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Transcript – Is Collagen Really Worth All the Hype?

Shawn:         Hello BioTrust Nation. We are back with another episode of BioTrust Radio, and we’ve got a special one for you today: What Is Collagen and Why You Need It. And I’ve got my trusty co-host, Tim Skwiat, in the house.

Tim:              In the house, but not really in the house, if you know what I mean.

Shawn:         Well yeah. I mean, you’re not necessarily in the studio today, but we’re making special things happen. We wanted to get this episode out to the people to time with a special release of a new product that BioTrust has, our BioTrust Multi-Collagen, which we think is the best one on the market.

But whether you buy BioTrust collagen or not, we think this is going to be a great episode for you to learn about collagen. We’re going to go through the science and why it’s relevant to you. I believe everyone should be on collagen protein. You’re seeing it get a lot of buzz all over the internet, and I think it’s kind of exciting what we’re going to cover today. Don’t you think, Tim?

Tim:              Yeah, totally Shawn. It’s buzzing. I don’t know if you’re on the bandwagon yet or not, but there’s just a lot of questions around collagen. And I would agree with you, the more I’ve dug into the research, the more and more compelling it is to me. Just to kind of foreshadow, this is something that our body is designed to produce naturally, but production decreases with age, and most people don’t get hardly any in their diet. But we’ll talk more about that as we go along. So, it’s definitely an exciting topic and we’re super-excited to talk about this product, too. I think we’ve, once again, done it.

Shawn:         Set the bar.

Tim:              Done ourselves right.

Shawn:         Yeah. Okay. Well, we’ve now started our episodes with this new thing where we go through a review from iTunes. We appreciate all the reviews that people put up and rate us and subscribe to us, and certainly these reviews go a long way for us getting relevance with the show. And we appreciate all the support that we’ve gotten thus far. So, Tim, do you want to read us a review?

Tim:              Yeah, definitely. So, like Shawn was saying, if you take the time to leave a review on iTunes, we greatly appreciate it. It means a lot to us, personally, but also it helps us as a tribe, get the word out and help more people. So, thank you so much to everyone who takes time to leave a review.

And this review today that I’m going to read is a 5-star review from Howard 4AP, is the user name, and the title of the review is Great Informative Content, and the review goes like this: “This episode resonated with me as do nearly all of Shawn and Tim’s podcasts. There’s a huge amount of misinformation that we face all the time. Even worse, our doctors and other health care professionals are too often being educated and influenced by big pharma, whose only goal is short-term gains in stock price. Shawn and Tim document their information and support their opinions with high-quality peer-reviewed studies and respected journals. You can’t beat good information that is presented with honesty and integrity.”

So, thank you so much Howard 4AP. We appreciate your support. And as a token of our appreciation, if you would email us at [email protected], we will hook you up with a free product of your choice. And maybe by the end of this episode, you’ll want to want us to send you that that Ageless Multi-Collagen. But thank you so much, Howard. We appreciate it and we appreciate everyone who takes the time to leave us a review. It means a lot to us.

Shawn:         Yeah, absolutely. Nice job, Tim. Yeah, we do take pride in the BioTrust community, and being a part of that and serving you guys. And we’ve actually got a lot of questions about collagen. And then, do you have a question for us, Tim, from the community?

Tim:              Yes, great question, Shawn. There is there is one that I thought was relevant and a good segue into our discussion today. And this is from Kelly Martin, who’s a member in our VIP group. And if you’re interested in checking out the VIP group, just type in BioTrust.com/VIP. It’s an invite or members-only group, so just request to be joined and we’ll let you in. We think you’ll love it. There’s coaching, there’s community, encouragement, accountability, all kinds of great stuff going on there.

So Kelly says, “I’m 49 and I’m wondering if you recommend any specific supplements for a woman my age. I take a number of supplements from BioTrust and love them all. Are there any you recommend for gender or age range that provide optimal benefits? I’ll be 49 on September 5th.” So, happy birthday, Kelly. We appreciate your support as a BioTrust customer. I don’t know what supplements you’re currently taking. But Shawn, I’ll go ahead and let you start on this one to see if you have any suggestions. Just in general, I know that each person is going to be individualistic. Supplements are needs and goals-based, but I just wanted to see if you had any thoughts on this one.

