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5 Reasons Why Nearly Everyone (Even Vegetarians) Should Eat Gelatin

by Laura Beth Schoenfeld, RD

Last updated on

gelatin, benefits of gelatin
Incorporating more gelatin into your diet could be as simple as this yummy gelatin dessert. Antonio Mu±oz palomares/Hemera/Thinkstock

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.)

Those eating lots of animal protein need adequate glycine to balance out the methionine from meat, and you’ll get that from gelatin. For more information, check out Denise Minger’s awesome presentation, where she discusses this very issue.

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.

A diet rich in gelatin may also protect against the aging effects of sunlight, preventing wrinkles in the future. So if you eat gelatin, you’ll feel less guilty about getting regular, unprotected sun exposure to boost your vitamin D, because your skin will be more resilient to damage! (Yay!)

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.

One population who may need to be careful about consuming gelatin or gelatin powders are those with histamine intolerance; some people report a histamine reaction to these foods and thus gelatin may not be appropriate for those with severe intolerances.
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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.

Laura Beth Schoenfeld, RD
Laura Beth Schoenfeld, RD

Laura Schoenfeld, MPH, RD, is a licensed registered dietitian and women’s health expert trained in Functional Medical nutrition therapy. She assisted in the creation of educational materials for both the ADAPT practitioner and health coach training programs.

Her passion is empowering women to nourish their bodies, develop true strength, and ultimately use their improved health to pursue their purpose. Laura guides her clients in identifying and implementing diet and lifestyle changes that allow them to live a healthy, fit, symptom-free life without being consumed by thoughts of food and exercise. She draws from a variety of sources to form her philosophy on nutrition, including ancestral diets, principles of biochemistry, current research, and clinical experience. Her areas of expertise include women’s hormones and fertility, gut health, autoimmune disease, athletic performance, stress management, skin health, and weight loss. Recognizing that health goes far beyond just diet and exercise, Laura teaches her clients how to focus on and implement life-changing mental and spiritual health habits as well, including changing their thoughts and beliefs to ones that drive health-supporting decision-making around food, fitness, and life in general.

Her greatest mission is to help health-conscious women realize that, while their health is priceless, they are so much more than a body. When she’s not educating and serving her coaching clients and community, Laura loves traveling with her husband, Sundays with her church family, hikes with her dog, beach trips, live music, and strength training.

Professional website: lauraschoenfeldrd.com

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450 Comments

Join the conversation

  1. Hi!
    I have been taking Great Lakes Collagen for a few weeks. I have Sibo and Hashimotos. At the beginning I was taking 1 tablespoon twice a day and was wired…. however my bowels started to normalize. I reduced it to one tablespoon a day. What I noticed is that although I am following a specific thyroid diet my body temperature would not normalize. Also ,I was very thirsty and sweating like crazy at night. Eventually I went down to 1 teaspoon and still could not solve the problem…plus the constipation came back so I went off of it completely. This morning my brain fog was terrible. So here’s my question. Is it worth trying the regular gelatin or would knox gelatin be helpful to me?. Also any other recommendations you can make?
    Thanks.
    Cindy

    • Don’t take the regular Knox gelatin! It’s full of terrible stuff that the give the cows. Which means YOU ingest that same stuff! The reason you get the reaction from the Great Lakes gelatin is because there are several excitory amino acids in the gelatin. It means that you aren’t making enough GABA, which is the opposite of excitory. I too got the same reaction that you did and could not take it for a few years until recently I read about the GABA. So I purchased powdered GABA and just took a little lick of it ( slightly wet my pinky finger and dipped in the GABA powder and licked it off). It worked! I took the GABA first, then waited 30 minutes and took 1 teaspoon on the Great Lakes gelatin. I did not have the heartbeat reaction that I would always get. Even at the two hour mark and four hour mark, I did not have any reaction. But, after one week, I had to lick some of the GABA powder again. So once a week GABA has worked for me for the last two months. I will tell you that the GABA DID make me feel a little depressed, but it’s worth it to get the gelatin down to heal my gut!

