There are so many amazing benefits that can come from eating gelatin, including improvements in digestive, skin, and mental health. Plus, gelatin can be used to make a yummy, all-natural dessert that’s actually good for us.
So why aren’t we eating more of it?
Traditional diets are typically much higher in gelatin than our modern diets, because these cultures wisely practiced nose-to-tail eating and consumed parts of the animal that are high in gelatin, such as skin, tendons, and other gelatinous cuts of meat.
We’ve lost the practice of whole-animal eating, and vegetarians typically don’t eat many (or any!) animal products. This means that we’re eating a lot less gelatin than our ancestors, if any at all. The following five reasons will explain why nearly everyone – even vegetarians – should be eating gelatin on a regular basis!
Whether you eat meat or not, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting some gelatin in your diet. Here’s why! #healthyskin #paleodiet #optimalnutrition
1. Gelatin Balances out Your Meat Intake.
Muscle meats and eggs are high in methionine, an amino acid that raises homocysteine levels in the blood and increases our need for homocysteine-neutralizing nutrients like vitamins B6, B12, folate, and choline.
We don’t want high homocysteine in our blood because homocysteine is a significant risk factor for serious diseases like heart disease, stroke, mental illness, and fractures. (This might even explain why researchers sometimes find a correlation between high meat intake and various diseases.)
2. Gelatin Heals Your Gut.
Gelatin can also improve gut integrity and digestive strength by enhancing gastric acid secretion and restoring a healthy mucosal lining in the stomach; low stomach acid and an impaired gut barrier are two common digestive problems in our modern society. Gelatin also absorbs water and helps keep fluid in the digestive tract, promoting good intestinal transit and healthy bowel movements.
Gelatin-rich soups and broths are also one of the key components of the GAPS diet, which has been designed to heal the gut and promote healthy digestion. And healthy intestinal cells prevent leaky gut, which is often at the root of many food intolerances, allergies, inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases.
3. Gelatin Makes Your Skin Healthy and Beautiful.
Gelatin is a known promoter of skin health. Gelatin provides glycine and proline, two amino acids that are used in the production of collagen. Collagen is one of the primary structural elements of skin, so providing the building blocks for this important protein can ensure that your body is able to create enough of it.
4. Gelatin Protects Your Joints.
Body builders have been using gelatin for decades to help improve joint health and reduce inflammation. And research shows that athletes who took a hydrolyzed collagen supplement experienced less pain in their joints, which could help improve performance for athletes and competitive fitness buffs. If you exercise a lot, eating gelatin can help keep your joints healthy and pain-free.
Also, if you have inflammatory joint or bone diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis, getting adequate gelatin can potentially help you manage inflammation and pain in your joints, and build stronger bones.
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5. Gelatin Helps You Sleep.
Glycine from gelatin has been found to help with sleep. One study found that 3 grams of glycine given to subjects before bedtime produced measurable improvements in sleep quality. Many of my clients swear by gelatin as an effective sleep aid without bothersome side effects, in contrast to medications and even natural sleep aids like melatonin, which can sometimes cause grogginess.
Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which can decrease anxiety and promote mental calmness. This is because glycine antagonizes norepinephrine, a stress hormone which causes feelings of anxiety and panic. Gelatin can thus help keep you calm and sleeping through the night.
How to Eat More Gelatin
The traditional way to get gelatin is from skin, gelatinous meats, and bone broths. Those who eat a Paleo or ancestral diet can easily include these foods, but vegetarians and vegans will find these health benefits difficult to get from a largely plant-based diet. Gelatin is only found in animal foods that come from the body of the animal itself.
For vegetarians (and even omnivores!) I recommend getting a high-quality gelatin powder to add to food or to create yummy, healthy gelatinous desserts. Gelatin is somewhat more environmentally-friendly than lean meat because it uses parts of the animal that might not be used otherwise. And it’s much easier to digest than normal muscle meat, making it a good gateway food for vegetarians branching out into a more ancestral diet. (And in case you think vegetarians aren’t ever using any parts of the animal, think again.)
My favorite brand of gelatin is Great Lakes, which comes from grass-fed animals. It’s available in both hydrolyzed and whole form; each type has its own health benefits.
Hydrolyzed means the protein is broken into individual amino acids, making them easier to absorb. Use this type to improve skin and joint health or get better sleep. Hydrolyzed gelatin can be mixed into any type of liquid, including cold liquids, so it can be added to cold smoothies or juices easily. It also is great as a real food protein powder.