Shawn:         Yeah, I’m 44 years old. I’m active and I’m trying to invest in my body and anti-aging, and I think our Joint 33X is a really amazing product for joint health, and it’s one tiny capsule a day with 3 patented ingredients that have about 10 total studies. Really effective. I would use that product. Ageless Body is one of my favorites, that has a really special form of curcumin in it called CurcuWIN, and it’s about 46 times more bioavailable. It also has CoQ10; Sensoril; Ashwagandha, which is a really great adaptogen that helps with sleep, recovery, libido, energy, and all those kinds of things. And IC-5 is really a great one for me. You might think that’s all about just blood sugar, but we’re seeing that managing blood glucose, whether you have issues with that or not, I believe that’s important to anti-aging. The lower your blood glucose, the lower what’s called hemoglobin A1c, which is a long-term indicator of blood glucose levels. Blood glucose jumps around quite a bit because of food intake, exercise, and all those kinds of things.

So if you look at that there’s something that’s called glycation that happens with blood sugar damage. And also, we know that insulin being chronically elevated is correlated to aging, almost directly, and also with that insulin-like growth factor, IGF1. So, if we look at insulin and we try and keep that low and we try and keep blood glucose lower, and hemoglobin A1c lower, you’ll see most health indicators, almost all chronic disease indicators, and all aging indicators, like the CERT genes and telomeres. They’re all improved by being on something like IC-5. Berberine, we know, is a very potent ingredient, as well as cinnamon, for keeping insulin sensitivity high. So, you don’t have to be someone that has issues with blood sugar to get a lot of benefits from that product. That’s one of my most favorite products for anti-aging.

And glycation is tied very tightly to inflammation, too. So, I think those are just my favorite products that I would recommend. And I would certainly recommend being on a protein every day, whether it’s Low Carb or Platinum. And then, being on collagen with that. I think collagen is going to become a staple for most people in this mix. I could recommend a bunch of other products that we make.

Tim:              Yeah.

Shawn:         But those are probably the ones I would recommend the most, given what was laid out there.

Tim:              Yeah, that’s awesome, Shawn.

Shawn:         Oh, also, I forgot. We have our Ageless Core Multi that is an awesome anti-aging multi that has active coenzyme-ated B vitamins, so they don’t have to be converted in your body through enzymatic steps. They’re just in their active form, which is super rare. And it has the more bioavailable minerals, the organic forms in the minerals, and it also has a potent dose of lutein zeaxanthin, which is protective for what most people know about the data with eyesight. And certainly with all this blue light device information that’s getting out there and radiation that we’re exposing our eyes to with electronic devices and lights indoors, and all these different things. But also, it’s neuroprotective and we’re just seeing it’s protective to your skin. We’re seeing a host of other benefits for it. So, those are kind of my anti-aging all-stars, if you will. But maybe you can throw something in there, too, Tim.

Tim:              Yeah, no too much more to elaborate on there. Lumex, lutein and zeaxanthin, I think some nice takeaways there. Some people refer to them as natural sunglasses because of the protection they offer to the eyes from potentially damaging UV and blue light. And then also described as natural sunscreen because of the skin benefits, helping with managing free radicals, oxidative stress, and things like that. No, that’s a heck of a roundup, and like you said, we could probably make a case for everything.

I think digestion becomes more and more of an issue as we get older, so I would think about AbsorbMax in that pocket. But I like how you elaborate on IC-5 because we can be pretty narrow about what the benefits are. But berberine, cinnamon, and those things also have digestive health benefits. So anyway, we can probably talk a lot more about IC-5 and maybe at some point we should do that. But today’s topic, like you alluded to, would be something that I would say would be a staple, really, for almost any age.

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              But particularly, as we get to that middle age and even older, that this seems to become more and more of an issue, or we start to notice that we need it more and more. So, let’s maybe dive into the conversation on collagen and discuss that in more depth, if you think that’s a good idea.

Shawn:         Yeah, absolutely. And by the way, for that question on what products should she take, she does get a free product sent to her if she emails us at [email protected].

Tim:              That’s correct. And because that question was on the VIP group, we’ll actually reach out to Kelly, directly.

Shawn:         Okay, cool.

Tim:              In the VIP group. So, we’ll hook her up. That’ll be almost immediate.