  2. I have a question: What is the difference between taking Hyaluronic Acid and taking gelatin? I take HA capsules and have noticed my face plumped out (less drawn and wrinkled now) it also got rid of the pain in my knee; both my wrinkles and knee within 2 weeks of taking it. So does gelatin have any MORE benefits than hyaluronic acid would? Just want to make sure I am not missing out on anything good. Would taking both be a good idea or is that not necessary?
    Thank you!

  3. So… this question is going to be a bit weird, but does anyone know if you can get gelatin (or gelatin benefits) from eating… bugs? Crickets, mealworms, etc?

    I know it sounds like an odd question, but I’m trying to expand my diet to include these. Thanks in advance!

  4. Does anyone know if it’s ok to add some hydrolized collagen to my home made bone broth while its simmering on the stove to add some benefit and make it more gelatinous which I prefer.

    • Steve. There is no problem adding hydrolized collagen to broth. Make sure you add 1-2 tbsp. of raw apple cider vinegar to the broth, it leeches out the minerals from the bone. Bone broth is super healthy for people & pets.

  5. I think this is a ridiculous article in the sense that the benefits of gelatin are listed and it is stated that even vegetarians should start eating it. It’s like listing the benefits of lamb or beef and asking vegetarians to eat that one product for it’s benefits.

    It is very possible to find the same benefits in plant sources, you may just have to eat more!

    I respect how anyone wants to eat as long as they know what is possible or not with their current diet choices. There is no need to be unhealthy if you cut out various food groups, you just have to try harder with your diet and educate yourself.

    However, stamping all over someone’s food choices (which are often done for ethical reasons) with titles such as this article holds, is not something I agree with.

    • No, it’s literally not possible. If you are strict vegetarian that eschews gelatin you also give up the health benefits. There are literally no equivocal plant foods for gelatin. You can mimic the texture properties up to a point, but not the nutritional profile.

    • It’s odd how vegetarians and vegans often seem to think even even-handed, unemotional articles are ‘stamping all over someone’s food choices’. It’s as if you ‘need’ to find violence and aggression in everything to justify their victim/martyr status.

      There are different levels of vegetarianism – e.g. All the vegetarians I know eat eggs and dairy and wear leather. Many would see gelatin as a bipeoduct and perhaps no more worriesome than their leather shoes – so for ‘some’ vegetarians, this article may be quite helpful – and no, you can’t get the same nutritional benefits from plant sources, so you need to accept that you’ll be nutritionally deficient.

      When it comes to ethics, environment and less death, a paleo diet of pastured meat and ZERO monocrops wins hands down over vegetarianism and veganism which both include (and are usually heavily reliant on) monocrops such as wheat, soy and seed oils.

      • Very well said Bee. My thoughts exactly. I didn’t feel this article was aggressive in anyway, and somehow, a few vegetarians on here got extremely offended that someone would dare offer them an animal bi-product of any kind. It’s was a bit shocking to me, and quite honestly, very childish. I understand that somone may choose vegetarianism for moral purposes, but if you simply look into human biochemistry, and compare it to the archiological findings of our ancestors, it’s quite easy to understand that vegetarianism is takes a backseat to a true Paleo diet. Vegetarianism is humans overthinking a very simple concept, which we do all the time.

      • Cherry picking one or two publications that support your claim while failing to mention a plethora of publications that have concluded to the contrary certainly is not “even-handed”. Particularly when the current scientific consensus is contradictory to your position.

        The dictionary definition of violence is “behaviour involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something” and I am sure that hitting a cow over the head before slicing open its throat meets that criteria. Whether that violence is justified or not is another argument, but to claim that this is not an instance of violence is disingenuous.

        Your claim that removing gelatin from your diet makes you nutritionally deficient is unscientific. In 2011, reviewing the clinical data that had been published to date, the European Food Safety Authority Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies concluded that “a cause and effect relationship has not been established between the consumption of collagen hydrolysate and maintenance of joints”. A 2012 review also found insufficient evidence to support its use for osteoarthritis.

