GAL Bovine Collagen

Our company does not attribute any disease-prevention, treatment, or curative properties to our products, nor do we imply any such properties. That said, in the interest of transparency we provide the following information about the health effects of this product's active ingredients and their scientific background. We aim to present the latest, independent, and authoritative research to give interested readers a clear picture of the evidence. This is not intended to encourage a purchase. If our customers return to us with repeat orders, we hope it is only because they have experienced GAL's benefits for themselves, that is what we believe in, and why we do this work.

Is There a Difference Between Beef and Pork Collagen Peptides?

The benefits and physiological effects of our two beef collagen products don't differ from pork collagen, so the description below applies equally to both.

What Are Collagen Peptides Good For?

Collagen-type proteins make up the largest share of the proteins that build the mammalian body, since they form a substantial part of our skin, bones, joints, blood vessels, connective tissue, and various organs.

Our modern diet contains very little collagen-type protein, and what little it does contain comes in large, hard-to-digest molecules. Collagen peptides, by contrast, deliver collagen-type protein in an easily digestible form, and their effectiveness has been confirmed by numerous scientific studies.

The Benefits of Supplementing Collagen Peptides

Effects on skin and hair:

• Reduces the depth of deeper wrinkles and stops new ones from forming, it also helps fade finer wrinkles.
• Increases skin hydration and firmness.
• Increases the skin's collagen and elastin content.
• Increases hemoglobin levels in the skin, improving blood flow.
• Reduces facial skin oiliness, and with it the occurrence and severity of acne.
• Contributes to thicker, denser hair and faster hair growth.
• Reduces seborrhea (oily scalp and dandruff).
• Reduces diffuse and male-pattern hair loss (in both men and women).

Other benefits:

• Improves sleep quality, thanks to its glycine content
• Reduces joint pain
• Improves peripheral circulation
• Improves learning ability, memory, and recall
• Helps reduce appetite by balancing hormones produced by the digestive system
• Increases the production of new neurons in the brain, though so far this has only been studied in mice

What Are Collagen-Type Proteins Made Of?

So far, 28 types of collagen-type protein have been identified, though a single type, Type I collagen, makes up 90% of the collagen in the human body. Collagen proteins differ from other proteins mainly in their size and amino acid composition; they're the largest proteins in the body.

Their amino acid composition stands out in that their glycine content is very high (~35%), their content of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, valine) is much lower, they contain no tryptophan, and their cysteine and methionine content is also considerably lower. We'll explain why this matters shortly.

Modern diets don't contain enough collagen-type protein

Modern Western diets are almost entirely missing collagen proteins, since most of our protein comes from prime cuts of meat rather than collagen-rich animal parts like bone or skin. Dishes like aspic, bone broth, and trotter stew have become rare on our tables today, which is a real problem for our collagen intake.

Since a significant share of an animal's protein content is collagen protein, and our ancestors' protein intake was almost entirely animal-derived, it stands to reason that a substantial part of their protein intake was collagen-type protein too.

The effect of calorie and protein restriction on lifespan

It's already well established that reduced calorie intake (CR = Calorie Restriction) can meaningfully extend lifespan and lower disease risk in animals. In these studies, animals were fed less food, and researchers measured how much longer they lived compared to a control group, and how much less disease occurred among them.

Running this kind of experiment on humans is understandably difficult, so researchers instead track various biomarkers and draw conclusions from those. Much of calorie restriction's positive effect on lifespan and health is attributed by researchers to the resulting drop in IGF-1 and rise in IGFBP-3, a protein that binds IGF-1 and neutralizes its harmful effects.

Until 2008, human calorie-restriction studies were only short-term, lasting a few weeks or months. These consistently found that IGF-1 levels dropped in humans too, suggesting calorie restriction was effective. In 2008, however, the first long-term study on the effects of calorie restriction was published. It found that in humans, the method only lowers the IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio for about 3 months, after which it starts rising again. Meanwhile, a vegan group with high calorie and carbohydrate intake but low protein intake maintained a low IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio over the long term.

Some participants from the calorie-restriction group were asked that, once their IGF-1/IGFBP-3 ratio had returned to its original high level, they continue their diet while keeping their protein intake as low as the vegan group's. This brought the ratio back down to the favorable level.

The researchers concluded that, unlike in animals, calorie restriction only extends expected lifespan in humans if protein intake is also restricted (to roughly 0.8g per kg of body weight), not calories alone.

The Dangers of Red Meat and mTOR

A 2012 study found that the mTORC protein complex is strongly and directly activated by BCAA amino acids, particularly leucine. These amino acids occur in significant amounts mainly in dairy proteins and meat. Elevated mTORC activity is such a concern because it's the pathway through which most of the harmful effects of both IGF-1 and insulin play out. mTORC activity is itself increased by both IGF-1 and insulin, which is exactly why it's unfavorable for their levels to run high.

Elevated mTORC activity shortens lifespan and increases the risk of diseases of civilization. Cancer and heart-attack drugs are now being developed based on the principle of inhibiting mTORC activity. The researchers concluded that for most people, a meat-free, paleo-style diet built around vegetables and complex carbohydrates would be the most suitable.

Higher collagen intake can capture the benefits of calorie restriction

This research also underscores the importance of collagen proteins, since they contain very little of the problematic amino acids (BCAAs, tryptophan, methionine) that meat and dairy proteins are rich in.

Present-day hunter-gatherer populations consume considerably more protein than the 0.8g per kg of body weight recommended by the 2008 study, and such a low protein intake isn't healthy over the long term anyway, since it can lead to muscle wasting, a weakened immune system, and indirectly even reduced bone density. Collagen proteins, however, reduce mTORC activity and help lower tryptophan and methionine levels, both of which can support better health and a longer life. A 2014 study even suggests that collagen may help lower IGF-1 levels too, which similarly supports a longer lifespan.

Overall, it's fine to eat plenty of protein, just aim for roughly half your intake to come from prime cuts of meat, and the rest from collagen-containing animal parts or collagen supplements.

Collagen Peptides Are Different From Dietary Gelatin

It's worth choosing a direct collagen supplement because ordinary dietary gelatin (like the kind found in aspic) is made of enormous proteins that are barely digestible. As a result, the collagen protein in these foods has little meaningful effect on your joints, skin, hair, or blood vessels, unless your digestion is excellent and you eat a lot of trotter stew, bone broth, and similar collagen-rich foods.

Collagen peptides, on the other hand, are nearly 100% absorbed into the bloodstream, letting them exert their effects throughout the body, at a much lower intake, too. The studies behind these benefits used exclusively pre-digested (hydrolyzed) gelatin/collagen, usually as a powder mixed into a drink, containing collagen peptides rather than whole proteins.

Collagen peptides are worth taking for collagen's own benefits, while the collagen protein in your food is worth eating simply because, unlike most other proteins, it carries no downsides.