Shawn:         All right, well thanks, Kelly. So, diving into collagen. Look, it’s known as “the glue.” It actually comes from the Greek word for glue, “kolla,” and it’s important to our bodies because it makes up 70% of the protein in our skin. It’s one of the primary structural proteins in joints, bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons, hair, fingernails, blood vessels, spinal discs, the intestinal wall, the blood-brain barrier, and more. So we know that this is an incredible protein. It’s about 30% of the protein in your body. We always hear about it being some kind of cushioning, but we never really hear about how it’s important for bone health, it’s important for your gut health and the tight junctions there. There’s so much more that it’s important for than has traditionally been given credit.

And again, even skin integrity, we’re seeing so many people that just get on a collagen protein that talk about they got on it for like joint health or something, but then they’re saying that their skin is firmer and more radiant, and all this kind of stuff. And we’re realizing now that we just don’t have much collagen in our diet, like you talked about, Tim. You know, we used to eat animals and we used to eat not just the flesh, the muscle, but we used to eat bone, we used to eat tendons and ligaments, and connective tissue, and the skin on the animal, and we got more collagen in our diet. And now there’s some people that are trying to have bone broth and some things like that. And we can talk about collagen powder versus bone broth and which is better, but again, some of the thought here is to try and reintegrate some of this stuff into our diet that’s seemingly been lost, and is now having an effect on us. And that’s one of the reasons we do have joint issues, that we do maybe not have as healthy skin as we could have, or fingernails, or tendons and ligaments, and all that kind of stuff. And we’re concerned about, as humans, like living our most optimal. And if you’re listening to this show, you want to live your most optimal, and you should be on some type of collagen. Whether you’re getting it through food stuff or you’re getting it through a supplement, you need to be on collagen. You need to get collagen into your diet.

I take 20 to 40 grams a day, personally. It’s very important to me and I definitely have seen a difference since I’ve been using, not only just a regular collagen supplement, but especially since I started using the BioTrust Multi-Collagen, which I think is the most superior one on the market, since I had a hand in formulating it, [chuckles] and really benchmarked the other products on the market. And we just really went for what could be the best. We didn’t say, “Hey let’s make a pretty good one.” The task that was laid out to us by the CEO, Josh Bezoni, was “Make the best collagen protein on the market and spare no expense,” and that’s what we did. And it’s not the cheapest collagen by any means. You can buy very cheap collagen. But this is very different and the effects you’re going to get from it are very different.

Tim:              Yeah, that’s an awesome intro there, Shawn. You really covered the gamut there. And I think some things that really stand out to me about collagen is that it’s just the most abundant protein in our bodies, like if you think about it. Like you say, all these connective tissues. When you think about protein in our muscle, and that’s made up of different types of protein, myosin, actin, and they have different names. But a lot of the tissue, even enzymes and things like that, our body is made up of protein, basically. And collagen is the most abundant protein. It’s the most abundant structure. Like think about all these different proteins as buildings. This is the largest building in your city, so to speak. And it’s making up over 30% of your body protein.

And what’s really striking to me is that it’s the most abundant substance in your body besides water. And we all know the importance of water, so just put it in perspective that way, how important collagen is. So, yes, the body has the capability to continue to make collagen and continue to build it on its own, and it requires amino acids for that process, which we get from the protein that we eat. However, we know that collagen production decreases steadily and consistently as we get older, and that decline starts to happen when we’re in our 20s. And there’s different estimates, but probably somewhere around 1-2% each year, once we hit that age 20, and that’s why we start to notice as we get into our 30s and 40s, a difference in the tightness of our and the firmness. Because collagen provides structure to all the body’s tissues.

And I think that one way to think about that is collagen has enormous tensile strength, which means it can withstand a lot of stretching without being broken, so that’s why skin is firm and taut, and tendons are healthy when you have enough collagen production. But as you start to get this decline in collagen production as you get older, it affects your fingernails. They are more easily broken, they’re brittle. It affects your skin. It’s not quite as young-looking. It affects your hair, it affects your digestion, your gut health, your tendons, your bones, like you talked about, Shawn.

So, that’s what you start to see, practically speaking, but on a cellular level these things are happening because your body not producing as much collagen as it once was. And at the same time, you’re also not, like you talked about, Shawn, we’re not consuming much collagen, if any, in our diet. And like you alluded to, where would you find collagen protein? Well it makes up animals structures, the same way that it does humans. So, hides, bones, tendons, all that kind of stuff.