        As with anything in science, when two parties are in a discussion and one asserts a claim that the other disputes, the one who asserts has a burden of proof to justify or substantiate that claim.

        Your claims regarding the ethics of vegan versus Paleo food sources are also contradictory to the current consensus among bioethicists. Also, pasture fed cattle associated agriculture has undeniably damaged my countries environment (all of our beef and dairy cows are pasture fed), and there are a plethora of scientific publications that demonstrate this quite clearly.

        So no, I do not need to accept that I am nutritionally deficient due to not consuming gelatin. There is almost no good quality evidence that demonstrates this claim and plenty of good research that has found no relationship between health outcomes and gelatin consumption.

    • “No, it’s literally not possible. If you are strict vegetarian that eschews gelatin you also give up the health benefits. There are literally no equivocal plant foods for gelatin. You can mimic the texture properties up to a point, but not the nutritional profile.” That statement is almost completely false as gelatin is a source of animal proteins and some vitamins. These same amino acids can be obtained by any number of whole plant alternatives and even cooking alternatives like agar has a better vitamin profile than gelatin. One of the most promoted myths regarding plant based diets is that they are deficient in protein. Its about obtaining the complete spectrum of amino acids in your diet and that can be done both easily and healthier way from whole plant sources. It is time to move beyond the food and diet industries hype and myths and start focusing on the wealth of scientific evidence regarding the best sources for our actual nutritional needs. For example, the bogus calcium deficiency myth was made up by the dairy industry to sell more dairy products. It has no basis in science. And guess who promoted the notion that you could not get a complete amino acid profile from plant based foods? Does anyone need a hint.

  6. I just starting using Great Lakes collagen (red cannister). I have been making homemade coconut yogurt, and adding it to that. I have been feeling naceous after eating the yogurt. I am guessing it is from the collagen? (the only other ingredients I add is pure coconut cream, probiotic powder, and honey). I have a lot of digestive issues and am disappointed I am not tolerating this.

    • Have you had problems with coconut cream by itself? Or probiotics by themselves? I now react to coconut cream. I am hoping it is a temporary thing because it is delicious and there are so many recipes that use it. For a while I could not use collagen, or even eat homemade chicken soup because of a histamine reaction. I had to get the histamine issue under control and gradually reintroduce foods back into my diet. I have not tried the Great lakes brand, only the Bulletproof brand and now I have switched to Vital Proteins collagen peptides.

      • Hi Joan.. So glad you mentioned your histamine reaction to eating homemade chicken soup. I just started healing my gut with all the protocols and made chicken soup with all organics and a chicken from a reputable local farm. I have been feeling sick for two days and now I know it’s the soup I made. But can you or anyone tell me how to stop the histamine reaction? I take 3000 mg vitamin c first thing in the morning so I can tolerate 1 tsp of Braggs apple cider vinegar. I self diagnosed my leaky gut syndrome 3 months ago after searching for the past two years trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. I so desperately want to be able to drink a cup of chicken broth 2 times a day but I knew it would probably cause a histamine intolerance like vinegar does and the Great Lakes gelatin. And input from anyone reading this is much appreciated!

        • Linda, Sorry I somehow missed this or I would have gotten back to you sooner! Quecetin is helpful in reducing histamine reactions. Google The Low Histamine Chef for another really good resource on how to reduce histamine. She uses an easy to understand explanation on the “Histamine Bucket” as to why we react sometimes to certain foods, but other times, we can tolerate them. It is a nutrition based approach to healing, and has helped me tremendously. I can now tolerate homemade soup, but if I go overboard, I start reacting and know I need to back off and up the quercetin. Hope this helps!

    • Maybe try Raw honey or Manuka honey. You can switch from Yogurt to plain organic Kefir. Or switch from organic cow to goat milk yogurt.
      You have to experiment to see which particular food you are reacting too.

    • Have you had any resolution here? I’m having the same issue when I make the same coconut milk yogurt.

