#459 Q&A: Collagen vs Glycine, How Much Alcohol is Healthy, How to Improve Kidneys, and Much More

Siim Land (0:00)

Long time no Q&A, first question. Can you get the benefits of collagen by just supplementing with high doses of glycine? If not, why? When it comes to collagen, then the biggest benefit is that it helps with skin aging and reduces the development of wrinkles. Glycine is the biggest amino acid in collagen, so 30% of collagen is glycine, and the glycine contributes to collagen turnover. Now, there isn't any direct evidence that glycine would help to reverse the skin aging in the same way collagen peptides would do, but having higher amounts of glycine and adequate amounts of glycine would help with the collagen turnover, and thus also have a beneficial effect on skin aging. You need about 12 grams of glycine for optimal collagen turnover, and even higher than that, in some cases, we don't necessarily know what's the optimal amount of glycine, but you definitely need large amounts of glycine, something like 10 to 12 grams for a collagen turnover. But can you then just take glycine and ignore collagen? Well, collagen peptides also have unique benefits on the collagen synthesis and the skin anti-aging that you don't necessarily get from a glycine. We have this 2020 systematic review of the mechanisms of collagen supplementation for skin health, and they identified three different mechanisms of action that were beneficial for the skin anti-aging, and that they are the direct effects of collagen peptides on fibroblasts, which are this type of skin cells, M2-like macrophages, which is related to the immune system. So the collagen peptides modulate the immune system in a way that helps with skin anti-aging, and also just getting the direct raw material, the precursors for the collagen synthesis. Here you can see the effects of the collagen peptides on the M2 macrophages. So it modulates the immune system and inflammation in a way that leads to the improvement of skin health and the collagen synthesis. The collagen derived fragments also suppress autoimmune response against endogenous collagen, and that also improves skin health. So generally, collagen peptides and glycine have a different effect on the skin anti-aging. So glycine is more for collagen turnover, recycling collagen, so maintaining adequate collagen turnover, whereas the collagen peptides are more like direct precursors. They get broken down into the smaller chains of amino acids that modulate the immune system in a different way, the autoimmune response, as well as providing the raw precursors, one of which is glycine. So they have slightly different effects, and for optimal results, you want to take collagen peptides, as well as supplement some glycine. So you want to take glycine for other reasons as well, such as glutathione, general inflammation status, balancing the glycine and methionine ratios, helping viscerothat, helping with blood sugar response, protecting against advanced glycation in products. So there are a lot of other benefits to glycine that you want to take it anyway, but there are also unique benefits for collagen peptides, and there's a lot more clinical trials on the collagen peptides themselves that we don't have with regular collagen powder or other protein powders or glycine alone when it comes to skin anti-aging and wrinkles. So ideally, you want to take both. Next question, is there a correlation between blood sugar levels and inflammation? Yes, hyperglycemia, so elevated blood sugar levels, will have an inflammatory response on the body. It also causes a lot of damage to the rest of the organs, so it causes glycation, and has, you know, damaging effects on the organ function. Because of that, it has damaging effects on skin anti-aging. So hyperglycemia, high blood sugar levels are definitely not a very healthy thing. In epidemiological studies, you also probably find an association between elevated blood sugar levels and increased inflammation, which could be because of various reasons. People who have high blood sugar levels, they tend to follow unhealthier lifestyles, they tend to eat worse diets, they eat more processed foods, they're more sedentary, they might not sleep that much, etc. So they have poor metabolic health, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia, this kind of a metabolic imprint, that is then also associated with increased inflammation levels. But even in mechanistic studies, hyperglycemia, elevated blood sugar levels, will trigger inflammatory response. So people who have diabetes, chronically elevated blood sugar levels, then they also have much higher inflammation levels. Now, this doesn't mean that you need to necessarily suppress your blood sugar levels completely low. You know, you can eat plenty amounts of carbohydrates, you can eat hundreds of grams of carbs, while maintaining optimal blood sugar levels, normal blood sugar levels, low blood sugar levels, and also low inflammation levels. So my own metabolic health is excellent, my home ILR is extremely low, my fasting insulin is extremely low, my fasting glucose is low as well, and my CRP, my other inflammatory markers, are also extremely low, like close to zero. So it doesn't mean that this elevation in blood sugar whenever you're eating or just eating more carbohydrates would cause inflammation in and of itself. You have to look at it more like the entire metabolic imprint, like what is the metabolic signature of the person, because every one of us has different amounts of visceral fat, different amounts of insulin sensitivity, different amounts of energy requirements, different metabolic rates, different amounts of glycogen. So it's not just that this or that, it's more about, okay, what does your blood markers actually say? Do you have high blood sugar? If yes, then there are ways to fix it. Do you have high inflammation levels? If yes, then there are ways to fix it. The most important factors for that is to maintain a physically active lifestyle and to lose weight, mostly body fat. Next question, do you really eat two kiwis before bed every night? So usually I have only one single kiwi every night. On some nights, I also had a second one, but generally I just eat one. I like the taste. It's kind of a nice evening snack. And there is a research that kiwis do help with sleep. There are studies that two kiwis a few hours before bed helps with sleep quality. And the mechanisms probably have to do with serotonin, which then helps with melatonin production as well. Do you need to start eating kiwis? Probably not. You can probably get the same effects from other types of fruits, maybe oranges, berries, blueberries, even some healthy carbohydrates. They can all have a similar effects, but I like kiwis, and generally a good way to consume them in the evening. Next question. No alcohol or sometimes a glass or two? Personally, I don't consume any alcohol. I haven't consumed alcohol for the last 10 years, and the reason doesn't have to do anything with health. I just don't like it that much. I prefer to stay sober, and I also don't feel like I need to. I don't want to consume alcohol for whatever reason. I have consumed alcohol maybe once or twice within this time frame of these last 10 years in our wedding with our wife. We had like a glass of wine, et cetera. So it's not something that I'm 100% against, but I just don't feel like to consume alcohol, and I never end up in situations where I would want to or end up consuming alcohol. So yeah, I have no plans of consuming alcohol. When it comes to the research about the health effects of alcohol, then it's somewhat mixed. Obviously, you have these very famous studies that people say that drinking one or two glass of wine a day is actually better for your health, and it's associated with lower diabetes rates, lower heart disease, greater longevity, et cetera. But usually, that's because of some other variables, such as socioeconomic status, education levels, and health. So people who are completely sober, they usually do it because of some health-related reasons. Now, of course, there are people like me who just don't drink alcohol, but we are an extreme minority, less than 1% of the population probably, or like 1% of the population who don't drink alcohol, and we don't have any health problems. But most people who don't drink alcohol do it because of either they were previously alcoholics, or they have some metabolic health issues, or liver issues that prevent them from consuming alcohol, medically speaking, like they would have some health problems because of that. So it's hard to say if being zero alcohol is worse for you than consuming one or two drinks per day. I don't think it is the case. Alcohol is still toxic, especially in large amounts. Of course, there is the principle of hormesis, that small amounts of a toxin can have health benefits, which is true. And I do think that if you're consuming one drink a night, then it probably has no long-term negative side effects on your health, granted that other things are on point. So one thing that alcohol does is that it can raise your liver enzymes, it can also raise your triglycerides, and it can promote the accumulation of visceral fat and liver fat. So if you are someone who has high triglycerides, high liver enzymes, higher amounts of visceral fat than you would like, then cutting down or cutting out the alcohol is one of the most effective ways to improve those markers.