And like you said, I think one of the ways that people talk about that is that traditionally we eat nose-to-tail and basically didn’t let anything go to waste. We simmered cuts of meat with bones in it for long periods of times to draw out that collagen and all the different nutrients that are in the bones and the skin. And people ate the entire fish, including the scales and bones, and all the eyes all that kind of stuff. Organ meats also have collagen, and then most people aren’t eating organ meat. So, I think that provides the rationale for using a collagen protein supplement because we’re just not consuming those things.

And what I think that an important question is, because now we know more than ever probably that higher protein diets are beneficial, so people might think and we’ve kind of already established the groundwork here, but why can’t I just eat regular protein. Well, one of the things that really makes collagen unique is its amino acid profile. So these are the building blocks, if you will, of protein. And if you think back to that kind of illustration that I tried to provide with collagen being the buildings in the city, these building blocks are what make these buildings up. So, the architecture of these buildings is slightly different. And collagen is heavy in the amino acids glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, which make up about half of the amino acid content, and that’s like 20 times higher than other common protein sources. So, you do get a small amount of those amino acids, which are conditionally essential, meaning that your body needs them and can produce them to some degree, but needs them in the diet.

Shawn:         Well, this brings up a good question, Tim. So, collagen is a protein, and we hear that thrown around a lot, and I’ll see shots in bars and stuff say, “We’ve got collagen protein, so we’re high in protein.” And I think we want to delineate that, look, if you take a whey protein, you’re getting a lot of benefits from that and you’re not getting the same benefits that you would get from collagen, and vice versa; when you take a collagen protein, you’re not getting the same benefits to muscle, to appetite, to all those kinds of things that you get with a whey protein. And they’re just very different in terms of amino acids, like you were just talking about.

Collagen is mostly those three amino acids, and an incomplete protein, although at BioTrust we went an extra step and we added l-tryptophan in its fermented and natural form. Which, one, most people never add this missing amino acid; two, to make it a real protein; three, they don’t add a fermented natural form of this amino acid. If they would, in the rare case that they do, they’d add the synthetic form. So again, we do all the extra steps.

But I do want to delineate the differences here with a collagen protein versus a whey protein. There are cheap collagens, okay, that don’t taste very good, that are very poor in bioavailability, that are degraded, and just will not work well. But will they pass as protein? Yes. So, sometimes these food and beverage manufacturers will use a very cheap collagen and say, “Yeah, we got protein in here.” But it’s not the protein that feeds your muscles, like a whey protein isolate or a whey protein concentrate, or a casein or a milk protein. Those are all superior for those kinds of things.

Collagen protein, on the other hand, is going to feed all this connective tissue; your skin, your hair, your fingernails, your gut, your bones, your joints, that you’re not getting in the same way from a whey protein. So, I just want to delineate that there’s inferior collagen out there that’s used as a cheap filler, to list as protein in the food and beverage world. We know that happens. Everyone’s looking to cut corners and save money. That happens a lot. That is not a good source of what I would call a complete protein that is feeding your muscles, feeding repair and recovery in the same way that you would expect.

And collagen has to be a superior form in high bioavailability, and it can feed all those connective tissues when it is. But again, those are two very different things, and people just hear protein.

Tim:              Yeah.

Shawn:         So I wanted to clear that up.

Tim:              Yeah, super. That was definitely where I was going with that, and Shawn you did an awesome job of tying that up. That’s perfect. When you talked about inferior collagen, it reminded me, and you may remember this. Like probably 10, 15, maybe even 20 years ago, in the bodybuilding community and the fitness community, if you saw collagen in a protein bar or something, you ran the other way.

Shawn:         Right.

Tim:              Because it was considered an inferior, low quality protein. Which by certain definitions or certain standards, it is, because it’s not a complete protein, naturally. [chuckles] But it’s just funny how we’ve come this far. But to your point, there’s a tremendous difference between what’s out there in terms of collagen supplements. And so, basically where we’re at right here and now is we’re saying that most people aren’t eating nose-to-tail. They’re not naturally getting, first off, a lot of collagen just quantity in their diet. And second of all, they’re not getting a lot of collagen from different types of animals, which plays a role, too. We’ll get into that in just a minute.

But the solution then is to use a collagen supplement. And like you just mentioned, they’re not all created equally. I was just going to say, one of the big things is that most collagen powders, including your bone broth protein supplements, gelatin supplements, and collagen supplements, in general, come from a single source. So, they’re usually sourced from cattle, chicken, or fish, for the most-part, right? The reason that that’s relevant is because these different animals typically offer one or maybe two types of collagen.