  7. Most ridiculous thing ive read, having just learned the TRUE process of gelatin in actually alarmed to find this advocation for it not only by kresser,whom i thought was fairly on the ball,but a dietician advocating charred animal by-product? Goes to show the mass convolution is peaking!

    • That’s because you are making your food choices based on your moral code, rather than nutritional benefits. Which is ridiculously flawed, but you are free to undermine your health if you so choose.

      • It seems to me that Paleo advocates are making their health choices based on a very small amount of poor quality evidence. Sure, there are great ethical arguments for not consuming animal products…But there is also a plethora of good scientific evidence that demonstrates pretty clearly the fact that we do not need to consume these products in order to be healthy.

        From what I can see here, one or two publications are being cherry picked because they suit your argument, and hundreds (if not thousands) of publications which conclude contrary to your position have not even been mentioned.

        How scientific is that?

    • I would like to know more about this! I have been thinking about if this processed gelatin really is good for us?

  8. “(And in case you think vegetarians aren’t ever using any parts of the animal, think again.)”

    What a trite comment.

    So the take away is, as a vegan you’ve likely failed so why not just go for it and eat a cow?

    Hmm, as much as I try I can’t avoid all pesticides….therefore….

    Vegans/vegetarians are very aware of the numerous sources of animal products. Less than 100% does not negate their effort re carbon footprint, animal ethics, health benefits …whatever the individuals purpose may be. It is not a religion.

    • It *is* a religion for most as they avoid science and debate and instead approach it with a faith-based dogmatic mindset. My paleo diet (pastured meat and zero monocrops) has less death, less environmental impact and a better carbon footprint than I could achieve on a vegetarian/vegan diet – which is why (alongside the massive health benefits) I, as an ethical environmentalist chose it.

      • Rubbish, health based arguments for vegetarianism are as scientific as they come. There are thousands of peer-reviewed scientific publications that demonstrate the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. The current consensus among the medical science field is that you do not need to consume animal products in order to be healthy. Who is avoiding the science? The majority of the worlds leading health scientists? Really?

        This article has cherry picked one or two articles that suit its position and has failed to even mention any of the thousands of other articles which conclude to the contrary.

        If anything, a faith based dogmatic mindset is descriptive of Paleo advocates.

        • Vitamin B12 is available only by consuming animal products. B12 is rather important (i.e. necessary). A diet without B12 will lead to morbidity and mortality.

          BTW the so called vegetable sources are inactive analogues.

          • Ummm. No.

            it’s weird how you’re coming out of nowhere with literally nothing to back your claim.

            Here’s an article with many peer reviewed sources that might make you think before typing next time about B12 deficiency. Even though you seem like a person that doesn’t take irrefutable science seriously. B12 is a meat eater’s last resort to feel validated about your poor dietary habits. Probably a waste of time for me to be typing all of this.

            https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/nov/b12.htm

            I don’t take supplements, and had my nutrition recently evaluated. Guess what; I’m not B12 deficient. Weird eh?

  9. my toddler loves eating grass-fed beef, would you recommend gelatin for kids to balance their meat intake as well?

  10. Thank you for this article. This is very interesting! I have a question, though. I started GAPS about a month ago and immediately developed profuse, watery diarrhea. Through trial and error, I determined it was being caused by gelatin (whether from Great Lakes collagen or gelatin, or the gelatin produced my my soups made with organic chickens and chicken feet). If I ate it with yogurt or lots of meat, it would calm down a bit. If I ate it on its own or with some fat or just an egg yolk, it was really bad. What could be causing this? Should I continue the collagen/gelatin and just deal with the diarrhea until I heal? Or is this a sign that the gelatin is bad for me and try to heal my leaky gut in another way (ie l-glutamine, which does not seem to be producing the same problems.)

    • Hi, I suffered the same symptoms on gaps. I also tried gaps for leaky gut , it only seemed to get make things worse.

    • Problem is that most people that are vegetarian/ vegan do it for ethical reasons. Health benefits are a bonus. Animals still have to suffer for gelatine so that’s still a no for many of us.

