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It might be the end of the collagen
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debate, the scientific debate. Does
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collagen do anything? Is it the end of
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collagen? Or is it actually a new
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beginning? I mean, your joints hurt.
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You're not recovering well. Your joints
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feel stiff. Your connective tissue feels
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stiff. You're just looking for something
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that might help you out a little bit.
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You're not looking for this magic
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bullet. I just had one of the leading
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protein scientists in the world on my
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channel and he absolutely shocked me
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when he was telling me what he found
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about collagen in a relatively recent
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study that he did that he performed in
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his lab. So, we're going to talk about
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that. Then, we're going to talk about
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another study that came out in July of
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2024, not that long ago. We're going to
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really settle this whole collagen thing,
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at least from a perspective of recovery
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and from joint health and feeling good.
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We'll talk about a couple other things.
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I'm not going to dangle this along
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anymore. I'm going to tell you the
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benefits of collagen are there and
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there's evidence there. But hear me out
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on it because I want to teach you how to
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use it, right? There is a practical
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application. Okay, first off, let's talk
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about Dr. Mike Ormsby's study. Dr. Mike
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Ormsby has a lab at Florida State
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University, well-known protein
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researcher. So, the study that he's
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talking about in this clip was a double
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blind randomized control trial published
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in ISSN, which International Society of
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Sports Nutrition. very well done study
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where they took subjects and gave them a
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placebo or gave them 10 grams of
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collagen or 20 gram of collagen for a
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period of time. Now they gave the
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subjects that worked out somewhat
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regularly, people that worked out on
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average 4 hours per week. Now the cool
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thing is is this was an older population
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age 40 to 65. They found some really
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interesting things. They found in a dose
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dependent fashion the activities of
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daily life score went up the ADL score
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and pain went down in a dose dependent
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fashion. So the more collagen the better
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their function in daily life was and a
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reduction in pain. Now Dr. Mike Ormsby
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is a very nuanced researcher and he flat
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out was saying like the results were so
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significant that he could no longer
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naysay on collagen. Now, I've had people
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on this channel publicly nay collagen,
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and this was really refreshing to hear.
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He also said that there was significant
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improvement in their physical activity,
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their physical health, and their mental
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health, probably because they were in
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less pain, and it was significant
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enough. The interesting thing is he did
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find that the sweet spot seemed to be 10
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g because at 20 g there was a little
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more improvement, but not as much of a
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jump from 10 to 20 g as there was from 0
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to 10. That being said, more did
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increase the effect. The other thing is
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this study started to look at markers of
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bone and connective tissue turnover and
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saw that there was you were seeing
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connective tissue turning over new
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connective tissue forming. Before we
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used to say, well, collagen's no
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different than regular protein. And
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we're going to get to that in just a
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moment. But now I look at a study that
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was published in the journal Nutrition
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that was published in July of 2024. And
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this was really interesting and you'll
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kind of understand why in a second. They
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were measuring collagen synthesis after
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an acute bout of resistance training. So
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they would give collagen before the
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workout and then measure collagen
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synthesis post-workout. Was collagen
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actually increasing the amount of
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collagen that was synthesized in the
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connective tissue? Okay. So what they
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did is they gave subjects a placebo zero
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or they gave them 15 g of collagen or a
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whopping 30 g serving of collagen
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hydrayzeed collagen protein. So what was
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interesting is we know that resistance
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training alone will stimulate collagen
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synthesis. So naysayers would say well
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duh anytime you resistance train you're
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going to increase collagen synthesis.
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It's just like if you were to go
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resistance train even before you eat
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protein you're going to increase muscle
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protein synthesis to a degree. But what
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this study wanted to measure is would
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collagen ingestion actually spring that
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forward even more. Would you get more
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synthesis? And the bottom line was yes
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in a dose dependent fashion. 0 and 15 g
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of collagen actually didn't do that
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much. It was still above none at all
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right when you went to 15. But 30 there
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was a meaningful statistically
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significant increase in collagen
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synthesis postresistance training. And
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this was given collagen before a
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workout. So it actually expedited or
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increased and ramped up the collagen
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protein synthesis indicating first of
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all collagen protein does work. Second
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of all, it does directly stimulate
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connective tissue
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synthesis. Now would it be worth
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consuming collagen over whey protein in
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that case? We're going to break into
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that. We're going to talk about that.