There’s at least 28 different types of collagen that have been identified, and types 1, 2 and 3 account for somewhere between 80 and 90% of the collagen in our body. So, those are the most important, but here’s the deal. If you’re using a chicken bone broth supplement or a beef collagen supplement, in the case of chicken you’re only getting type 2, usually you’re only getting type 2 collagen; which is important for joint health, but maybe not have the same benefits in terms of skin health. Whereas with the beef or the fish collagen types 1 and 3, those are going to be more helpful for your kind of beauty within benefits, I guess you would say. They would be like your skin, hair, and nails.

So, if you’re using those supplements, you’re maybe only getting some of the benefits that you would enjoy from a multi-collagen type of supplement that combines multiple sources. Like a BioTrust Multi-Collagen protein supplement is more like a 4 or 5 in one supplement because it’s giving you five different types, five of the most researched types of collagen from four different food sources. And I think that’s a really important point if you really want to reap all the benefits of collagen.

Shawn:         Right. And it adds an essential amino acid to round out the profile, so it’s a complete protein. As far as I know, there is no other multi-collagen that has five sources, that has the fermented tryptophan added to it. I think we are the only one on the market. We went to, again, the extremes. We looked at what the best products were and what the best of each one had and we said why can’t we have everything, and we did. And not only that, but we evaluated more than a hundred collagen sources and we looked at taste, smell, solubility. It was important that it goes into solution. It was important, meaning that it mixes well. It was important that it doesn’t add some kind of weird fishy or beef smell to it. It was important that it was odorless and tasteless, that when it goes into your protein drink, when it goes into your coffee, that when it goes into your yogurt, when it goes into your recipe that it doesn’t mess it up.

And quite frankly, we can talk about bone broth as well, but there’s some bone broth products and bone broth proteins, and chocolate bone broth protein and things like that and they taste horrible, absolutely disgusting. And we tried, again, probably more than a hundred different competitors on the market, and so many of these products were disgusting. And we know people are buying them, which means people want the benefits of collagen and they’re having to gag some of the stuff down that doesn’t mix well, that doesn’t smell well, that doesn’t taste well. And I feel bad for them because each day they’re looking in their cabinet and they’re just struggling. And we wanted to do something better where not only does it have all the benefits and then some, compared to anything on the market, but it doesn’t have the issues with mixability. It doesn’t have the issues with smell or taste.

And again, we kind of formulate for ourselves, selfishly. We start there. And I use this product multiple times a day, every day, and it’s a non-issue with me when it comes to that stuff. Whatever I put it in, it’s great. I actually made keto pancakes this past weekend with heavy cream, coconut flour, some buttermilk, and used the BioTrust Platinum 1 Protein—it was the vanilla cupcake flavor—and then added the collagen to it and they tasted amazing. And I use it all the time with a protein drink or I actually mix a natural pre-workout in the morning with some ingredients with our BioTrust MetaboGreens and add the collagen to that. I’m trying to add the collagen to almost everything I have throughout the day, where I can add it.

Tim:              That’s awesome, Shawn. I’ve seen some data, a study from Keith Baar, I think he’s at UC Davis, where they gave some athletes a collagen supplement prior to activity. Like they were jumping rope in the activity. And what they were looking at was did it help with synthesis or production of collagen after activity, and it did. And so, it was really interesting. And from a recovery standpoint or from people that are living an active healthy lifestyle, this is something that is providing building blocks, if you take it maybe 30 minutes or an hour before activity, to help the body’s tissues regenerate themselves.

You know, tendons are particularly difficult to strengthen and heal because of the poor blood flow, but this study provided some really cool evidence that if you use a collagen supplement ahead of time, that you can facilitate that process. The one thing to point out about that study was that collagen did, in that study, they combined it with vitamin C, which vitamin C is kind of like if collagen is Batman, vitamin C is kind of like Robin in the sense that it helps with collagen synthesis. And so it may be a good idea to combine vitamin C with your collagen, when you take it. And for me, it’s easy because just whenever I have my Ageless Multi-Collagen, I just take two Ageless Body with it.

Shawn:         Exactly.

Tim:              Which have vitamin C in it.