      • I was a vegetarian for 4 years, and for what I thought were ethical reasons too, but I realized that I was doing this at the expense of my own health and developed some health problems, gained a lot of weight, and had severe hormonal acne (a clear sign my hormones were way off balance). I went back to eating more balanced and included things like bone broth and probiotic-rich foods etc. and I lost weight, and my other health issues either disappeared or lessened. I actually feel so much healthier and I look much younger at the age of 36 compared to my late 20s as a vegan/vegetarian. I’m not any less compassionate than I was before, I’m just more concious and eat food from healthier sources. Our ancestors had it right and with all of our health issues now, it definitely tells me that we’re experiencing major health deficiencies no matter what our diets consist of.

      • Skin and horns? That is what gelatin is. Who in their right mind would eat that? Stop the murder from meat, egg, dairy, and leather. Dairy and egg industries go to the meat cruelty “industry”. Leather and meat are not the same industry. Gelatin is cruel, disgusting, and is not on my plate!

        • Who in their right mind would eat skin? How about every carnivorous and omnivorous animal on the planet? Perhaps you should question why one would avoid it since it’s a proven part of animal, including human, diets for millions of years.

        • Read ‘The Vegetarian Myth’ and open your eyes to the death, cruelty and environmental devastation you put on your plate everyday. And it’s far moreso than my plate!

  11. I heard about the benefits of gelatin a couple of years ago.
    Last autumn I came across the advice again, and I started eating a small amount of it in foods (sometimes making a homemade jello with a bit of fruit juice and water, sometimes making a pannacotta with organic milk, or just putting it into liquid and drinking it before it gelled), but within a couple of weeks, it began to give me very bad acid reflux, which I’d never had before in my life.
    Nothing else in my diet or activities had changed. I didn’t think the acid reflux was caused by the gelatin at first, so it took me about a week to stop ingesting the gelatin, while I was eliminating things left and right.
    I went to the doctor and was diagnosed as having GERD and told to take proton pump inhibitors (with no discussion of their side effects) for an indeterminate amount of time.
    I researched that idea, and decided not to take my doctor’s advice, so I didn’t fill the prescription.
    I have tried a LOT of things to relieve the acid reflux, every reasonable tip that one can find online.
    The acid reflux still comes and goes, but this spring it has been getting better.
    I have since read online some people’s stories that gelatin can upset the stomach and cause these issues. I am not sure if my adverse reaction to gelatin is a histamine problem, or what.
    Two weeks ago, after I’d been doing pretty well and not having much GERD at all, I made some gelatin dishes for some of my older relatives at their request, and I decided to have a serving of it, to see if it caused me any problems. Well, that half-cup serving caused trouble immediately (I honestly didn’t expect it to be nearly that bad, or I never would have experimented with it), and it erased my progress in healing from the GERD. Two weeks on from that one serving of this horrible substance, even though I’m doing all the right things to calm down the acid reflux, I am still having acid freely coming into my throat each night (during the wee hours, even though I sleep on a good incline to keep my head well above my stomach) and it is also causing me some nausea and intermittent sore throats during the daytimes (last week, I threw up from this experience of nausea, and I typically only throw up about once every 4 years from any cause, so it’s unusual and distressing).
    In summary, gelatin is NOT AT ALL healthy for me personally, and it seems to have caused lasting injury to my digestive system.
    Probably if I had not eaten it frequently (maybe 4 days a week) over a period of a few weeks last autumn, it wouldn’t have affected me so badly. But 6 months without having it at all, plus lots of healing herbs, healing vitamins, healing diet changes, and healing lifestyle changes in the meantime — and still one modest serving 2 weeks ago was enough to take me right back to gastric MAYHEM.
    I am often an outlier when it comes to how things affect me, and I’m sure my experience with gelatin is unusual, but I can’t be the only one, so I would urge people to be cautious with it, and if they start getting acid reflux, not to continue taking the gelatin thinking that it must be universally positive for everyone’s digestive system.

