Change Your Brain Every Day - Why Collagen is Crucial to Your Health, with Dr. Josh Axe

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

It’s true that there are no miracle supplements, but if your body is lacking in a certain vitamin or amino acid, then supplementing it CAN have a miraculous effect. One of the most helpful supplements to take also happens to be one most people lack: collagen. In this episode of the podcast, Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Daniel Amen explain how collagen is used in the body, and how taking a collagen supplement can be a game changer.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back, everybody. We are talking with Dr. Josh Axe, who's a certified doctor of natural medicine, a chiropractor, a clinical nutritionist. I love

the combination of your training. He's the bestselling author of Keto Diet and Eat Dirt. But in this podcast, I really want to talk about collagen and what it is and why people need it. You have a book called The Collagen Diet. Help us, help our brain warriors really understand collagen and why it's important. One of the things I'll highlight first here, Dr. Amen, and this is something that I've read, you know, read things you've written and watch things you've you've you've talked about this. This is sort of this balance of omega three and omega six fats. We want to have certain types of fats in our diet. And it really goes the same with our proteins. There are certain types of proteins or amino acids we want to have in our

diet. Now, we know that our muscles are made up of muscle-building proteins, such as branched chain amino acids and methionine. However, one third of your entire body's protein is made up of collagen proteins. And so we're talking about the amino acids, proline, hydroxyproline, and glycine. Now, what happens if you have a big imbalance of omega-6 fats and not enough omega-3 fats? There's this level of inflammation within the body. What we're now seeing, or I believe discovering, is that if you have this big imbalance of muscle-building proteins and no collagen-building proteins, there is something happening. It's creating an imbalance in the body because you have this inconsistency. Our ancient ancestors would have never ate a

chicken breast and discarded the organ meats and the ligaments and the tendons are not made broth out of it because historically they would have always consumed those things. And so where our ancient ancestors always got collagen proteins with their muscle building proteins today, they're just not getting those. In fact, there's also studies showing glycine, the amino acid nails, bones, discs, ligaments, tendons, connective tissue, fascia, your gut lining, and your arterial walls. Every single one of those areas is made up of over 90% collagen. This will blow your mind. There's more collagen in your bones than calcium and all other minerals combined. It's like, why do we believe that calcium is the most important

thing for bones? The dairy company, you know, convinced us of that when we know that your bones also need collagen, vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus, all these other things. And so vitamin K2, you know, so anyways, all that being said, collagen is so critical. And the results I've seen in people that have consumed a diet that really supports your body's own collagen production and gives your body collagen to then utilize and create more collagen. I've seen amazing results, especially with skin issues, ligament and tendon issues for especially joint health, gut health. When we're talking about your gut lining, it's made up of 90% collagen. It's important for the suppleness of our arteries. A lot of times people are getting this calcification of your arteries. You want to

give your body collagen because it's so supple. And so anyways, all that being said, collagen is so critical for so many areas, but especially our joint health, our digestive health, and the health of our skin and our general beauty. So what's the best way for people to eat collagen? Should they be eating the cartilage on the chicken legs that they eat? What's the best way to increase the healthy collagen in your body? So great question. Since the beginning of time, the ultimate collagen superfood and supplement has been broth. Now, it's different in different areas of the world. If you go over to Japan today or Okinawa, one of the longest living or the longest, has more insurance than everywhere else in the world,

one of the top things they consume daily is fish broth. You know, when you go throughout history, people drank bone broth, whether it be chicken bone broth or beef bone broth. But bone broth is the ultimate collagen superfood. So number one, get collagen in your diet via homemade bone broth, buying bone broth, or a supplement like a bone broth protein powder, you know, but bone broth, bone broth. And here's the other amazing thing about bone broth, bone broth, not only contains collagen, it also contains glucosamine, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid. Those are three things known as glucosaminoglycans, which make up part of your gut lining and your joint connective

tissue, but they're also known as collagen boosters. They boost your body's own collagen production. So really for collagen, bone broth is the ultimate food for collagen. Now, after that, doing a multi-collagen protein powder. Whenever anybody's buying collagen, I always recommend multi-collagen protein because just like there are different types of antioxidants and different types of probiotics, there are different types of collagen. Type 1 and 3 collagen make up our skin, hair, nails, and bones, whereas type 2 collagen makes up our gut lining. So buying a collagen that has multiple sources. So first off, Dr. Eggman, I would say as a superfood, bone broth should be your number one food. As a supplement,

a multi-collagen protein or a bone broth protein. And people can simply go to amazon.com and just search bone broth protein or multi-collagen protein and find those there. And then in addition to that, there's a few other superfoods that also support collagen. I would say vitamin C rich foods, especially, you know, citrus fruits, broccoli, red bell peppers. So vitamin C rich foods also help. And then foods that support stem cell production can also support collagen. Turmeric contains some really unique compounds, especially turmeric, which supports stem cell production. Adaptogenic herbs, that's the other category.

It's reishi mushroom. It's ashwagandha. It's, you know, it's ginseng. These are herbs that really support your body and producing collagen as well. So I would say, I know that's a lot of things I said, but really the keys are that bone broth and collagen protein. Those are two things that are, they're going to make the biggest difference. Any stories come to mind when you have really increased the level of collagen in a person's body?

Big time. I've got a lot. So just to mention, I'll just share one with my own family member. When my sister, my sister always had very thin hair, thin nails, and just her complexion, her skin was never as healthy as she wanted it to be. I had her start consuming a collagen supplement I made. She started using it and she did what I call a 30-day collagen loading plan where she made sure she was getting two servings of collagen every single day. After just 30 days, her hair was thicker than it had ever been. Her nails were stronger and her skin was clear. I had a yoga instructor who came to me and they said, Dr. Axe, I'm a vegan.

But she said, I was thinking about doing your collagen because I have this chronic joint issues. My joints just never feel good. And I said, Nikki, hey, go ahead. And here's just, I said, keep, I said, you can stay vegan if you'd like, but at least get some collagen and some healthy fat in your diet. So I had her start doing that. After 30 days, she said, my joint pain that I've been dealing with for eight years as a yoga instructor is completely gone now. So I think for some people, you know, I say this, there are no miracle supplements. But when you are missing something in your diet, and you then start to consume it, it can be a miracle thing about vitamin D. If somebody is not getting vitamin D or or sunshine and they start taking it, wow, they can see an amazing difference. If somebody is really deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, they start supplementing it with it. Bam, it's like it was a miracle for them versus if somebody is eating wild caught fish every day, they take an omega-3 supplement, they're like, well, it's not really doing much for me. But so many people today are not getting collagen in their diet. And they should

be that when they start consuming collagen, the results they see with their skin and hair, the results they see with their joints. And I'll say the biggest difference I've seen is patients I've dealt, I've worked with that have leaky gut syndrome or any sort of digestive issue. I found collagen to be so important because it is what your gut is actually... Think about this. If somebody's trying to build muscle like a bodybuilder and they're consuming zero protein in their diet, it's very hard for them to put on muscle. Think about this. You're trying to rebuild your body in areas like your ligaments and tendons and joints and your gut. And if you're not getting collagen, those areas are going to suffer.

So I think those are some examples of why I think collagen is so important as well. Really helpful. When we come back, I want to talk about your book, Eat Dirt. I just thought that was such an interesting title. Stay with us. We're with Dr. Josh Axe. You can learn more about Dr. Axe at draxe.com. His books, The Keto Diet, Eat Dirt, Collagen Diet. He is also one of the co-founders of Ancient Nutrition.

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