Whole protein gelatin is better for improving gut health. It helps carry fluid through the intestines, and can even coat the lining of the digestive tract as a soothing and protective layer. This is the type used to make gummies or jello snacks, and must be mixed into warm liquids.
Fish gelatin is available for those who prefer not to consume land animals.
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Note: Chris Kresser has not reviewed this post and is not responsible or liable for any errors in content. This is general nutrition information only and should not be used in the place of medical advice for the prevention or treatment of any diagnosed condition.
oh, by the way, I’m not going to comment again after this because you people are really depressing me.
this is just confirmation of what i said above – people prefer dulling their awareness to reality.
if you have a serious health problem, gelatin will not help you. can it cure cancer? no. infections? no. it cant even cure a bad throat. I have been a vegetarian since I was 7. a real one. I am not saying that vegetarians should be perfect. nobody is. I myself have mistakenly eaten gelatin. MISTAKENLY! when you know its gelatin but you eat it anyway, you are clearly not faithful to vegetarianism. unlike many others, I take vegetarianism seriously. it is like a religion to me. to be honest, I feel quite hurt at this article and these comments. there are so many people who claim to be vegetarian but are not. oh, ps: only female cows can give milk, and they can give it after having one calf, so they are NOT constantly pregnant.
Again, this article is about HEALTH. Emotional arguments about your reasons for being vegetarian do not belong here. There are many forums where you can go and have an emotional debate if you would like, but this is not the place. It is also a bit silly to go on about what gelatin CAN’T do because that is not how people who eat for health look at foods – they look at what foods CAN do for your health. And as others have already mentioned, the gelatin is made from parts of the animal that otherwise would have just been disposed of. They don’t kill more animals to create gelatin, they are making use of the whole animal and therefore even from an ethical standpoint eating gelatin is better than just eating meat.
It’s quite strange that an article focusing on health would hurt anyone – you are choosing to put your emotions in somewhere that they don’t belong. If you can’t handle the subject matter then don’t read it, it’s that simple.
And yes, obviously only female cows can give milk, hence why the males are killed or raised for beef. And just like humans, cows don’t constantly produce milk so they do have to keep calving in order to keep up production.
Spoken like a true religious fanatic.
this is so stupid. why should any vegetarian eat gelatin?! if you do eat it, you are NOT a vegetarian. eggs, fine. honey fine. milk sure! bottom line: VEGETARIANS DO NOT EAT ANYTHING THAT USED TO BE ALIVE. gelatin is ligaments, cartilage, bone, hoofs, trotters, etc. if you are faithful to vegetarianism and take it seriously, you should not eat gelatin.
Why is it ok to eat animal foods like the ones you mentioned but not parts of the animal? Do you think that drinking milk somehow means no animals have to die? Taking milk from an animal means the calf doesn’t get that milk for starters, and if it’s a male it gets killed and sold as veal. If you want to be a vegetarian because you don’t like meat or think meat is unhealthy, fine, but this article is about supplementation for health.
The physical realm we live was designed to require that in order for most life forms to survive, other life forms must be sacrificed. There is the idea of the Demiurge and why pain and suffering inflict out physical realm.
Life doesn’t really die, only the physical vessels that the spiritual life force resides in is gets discarded. Life force also resides in minerals.
Plants and trees are life also. When we build a house made out of wood, there will be casualties. We kill mosquitos and insects. If one is brought up in a tribe of cannibals, one will eat human meat.
A rock will also have a life force. That life force limitation will be determined by the characteristics the physical vessel where it resides.
The issue really comes down to pain and suffering. Its about starting somewhere to do something about it. The livestock are is a prime area to start.
This planet could be built on a lot less pain and suffering but the political landscape on this planet is entirely dominated by sociopaths. They would have enough advanced technology to obsolete a lot od pain and suffering in life but they won’t. Sociopaths also make up most of the population. Most compassionate people dull their awareness because their bonded to sociopaths.
The idea that vegetarians need to be PERFECT is absurd. No matter how perfect a vegetarian in trying to avoid killing life, they can’t reach perfection.
The act of trying should be enough. One has to balance their diet with practicality.
I think someone who becomes a vegetarian to limit pain and suffering should be commended. It shows a functional conscience. It shows someone wanting to start to somewhere to stem the pain and suffering. People who claim that you must be perfect or your a hypocrite are really just sociopaths playing devils advocate. A truly compassionate person would see things differently
Anybody expecting perfection is ignoring reality. A vegetarian needs to be practical. You do what you can do but realize there is a limit.