    • I have used fresh pineapple , like a slice of it as a snack before bed, or anytime to prevent Gerd. I have also woke up in the night with acid so bad that I threw it up on my face, but went to the fridge, got out the pineapple, ate a little, went back to sleep,and slept wonderful . Its the enzymes in pineapple. works like a charm.

    • Wow I have also experienced the same. I have been paleo since april last year. In the last 6 weeks I decided to reduce my carb and fruit intake to lose weight. I began taking collagen, twice a day. I couldn’t believe the help it was for reducing appetite. I would hardly eat. I had the great lakes collagen with coconut oil and cacao butter blended with cinamon. yum. but within 2 weeks I noticed I was getting reflux in my voice box. I have had the odd amount but greatly reduced since going paleo (like maybe once every second month). It has now been 4 weeks and this week its getting scary, the only thing I have changed is the collagen. Everytime I have it, the integestion starts. I am asthmatic and it affects my breathing which is scary. today I’ve decided (after reading this) that I won’t be taking it for a few days and see if it clears up. I will be monitoring closely. Thanks everyone.

      • if it is giving you asthma, that is a classic histamine reaction and you might want to stop taking it.

    • Lydia have you heard about Dr. Axe. He has a very good program for healing leaky gut which could be your root cause to the GERD. I say Stay on those acid blockers until your gut is healed that GERD is very dangerous for your body. That acid is certainly not benign. My mother passed away last year from Pulmonary Fibrosis caused by GERD. She was a healthy woman other than having acid reflux.
      I get acid reflux periodically also and have stumbled upon DR. Axe just recently. I watched his webinar and feel it is a worthy attempt to heal my gut. I hope this helps.

  12. Hi.. I read on the Internet that gelatin can heal your gut. I suffered from constipation since I was 19 and now know it was a combination of antibiotics, eating tons of refined sugar, and having juvenile diabetes that contributed to this problem. I started taking one teaspoon of the Great Lakes hydrolyzed gelatin in a 1/2 cup of water every day. It worked in about two weeks and the constipation finally ended after over 20 years. But 9 months later, all of a sudden , I can’t tolerate the gelatin, no matter how little I take. It’s the same can and I changed nothing else, as far as food , supplements or medicine. The reaction I get is that within 20 minutes of ingesting it, I feel like I overdosed on speed or caffeine or whatever would make you feel super amp’ d out! Please someone help! I was feeling good for the first time in my adult life. Over the last 6 months since this started happening, I have tried it a few times with food, water, juice, etc., but I still get the same reaction. It lasts for the whole day , around 12 hours. I appreciate any feedback from anyone. Thank you

    • I have researched so much information on line, You just need to keep asking questions and look. I don’t know your details but it sounds like you need the GAPS diet since you are so fed up. There is a lot of information about the why. Also check out ask ask a naturopath gastritis on google search. It has a lot of helpful information to do in tandem with GAPS. Keep looking your answers are out there and keep the faith:)

    • Hi Linda

      Sorry to hear you’ve started having trouble with the gelatin. This isn’t necessarily what it is but the first thought that popped into my head is that gelatin is high in glutamate which is an exitory neurotransmitter. This could be a cause of your anxiety and restless symptoms. The other thing to take into consideration is that powdered gelatin is made by soaking animal pieces in an acid and dissolving them down to amino acids. Obviously this isn’t a very natural way to get nutrients. You may want to try making some bone broth- same benefits as gelatin and many many more. Plus you know the source that it’s coming from.
      Hopefully this helps!

    • Linda, it is not inconceivable that your gelatin powder has been tampered with. You might try some Knox gelatin from your local grocery store and see if you have the same reaction.

      Otherwise, if you are relying on gelatin as your main protein source, be aware that it contains no Tryptophan and would lead to imbalance if other complete proteins were not included.

    • Linda, try taking magnesium (oxide/citrate) for your constipation… so much better for you.

