Heart
Brain
The real benefits of COL come from consumption. Here’s how collagen benefits some of the organs in (and on) your body:
Skin
Improves skin elasticity
Improves skin hydration
Prevents UV damage
Prevents aging signs
Nails
Increases nail growth rates
Reduces chances of broken nails
Muscles
Because COL is a protein, it is important in the growth and healing of muscles. COL is known to:
Aid muscle regeneration
Prevent muscle disorders
Joints, Tendons, Ligaments
COL deficiency can affect flexibility and cause joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis as most of the tissue in the joints, tendons, and ligaments are mostly made up of COL.
Bone (and teeth!)
Aside from calcium, COL is important in maintaining and strengthening bones and teeth. This is because bone strength is dependent on two things:
Quantity of bone tissue
Organization of COL framework in the bones
Heart
COL literally keeps your heart beating.
COL provides the structural framework to cardiac muscle cells
Provides stiffness to the walls of the heart so it can pump blood.
Food Sources of COL
Remember when I mentioned earlier that applying collagen topically was pretty much useless? There’s a reason for that. The molecule is too big to break through skin!
The protein in your diet gets broken down into amino acids, which are the building blocks of COL. Through cellular process, your body will make your own collagen. Here are some of the best food sources for COL formation:
Nutrients Needed for Col
Sure, amino acids are the building blocks of collagen, but you can’t overlook the other nutrients for healthy collagen development! Here’s how they are essential in collagen production:
Vitamins and minerals are precursors for collagen production (help bind the amino acids)
Vitamins and fatty acids help prevent collagen breakdown with antioxidants.
Here are some key nutrients needed for COL production:
Vitamin C (broccoli, kale, parsley)
Activates enzymes for COL synthesis
Releases enzymes that inhibit COL destructors
Vitamin E (almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts)
Excess collagen can be harmful for some organs, so vitamin E prevents this excess COL
Vitamin E protects COL against free radicals
Carotenoids (turnip greens, tomatoes, spinach)
Important to preserve COL, especially for aging skin
May support COL in bones
Preventing free radicals from mixing with retinol COL in eyes
Thank you for the information about collagen. I being try to found out the benefits of Collagen and your explanation was good.. I have Bone problems and want to know if collagen helps. Thanks.
Thanks for asking about MM and collagen. After I read your question earlier, I did some digging around the internet for any info, studies, research, etc. about MM and collagen. The only study I found is linked below.
While the study is difficult to read, what I take from it is that that bone health does suffer in MM patients. We all know this. MM reduces collagen as well as calcium, etc. The study does say that collagen increases in a percentage of MM patients before they relapse. However, I can find no language that points to “collagen helps myeloma cells to grow.”
I will say that I work to keep my bones strong and I will continue to take collagen.
“Myeloma bone disease (MBD) is a major cause of morbidity in multiple myeloma (MM). We investigated bone turnover markers (BTM) as relapse predictors and biomarkers for monitoring MBD. We measured C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-1), and Procollagen type 1 N Propeptide (P1NP) in 86 MM patients and 26 controls. CTX-1 was higher in newly diagnosed patients compared to control, remission and relapse (P < 0·05), and decreased following treatment.
In the setting of relapse, a CTX-1 rise greater than the calculated least significant change (LSC) was observed in 26% of patients 3-6 months prior to relapse (P = 0·007), and in 60·8% up to 3 months before relapse (P = 0·015).
Statistically significant changes in CTX-1 levels were also observed in patients who were with and without bisphosphonate therapy at the time of relapse. In patients with normal renal function, mean CTX-1 level was highest in the newly diagnosed group (0·771 ± 0·400 μg/l), and lowest in the remission group (0·099 ± 0·070 μg/l) (P < 0·0001).
P1NP levels were not statistically different across the patient groups. We conclude that CTX-1, measured on an automated hospital laboratory platform, has a role in routine treatment monitoring and predicting relapse of MBD, even in patients on bisphosphonates.
What collagen powder did you use?. Where do you get it?
Most importantly, where is your link to medical evidence?. I have never heard this information before
Your questions pushed me to research and write another blog post about collagen citing studies, my brand, my reasoning etc. I am certainly interested in your thinking about the research, and I too, knew litte about collagen.