Not eating gelatin doesn’t prevent the pain and suffering of that animal. It is just the remaining part after the core product was removed.
If you have a serious health problem, i think that life form that was killed would welcome a vegetarian to their residual body parts.
As a life form I don’t want to killed and eaten to fulfill someone else’s needs. No one is welcome to any of me, really important bits or residual bits. Sorry if that sounds selfish but I value my life as do all animals.
Do you know where I can find research that compares amino breakdown of plant-based gelatin vs animal-based gelatin? I keep reading that plant-based does NOT have the same benefits, but don’t see research to back it up. I am not vegan (I eat fish, eggs, and occasionally some chicken, but I don’t eat dairy), but I like to limit my intake of meat where possible because of the high acidity (trying to eat 70 % Alkaline diet).
If I can find hard evidence showing plant-based gelatin (like in sea vegetables) is inferior, I wouldn’t mind eating fish-based gelatin because I’m convinced of the health benefits of gelatin. Can you point me to some hard research on this topic?
THANKS!
excellent article. thanks for this valuable information. I will share with my patients for sure.
Hi there,
I read somewhere that you should take gelatin supplements on an empty stomach to have the health benefits. I don’t know if this is true so I’m hoping you can shed some light. The website (by a naturopathic physician) states that if you take it with a meal your body will simply use it for the calories (and protein) and nothing else, but if you take it on an empty stomach it will be assimilated into the bloodstream and convert back to collagen that the body can use to repair hair skin etc. Although this doesn’t sound right to me (it doesn’t make sense that a supplement would be more beneficial than gelatin consumed from whole foods), I don’t know a huge amount about it so I wanted to get your thoughts. Here’s the page so you can read for yourself: http://naturopathic-physician.com/index.php?page=73
Many thanks!
Deb: Thank you so much for posting the article, it really helped to know how and when to consume gelatin.
Chris said … “We don’t want high homocysteine in our blood because homocysteine is a significant risk factor for serious diseases like heart disease, stroke, mental illness, and fractures.”
There is a way around this – take fibrinolytic enzymes (FE) on empty stomach like nattokinase. This will clean the plaque out of your arteries over time. Nattokinase is a blot buster and doesn’t have side effects. FE’s have been proven to prevent heart attacks and strokes in China. It takes about 3 to 4 weeks to work. Use at higher dosage if you have heart disease symptoms. You can use both Nattokinase and Serrapeptase at same time.
Vitamin K2 (ML7) can clean calcium out of arteries and put it into the bones but it should be used with care since it is a blood coagulant. FE is a blood anticoagulant and clot buster. I would use K2 intermittently since it builds up in the blood in 4 days. FE’s don’t build up in the blood. Clean the artery plaque out first with FE’s before addressing calcium and bone issues.
If you have osteoperosis, herniated disc, spinal compression, you will likely need an animal based cure. Highly absorbed Hyaluronic Acid / Collagen like Biocell’s will cure these when supplement consumed on empty stomach.. It takes about 6 weeks and 150mg of HA. There are situations where one may needs to bend and be practical. Being a vegetarian while your life is crippled with a herniated disc makes no sense.
If fibrinolytic enzymes bust clots, as you claim, isn’t it rather dangerous to use them? Clots that travel through the bloodstream and get stuck elsewhere, wreaking havoc where they stop: pulmonary embolisms, brain aneurysms, etc.
Also, what diagnostic tests measure the effectiveness of nattokinase? Based on your comments, you shouldn’t take this supplement long-term.
First, the FU activity is a substance natural to your body. No side effects.
Second, there has been only one case reported with serrapeptase so we’re talking an extremely rare event. Who can proven that piece of broken plaque wouldn’t have broken off eventually anyway.
If one is concerned about that they could just go slower. One way or another, if they don’t remove the plaque build up, they will be dead pretty soon anyway. No matter what you take – even water – there is risk even if infinitesimally small.
It is well known that Coumadin causes calcification and doesn’t make people live any longer than they would have without it. Nobody is rushing to have that removed.
Third, if you have symptoms of heart disease, one will know pretty quickly (usually withing one month) whether it is working just by the disappearance of ones symptoms.
Fourth, China has done thousands of studies on the FU within Lumbrokinase and it prevented heart attacks and strokes.