    • Ok thank you to everyone that replied. I recently learned about RESUSTANT STARCHES to feed good bacteria. So I have been making smoothies from a little organic tart cherry juice, organic coconut milk, frozen organic super dark green banana, and organic avocado. It must be feeding the good bacteria because my mood is more up than usual. So apparently the resistant start feed good bacteria and the good bacteria make BUTYRIC acid, which is suppose to heal the mucosal gut lining. I’m going to try this 2-3 times a day and hopefully it will help. Will give it one year and update here periodically. The green banana has definitely helped blood sugar levels stay much lower than normal and they have really helped with inflammation I have in my feet. This one thing alone makes it so worth eating them everyday. I’m hoping they will help me loose a few pounds too. I read they help the mitochondria burn fat for fuel instead of carbs. Oh, and I’m sleeping better too. Oh, lol and they seem to be reducing the severity of my hot flashes.

      • RESISTANT STARCHES- pears, green bananas, White potatoes cooked then cooled, beans- cooked than cooled, potato starch from Bobs red mill, green plantains. Lentil- cooked then cooled.

        • How do you use green bananas? I always see people talking about it, but for me even slightly green bananas are inedible (as in, way too awful to eat).

    • Why do you buy gelatin? We buy lamb shank or beef cartilages and slow boiled them in the slow cooker,
      we add some vegetable at the end and we do not have any problems. The commercial gelatin is highly processed and humans are not created for commercial food.
      Also for constipation if you put a hip spoon of Lin seeds in a glass with hot water (not boiling) and leave it for the night and in the morning you can drink it on the empty stomach you will have the benefit you are looking for and also you will give your body the nourishment it needs for producing Estrogen.

    • Try a different natural Gelatin brand in water and add raw honey or a good quality manuka honey. Sometimes companies change their products to lower costs. You can also try natural baking soda. I use it to alkaline my system and to stay healthy. I take 1/2 tsp. in water during daytime and at nightime. Check out Dr. Sircus website.

  13. I will never understand why people feel it is okay to be nasty just because they are hiding behind a keyboard. I was recently diagnosed with DDD and will give this a try. I’m vegetarian by choice but having been in pain for over a year I am willing to try something else. I have tried inversion, dry needling, accupuncture, massage and yoga to no avail. Hoping this will work. Spread kindness it feels better.

    • Brian, try taking vitamin k2 in the form of MK-7. I buy and use the one on Amazon by a brand called Nutrigold. One capsule a day in the am, with all my other supplements. It has helped with bone ,muscle, and nerve pains tremendously! I fell down twice on my side hip on hard terrazzo floor and found this supplement after going through months of very bad pain, especially when I would wake up in the morning. This stuff took about 80% of the pain away. Here it is three months after my first pill and I feel so much better now.hope it helps you.

    • Hi,
      I have been a vegetarian for over 9 years. I was regularly fasting on water or vegetable juices.
      At the beginning I was ok. After a period I became sick with all sorts of things. I was embarrassed to admit that I was vegetarian. After 9 years my vegetarian diet brought me on my knees so to speak. I start introducing fish and then, when I start feeling better I had some beef and lamb. I am continuing fasting.
      I realized that I can not stick to Vegetarianism or Vegan diet on the expenses of my health. I realized that are many lunatics out there playing with words like “Ethics”
      and “Animal Liberation”. When Noah came out of the ark The Almighty Creator told Noah that they may eat animals. So this Vegetarian and Vegan advocates are saying that The Almighty Creator is without ethics, and they have more ethics then God?!..
      The result: statistics shows that the average age of vegetarians are smaller then meat eaters. Vegans and Fruiterians are even worst.
      In the book of Genesis God said that we may eat meat. He did not say a lot of meat. Also he said not to be glutton.
      I came to the reality and not to trust strangers and lunatics. I came to realize that the Bible give us such a valuable information and principles.
      I hope my experience helps.

      • Everything in moderation, I always remind myself. Follow your GUT as they say in the Bible: “The Holy Spirit” Your body is the temple of GOD……okay now back to the subject.
        I’m half vegan, I can’t eat meat but like chicken. I’m going to try the Collagen Hydrolysate that was also recommended by a TRUE Vegetarian.

