10 Health Benefits of Gelatin Backed by Science!

What is gelatin?

Gelatin is a protein that comes from cooking collagen. It is made up mainly of protein, and has a unique amino acid profile that leads it to have many different health benefits.

Collagen is the most common protein found in humans and animals and is highly concentrated in the skin, bones, tendons and ligaments, and provides strength and structure for these tissues.

However, it can be difficult to eat collagen because it is usually found in the less commonly eaten parts of animals. Fortunately, it can be extracted from these animal parts by boiling them in water. This is what happens when you make soup stock or bone broth. The gelatin extracted during this heating process is flavourless and colourless, dissolves in warm water, and takes on a jelly-like consistency when it cools.

This has made gelatin a useful gelling agent and so it is used in certain food products such as Jell-O and gummy candies.

Gelatin can be processed even further to create collagen hydrolysate (also known as collagen peptides), which contains the same amino acids as gelatin and has the same health benefits. However, the nice thing about collagen peptides is that it dissolves in cool liquids and doesn’t form a jelly or gel. This makes it easier to use.

Both gelatin and collagen hydrolysate can be bought as supplements. Gelatin typically comes in capsules while collagen comes in either a powder or liquid form. Gelatin can also be purchased in sheet form.

Just note that because both collagen and gelatin come from animals they are not suitable for vegans.

Gelatin is a source of protein

Gelatin is high in protein, and is 98-99% protein. However, it is an incomplete protein because it does not contain all the essential amino acids. Specifically, gelatin does not contain tryptophan. This means that you can't only rely on gelatin or collagen as your source of protein.

One unique property of gelatin is that it is the richest food source of the amino acid glycine, which is important for health.

One important thing to note is that gelatin is not a good source of vitamins or minerals. Rather, its health benefits are mainly due to its unique amino acid profile.

1. Improves gut health

Gelatin helps prevent intestinal damage and helps improve the quality of the lining of the digestive tract, which helps to decrease intestinal permeability or what is more commonly known as leaky gut.

Gelatin has been shown to help treat colitis in animal models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and it has been shown to help decrease intestinal permeability or leaky gut in humans.

Other studies have also shown that taking gelatin can help prevent gastric ulcers (also known as stomach ulcers).

There is also evidence that collagen or gelatin can help treat acid reflux (GERD) which is a common digestive issue.

2. Can help treat the pain of arthritis

I am a rheumatologist, which means I see and treat many patients with different types of arthritis and I am constantly looking for natural options that can help my patients.

Collagen is one natural remedy that has been shown to have beneficial effects for patients with osteoarthritis and studies show that taking collagen can improve the pain associated with osteoarthritis. It has also been shown to decrease joint pain in athletes.

When it comes to rheumatoid arthritis, the data is not as clear cut. Whether or not collagen is effective to help treat rheumatoid arthritis remains unclear.

3. May help with weight loss

Studies have shown that gelatin may help with weight loss. In one study, people were given 20 grams of gelatin and as a result they had a rise in the hormones that decrease appetite, and also found that the gelatin helped them feel more full.

Another study gave healthy people either gelatin or casein (a protein found in milk) as the only protein in their diet for 36 hours. They found that the gelatin reduced hunger 44% more than the casein did.

One other study found that giving obese mice collagen peptides lead to a reduction in weight gain and fat mass compared to the control group. It was determined that the collagen lead to weight loss through a decrease in fat accumulation and better regulation of lipid metabolism.

4. Improves sleep

There have been a couple studies that have shown that gelatin can help with sleep. Gelatin is known to help improve sleep quality, help you fall asleep and feel less tired the next day.

Specifically it is the glycine in gelatin that seems to be responsible for the beneficial effects on sleep.

5. Helps with aging

As we age we lose muscle mass and bone mass, but fortunately, in older adults, it has been shown that the combination of resistance exercise or strength training and supplementation with collagen peptides leads to a significant improvement in muscle strength as well as a significant increase in muscle mass and decrease in fat mass compared to placebo.

6. Improves skin health

Collagen forms the main component of skin, and skin aging is partially caused by a loss of collagen. Fortunately, studies have shown that taking collagen can help reduce wrinkles and help reduce the signs of aging in the skin.

7. Can improve hair health

Research has shown that taking gelatin can help with hair growth and thickness and has also been shown to help treat alopecia, which is a type of hair loss.

8. Helps wounds heal

Collagen has been used topically for a long time to help wounds heal. Additionally, studies show that taking oral collagen can also help with wound healing.

9. Helps treat type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a very common chronic health condition and studies have shown that taking gelatin can help patients with type 2 diabetes lower their blood sugars.

One study gave people with type 2 diabetes either 5 grams of glycine or a placebo every day for three months. The people taking glycine had significantly lower HbA1C levels (a measure of blood sugar) after the three months, as well as lower levels of inflammation.

10. Helps decrease liver damage

There have been many studies done looking at glycine’s beneficial effects on the liver.

Glycine has been shown to help with alcohol-related liver damage. In one study, animals given glycine had a decrease in liver damage and another study on rabbits with liver damage found that giving them glycine increased liver function and blood flow (indicating better liver health).

Gelatin risks

Now that we have discussed the many potential benefits of gelatin I wanted to review the potential risks. Fortunately, there are not many.

Some people can be allergic to collagen. For example, if someone has a shellfish allergy they could experience anaphylaxis if they take marine collagen.

As well, animal collagen sources have the potential risk of transmitting diseases. Pig and cow derived collagen carry the very low risk of transmitting illnesses such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to humans. However, to date there have been no reported cases of diseases being transmitted to humans from gelatin or collagen.  

How to add gelatin to your diet

Now that we have reviewed how gelatin can improve your health I wanted to teach you how to actually use it and take it. There are many ways to add more gelatin to your diet. Some of my favourites include:

• Drinking bone broth made with the bones from animals (I prefer to use bones from grass fed or pasture raised animals). You can either make bone broth yourself, or buy a pre-made one at the grocery store or online.
• Adding collagen peptides to warm drinks such as coffee, tea or hot chocolate. This is how I take my collagen peptides. I just add a scoop to my coffee every morning.
• Make homemade gummy candies or jello using gelatin powder.
• Adding collagen peptides to your recipes including soups, stews, sauces and dips.
• Adding collagen peptides to overnight oats or oatmeal recipes such as my raspberry and blueberry overnight oats or orange chocolate overnight oats.
• You can make smoothies with collagen peptides - some of my favourites include my key lime pie smoothie and cherry cheesecake smoothie.

My personal favorite brand of collagen peptides is Perfect Supplements because they test their collagen for contaminants such as glyphosate (use code SIMPLE10 to get 10% off).

The bottom line:

Gelatin is high in protein, and has a unique amino acid profile that gives it many potential health benefits. Research shows that gelatin can help decease joint pain, reduce the signs of skin aging, help with sleep, improve hair health and improve gut health.