The main precaution I would say is don’t take aspirin with it. For heart disease, fibrinolytic enzymes obsoletes aspirin.
I have taken it around 9 years. The body will use as much as it needs and no more so practically speaking it is very difficult to take too much. The enzymes are good for biofilms, fungus also.
Laura,
Thanks for the article. I use the Great Lakes brand as well and have often seen it referred to as being sourced from grass-fed animals. Getting any specific info on this has been hard to find when I’ve looked a little deeper. Have you seen anything more specific about the sourcing of GL?
Laura, my 87 year old mom isn’t going to purchase Great Lakes gelatin, unfortunately. But she has used Knox gelatin. Is there ANY benefit at all in a commercially made and available product like that, or is it completely different?
Thank you!
We have a very smelly gelatine factory in our town so I have unpleasant associations…however it would be good to get around that. It sounds as though it would be a very beneficial practice. Thanks for your many explanations in both the article and comments. It’s good to see your responsiveness.
With regards to the whole protein gelatine, should that be taken in it’s solid form (i.e. after it has cooled) or can one mix it in a warm drink and consume it immediately?
How much gelatin should one eat every day (from great lakes)?
Both the ordinary ones and the green hydrolyzed one.
1 TB of both (want both benefits) or 2 TB of both? Or more? I who ask, also drink 2 cups of broth every day.
Non of the ethical issues of gelatin are mentioned- i am a vegetarian and I would not touch gelatin
http://www.downtoearth.org/blogs/2010-12/get-facts-gelatin-not-vegetarian-its-cruel
Poor article.
Harriet,
I went to your article and read your link because you said that non of the ethical issues of gelatin were addressed. Your article never addressed ethical issues either; it only stated any animal by-product is cruel. I am NOT a vegetarian but wanted a real example of information I overlooked in my decision making process. I wonder whether you vegetarians who carry Coach bags and have leather interiors in your luxury cars consider you benefit from the expended life force of animals whether you eat them or not. Maybe you don’t wear shoes, play football, or brush your hair either?? Sorry but that all seems pretty impractical
Hi Laura
Just wondering if you knew what level of histamine gelatin has.? Our 3 year old is sensitive to histamines, so can’t do broths unfortunately. Thanks : )
I tried drinking broth for awhile, but my sources for quality bones are not great. So, I starting using powdered gelatin about a year ago. I’ve seen benefits in joint pain, the strength of my nails and hair, and my wrinkles and stretch marks have faded significantly. I’m convinced to eat more gelatin. 🙂
Here are some additions to the benefits of dietary collagen for skin:
-Effects of ingestion of collagen peptide on collagen fibrils and glycosaminoglycans in the dermis.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16967766
-Effects of Collagen Peptide Ingestion on UV-B-Induced Skin Damage
http://forum.lef.org/attach.aspx/216/collagen_study.pdf
-The Effect of Gelatin on Fragile Finger Nails
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v14/n5/full/jid195041a.html
Cool, thanks Hunter!
How are glucosamine and chondroitin related to gelatin? Or, are they not?
Anyone know?
Glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin are co-factors required to build and maintain joint tissue. They come along naturally with the gelatin in bones. These substances are available as supplements for vegetarians, but I don’t know of any studies addressing the supplements’ effectiveness in maintaining joint tissues.
I use Great Lakes, no flavor at all. Mix the recommended amount into your greens drink. Done! It is pricey, though.
Hi Laura,
Thanks for this amazing article. I was discussing it with my wife. She is big advocate of seaweeds and products from them like agar. She use it as a substitute for gelatin. What do you think about it?
Seaweed doesn’t have the same amino acid profile as gelatin. While it may create a similar texture in food, I can’t say it would have the same benefits as gelatin would. Dried agar is only about 6% protein, whereas gelatin powder is 86% protein. (These numbers were determined using USDA data on grams of protein per 100 grams of food)
As I mentioned above, gelatin is only one of the substances required for maintaining joint tissues. Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, glycosaminoglycans, and hyaluronic acid are also required. Animal bones contain all of these substances except for hyaluronic acid. Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are available as supplements, but I don’t know of any clinical trials that have studied their effectiveness.
Are beef ‘sweetbreads’ a good source of gelatin?
Is the slimy quality of okra due to its content of gelatin?
Not sure about sweetbreads but okra is slimy due to its mucilage content: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/10/17/what-makes-okra-slimy
Only animal foods have gelatin in them!