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We're also going to talk about timing.
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We're going to talk about how you can
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use it properly and some other use cases
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for it. But there was one other study in
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the American Journal of Clinical
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Nutrition. And this was published back
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in 2015. And before this was really the
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only strong study. This was the famous
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jump rope study where they gave collagen
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preworkout to subjects that were on a
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jump rope routine for months. And they
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found out that consuming collagen prior
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to jump roping over the course of 6 to9
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months strengthened the Achilles tendon
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and improved recovery. So it actually
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increased the strength of the connective
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tissue. to the tendon itself. Okay,
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we've got solid evidence that collagen
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does something. So, how do we use it?
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First off, the one that I use, just FYI,
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is a company called Bubs. Bubs collagen.
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This is probably the most pure, simple,
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single ingredient, highly soluble
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collagen that's out there. It's heat
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tolerant, so you can put it in coffee,
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you can put it in something ice cold,
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and it mixes super easy because it
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doesn't have the other stuff in it. It's
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single source ingredient, super easy,
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unflavored, tastes like nothing, mixes
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in cough, just the way I like collagen.
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Okay, plain and simple. One of the best
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parts about it, you know that I do work
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with the special operations community.
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It's called Bubs Naturals in honor of
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Glenn Doerty. So, if you remember the
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whole Benghazi Libya thing, he put his
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life on the line for 13 Americans.
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Awesome guy. And 10% of all profits go
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to charity in Bub's honor. in Bub
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Doert's honor. So that's why it's called
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Bubs Naturals. So anyway, that link down
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below gets you 20% off using code Thomas
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20. It's the simplest, cleanest, most
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soluble collagen that is out there. So
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link in the top line of description
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underneath this video and a big thank
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you to Bubs and to Sean over at Bubs for
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making this all possible. Now we get
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into the crazy stuff. Okay, collagen
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protein is not just protein. Okay, there
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was a study that was published in the
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journal nutrients that looked at
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collagen and it found that when collagen
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was ingested, it did increase in
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specifically proline, glycine, and
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hydroxyproline into the connective
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tissue. Okay, would that happen if you
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were to consume whey protein to a
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certain degree? Okay, but that's not
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what I'm getting at. That was just good
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stuff. That just means we know that when
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we consume collagen, it's getting to the
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right place. But again, people will say,
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why take collagen over just whey
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protein? Well, check this out. There is
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a study published in current medical
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research and opinion. And it found that
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collagen protein is absorbed through the
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gut, also aids in the gut. It also heals
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the gut a bit, but absorbs through the
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gut and then gets sequestered and stored
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in the cartilage. Once it is in the
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cartilage, get this, the peptides
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signal for more collagen synthesis. it
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signaled the synthesis of extracellular
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matrix molecules to actually form new
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tissue. Hence the word peptide. So
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that's like saying okay if I were to use
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a peptide like a common peptide peptides
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that are out there uh in the
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pharmaceutical world like GLP-1 receptor
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agonist like Osimpic is a peptide. It is
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a string of aminos amino acids. If I
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consume or gave myself that flood of
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amino acids, one could make the
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argument, "Yeah, but you're going to get
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all those amino acids from consuming
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protein, too,
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right?" Yeah. But it's how they're
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strung together in a peptide chain that
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triggers a signal to do
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something. Collagen peptides as they are
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called are ingested and absorbed in
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peptide form and then stored in the
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cartilage signaling extracellular matrix
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molecules to actually form new
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connective tissue. They have a signaling
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property and this could be we don't know
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for sure but mechanistically why they
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work so well for people and help people
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get out of pain and have better joint
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recovery. Let's also talk about another
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benefit that people don't focus on that
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we don't necessarily get from say whey
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protein. And don't get me wrong, I love
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whey protein, but the high amount of
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glycine, if you were to take a 30 gram
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serving of collagen, you're going to get
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enough glycine to have a a pretty much a
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therapeutic effect on sleep when it
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comes down to the hypothermic effect
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from the activation of the NMDA
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receptor. It's impacting the brain to
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actually help you cool your body a
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little bit and sleep better. And this is
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commonly known in the sleep space. We've
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seen lots of people talk about this that
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are sleep experts. So, you're getting
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this benefit, which could aid in, of
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course, recovery, too. But then there
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was a study published in Skin
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Pharmarmacology and Physiology took a
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look at 114 older people and they found
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that taking a collagen supplement for
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just 8 weeks resulted in a 20% reduction
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in
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wrinkles. Now, we've seen it for skin
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benefit, right? Putting a serum on, but
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ingesting it actually improved wrinkles.
