- Good for joints and can help joint recovery-- Arthritis
Harvard Medical School took 29 arthritis patients who had not responded in any way to medical treatment for arthritis over 15 to 20 years.
They took them off their medication, it wasn’t working anyway, lined them up for joint-replacement surgery, and for 90 days before their surgery they gave them heaping tablespoon of ground up chicken cartilage (which is gelatin) in their orange juice every morning for 90 days. In 10 days these people had complete relief of pain inflammation that they hadn’t had in 15 to 20 years.
In 30 days they could open up a new pickle jar that had never been opened without pain to the fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders.
In 90 days 28 of the 29 were clinically cured. That meant that they had complete return, 100% return, of the range of motion, all of the pain and inflammation was gone, in their fingers and toes and hips and knees and neck, and certainly many of them still had knots on their fingers, because it was only 90 days.
-Said to improve sleep for those with insomnia.
- Supports skin, hair and nail growth--women have known this for years.
- Can help tighten loose skin (like the kind you get after having four babies in five years…)
- Can improve digestion since it naturally binds to water and helps food move more easily though the digestive track
-Rumored to help improve cellulite
- Great source of dietary collagen (side note: collagen is too large to be absorbed by the skin, so those skin creams are pretty useless… get it internally and use coconut oil for lotion--better yet eat the coconut oil it will have better effects!)
Gelatin is a good source of protein (6 grams per Tablespoon), collagen and amino acids (it has 18, 9 of which are essential). Of these amino acids, Glycine is reported to help liver function and Lysine is utilized in muscle building and calcium absorption. Because of this, gelatin is often included in recipes for homemade baby formula, as it also helps digest milk proteins.
Gelatin is readily present in traditional foods like homemade bone broths but most of us are still likely not getting enough. As this article explains:
You know how, over the past century or so, we’ve skewed our fatty acid intake by eating less animal fat and more vegetable oils, so that we’re getting way too many omega-6 fatty acids (which can cause blood vessel inflammation, causing cholesterol to clot arteries) and not enough omega-3s, too many unsaturates and not enough saturates?
In exactly the same way, we have been skewing our balance of amino acids, the building blocks of protein.
Gelatin-rich foods, from bone broths to head cheese to foods like pig’s feet and ox tails, were a large part of a traditional diet. Our ancestors relished every part of the animal, and just as they ate organ meats that most modern Americans now spurn, they also ate all the gelatin-rich bony and cartilaginous bits of the animal. In this modern era of muscle meat and little but muscle meat — think boneless skinless chicken breast — much of this gelatin has vanished from the diet, but our bodies’ need for it has not.
For a long time, gelatin’s therapeutic effect in arthritis was assumed to result from its use in repairing the cartilage or other connective tissues around joints, simply because those tissues contain so much collagen. (Marketers suggest that eating cartilage or gelatin will build cartilage or other collagenous tissue.) Some of the consumed gelatin does get incorporated into the joint cartilage, but that is a slow process, and the relief of pain and inflammation is likely to be almost immediate, resembling the antiinflammatory effect of cortisol or aspirin.
Because of its ability to coat and heal the stomach, some experts suggest adding Gelatin to the diet to help alleviate food and other allergies.
If you’ve ever wondered why chicken soup is so good at curing colds, doctors are now pointing to gelatin for the cause.
In addition to the health benefits above about balancing out amino acids and being a good source of protein, I take gelatin for its skin, hair and nail promoting effects.
As an added benefit, it is giving me extra protein and collagen and helps absorption of other minerals. If you are trying to improve skin or joint health Added it to food and drinks I make for my kids to help them better absorb nutrients.
Gelatin seems to be especially effective when taken with meats (balances out the amino acids) or on an empty stomach (to promote Human Growth Hormone production).
Optimally, we’d be able to consume high-quality homemade bone broth a few times a day and would be well balanced and have no need for extra gelatin. Since I’m not there yet, I’ve actually been supplementing with high quality powdered gelatin. Not the stuff from the store, though you can make some healthy Jello variations with it (recipes soon!).
Great Lakes Kosher Gelatin: According to their website it is sourced from grass-fed and humanely raised cows.
Or Knox Gelatin is ok too, even Jello, if you can take all the sugars and chemicals :)
Dissolve one tablespoon in warm water on an empty stomach when I wake up, and mix some in my daily smoothie .
Gelatin and Coconut Oil is a must for those getting to middle age or older!