      • You’re very critical and really have no right to generalize your OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCE to include every other vegetarian on earth. Your body needs meat? Great. Mine doesn’t. And that’s completely okay. But please tell me more about how wrong my “ethics” are and how we should all believe stories about an arc and magicians turning water into wine.

  14. WOW! Live and let live!!!!

    Believing that other people should be allowed to live their lives in the way
    that they want to and to accept other people as they are, although they may have
    a different way of life

    Smile be happy

  15. Thank you for this article. I’m reading in-depth across many sites about the benefits of gelatin, like your and one titled “Balance Hormones with Collagen Hydrolysate and Gelatin”.

    There are so many things that we still do not know about precisely how the body works. So much more to learn coming down the road as the genetic code is completely broken and it’s daily interaction within the body, and the body in the environment – including diet – is studied.

    • If you search for – does bone broth contain hyaluronic acid – at any search engine you’ll get the answer.

    • You are only bringing the bones to a boil then cover and simmer for hours. And it does not destroy h acid according to research on line.

  16. In my opinion, this article lacks the depth of research required to examine the central thesis (that even vegetarians need gelatin) from an unbiased standpoint. The author appears to have come to a conclusion about the vegetarian diet without sufficient evaluation of the diet and analysis of alternate food sources.

    However, Laura does make some good points about the properties of gelatin and she refers to studies that support these points. I’d suggest the article (or a follow-up article) would benefit from a rigorous analysis of alternate food sources, as already highlighted by other commenters.

    For example, with point 3, we know collagen production is aided by both Threonine and Proline amino acids which are found in significant quantities in soy-products, lentils, chickpeas and dark green vegetables. The effects of these amino acids are amplified by the added intake of Vitamin C. It would be useful to discuss the effects of gelatin in comparison with these alternate sources.

    • You are using the expression “In my opinion” and then you made cut remarks as you are above the Author. You have an air of a scientist in your comments. Why don’t you right your books on nutrition. You are against every detail encouraging the consumption of animal products.
      Are you a vegan or vegetarian? Then why these Vegetarians and Vegans wear lather shoes? Then what is that Ethics.
      Pride Before Crush!

  17. Best article I’ve EVER read about gelatin. Really sums it all up. Thanks!

    I’ve been using gelatin for quite a while now. Yes, it really helps with health and good skin.

  18. I am really interested in taking gelatin but after a bit of research I have a few concerns? what are your thoughts on the free glutamates in gelatin that are meant to act like excitoxins? Also apparently they use sulphites and sodium hydroxide in the processing of the gelatin – do you think this is problematic? Thanks heaps.

  19. Curious if these self righteous V’s realize that a greater biomass of living creatures die in the production of vegetables & fruit than in most meat production. Mass harvesting vegetables & fruits results in the destruction of natural habitat as well as the countless small mammals, insects etc that call theses fields their home – they get chewed up in the mass harvset process by the giant machinery. Check yourself if you V’s think that you are holier than thou.

    • Your argument is nonsensical.
      Animals require more input than they output. Cattle requiring 38000 calories in per 1000 calories out.
      With animals eating the majority of our grain crops and and taking up 3/5s of the land mass.
      So environmentally vegan/vegetarian diets are better. Also in net animals killed they are better.

    • Someone’s been reading that stupid article about Australia. Hey, why don’t YOU do some research? The exception they talked about was only valid in that particular spot in Australia, not to mention about 90% of animals are raised in intensive factory farming facilities, NOT in fields.

      Seriously, go troll somebody else.

    • Oh really? And what the animals you eat grow in the forests? They obviously have to clear land to keep the animals too and clear more land to grow crops to feed them.Atleast if people destroy natural habitats to turn them into fields to feed HUMANS they can provide food for 100 times more people than that required to produce the amount of meat to feed one person ( you have to feed the animals for a lifetime) Do your research before you comment about self righteousness because the ‘V’s’ are not being self righteous rather YOU are getting defensive