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In fact, there was a 65% increase in pro
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collagen type 1 and an 18% increase in
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elastin after just 8 weeks.
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Now, that's not going to happen with a
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protein powder, like a regular like whey
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protein. And again, I am super bullish
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on whey. I love whey protein, but I hope
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that this can end just this debate. It's
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like some people, and I think you might
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know who they are, are
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so I just don't even I want to take the
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high road here, but it's frustrating.
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They want to dig their heels in and as a
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matter of just power do not want to
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admit that collagen has some benefit and
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collagen could work. It's not a scam.
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Okay? And I know and I respect the fact
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that I have collagen sponsors on this
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channel, but it would not be the first
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time that I would have to dump a sponsor
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because the science has changed. And I
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would do that if the collagen science
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wasn't there. So the point is in the
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name of science, we are moving in the
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right direction with collagen. We may
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not be flooded with tons of research,
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but we're getting there. So as far as
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taking it is concerned, what I would
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recommend is two doses throughout the
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day. I would recommend it if you are
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older and you're concerned about
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connective tissue taking it pre-workout.
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We are seeing pre-workout benefits of
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collagen in terms of getting into the
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connective tissue better. Most of the
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studies that we've seen show that when
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you have the collagen preworkout, it has
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a chance to actually get into the
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tendons like the Achilles tendon, maybe
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the movement it allows it to absorb,
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subsequently allowing for 1 hour post
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exercise to have increases in collagen
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protein synthesis. Now, if you were to
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have it after, I'm sure you could still
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have a certain degree of it, but I think
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that most of the collagen collagen
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absorption, excuse me, is coming in
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through movement. So, I would recommend
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20 to 30 grams
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preworkout, and that's really not going
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to break a fast heavily because there's
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not significant leucine in there to do
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the job, right? So, if you're trying to
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train fast and you're worried about fat
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loss, I understand the trepidation
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there, but I think that having a bit of
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unflavored collagen in your coffee is
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probably a net positive if your recovery
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is asking for it. I would rather you
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recover better. Now, I also recommend
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you have 10 to 15 g at night if you
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wanted to. Now, you could go as low as
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10 grams in the morning. I think 20
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grams is sort of the the neutral. Like
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Bubs for example is a 20 gram scoop. 10
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to 20 grams is all you would really need
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in the evening time because you're just
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looking for sufficient glycine to help
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you sleep. But almost all the benefit is
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around Perry workout around the workout.
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Now another thing that you can do for
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the sake of glycine and gelatin is I
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recommend sipping on bone broth
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throughout the day. Now bone broth is a
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little bit more gut oriented. Okay?
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Because of the way that the collagen is
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and the gelatin is, you're actually
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going to get potentially more in the gut
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itself. But if you have a healthy gut,
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you're going to be able to assimilate
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potentially more collagen better anyway.
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So, as always, keep it locked in here,
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my channel. See you tomorrow.