Shawn:         Yeah, I was going to say that. Also, Ageless Body and then Ageless Core Multi both have superior forms of vitamin C. And I was actually going to mention this. I was thinking of the two things that you want to make sure you’re getting daily with your collagen, to really supercharge collagen, is one, like you said, vitamin C which you can get in some food sources, but certainly it helps to get superior dosing with a supplement like Ageless Body or Ageless Core Multi. But the other, and this is going to sound obvious, but water. Just hydrating enough is very important to your connective tissue health, to your skin, to your joints, to fingernails, to hair, and all this stuff. We tend to be very dehydrated.

And the great thing about, for example, taking this collagen powder is quite often you’re mixing it in a beverage, so you’re hydrating as well and you’re getting those benefits.

Tim:              Yeah, absolutely. I want to come back to a couple things you mentioned, Shawn. You talked about taste, smell, and mixability of other collagen supplements. I’ve tried quite a few.

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              And even the most “neutral” ones still have—and it gets worse when you get towards bone broth. I mean, they still have a very distinct smell to them and taste. And that limits your compliance, right?

Shawn:         Absolutely.

Tim:              Either you’re going to not look forward to doing it and just choke it down or you’re just not going to use it. And you can’t get the benefits if you don’t use it, or it limits the applicability, right? So like I’m not going to make keto pancakes, like you talked about, with bone broth flavored collagen supplement. And I think the mixability one is huge. Like I said, I’ve tried many different collagen supplements and the Ageless Multi-Collagen is like lightyears ahead in terms of solubility and mixability.

And not only is that like annoying when you have these gooey clumps or things settling, the powder settling in your glass, you’re usually missing out on that nutrition. Like you’re not going to eat that collagen clump or you’re not going to get all of that powder that’s in the glass. And if you’re not putting it in your body, if it doesn’t mix in the water, then it’s not going to be in your body, which is where you need it to get the benefits. So, I think that’s another important point to drive home.

And then you’ve talked about this, the digestibility thing, Shawn. But one thing I just wanted to highlight was that the Ageless Multi-Collagen contains hydrolyzed collagen peptides. So that means that the collagen is already naturally partially digest. And this is important because these collagen peptides then are absorbed intact into the body and they’re absorbed easily and quickly. There’s no issues with digestibility, which there can be with bone broth and gelatin supplements, or non-peptide supplements. But those collagen peptides are the building blocks, so they’re providing those amino acids easily and readily available.

What’s also neat about that is that the studies show that those collagen peptides also trigger the body’s collagen production and the production of a compound called hyaluronic acid, which you can think of it as the cushioning fluid between joints or the fluid in the skin that helps to make it soft and supple. So, I think that was another thing that I thought I just wanted to drive home is that that we’ve got hydrolyzed collagen peptides, which is the superior form of collagen in Ageless Multi-Collagen.

And just to kind of piggyback on that, there’s a lot of exciting research on collagen peptide supplementation, on improving skin. I’m seeing data on collagen peptide supplements reducing wrinkles and overall signs of facial aging, increasing skin hydration and elasticity. I’ve even seen some data on reducing the appearance of cellulite with collagen peptide supplementation. In terms of fingernails, we see increased nail growth, improvement in brittle nails, decreased in the frequency of broken nails. In terms of healthier, more limber joints, we have reductions in joint stiffness and improvements in joint mobility, joint comfort with collagen peptides. There’s even data showing increased bone mineral density and increased bone strength with collagen peptides. And I have seen some research showing increased satiety, so feelings of fullness and satisfaction, and delaying hunger with collagen peptides. There’s even studies showing that when combined with resistance training, collagen peptides can help promote increases in lean muscle and reductions in body fat, along with increased muscle strength.

You mentioned this way back at the beginning, Shawn, the importance of collagen protein in gut health and digestive health. And those same amino acids that are important for building connective tissue are also important for the gut lining. There’s some research showing collagen peptides may provide some protection against leaky gut, as well.

Shawn:         Right. Yeah.

Tim:              So, a lot of exciting stuff there.

Shawn:         Which is why you’re hearing this kind of “fountain of youth” talk with collagen, and it’s getting so much, like we said earlier, buzz around the internet, if you will. But I think it’s somewhat justified here, not to be too hypie. And I also did want to throw in the claws. Look, we’re not trying to push the BioTrust collagen hard core here. We just launched it. We’re super proud of it. We did a lot of work around it. A lot of research and time and energy went into it. We feel like we have the best product on the market. But ultimately, what Tim and I want to get out of this podcast is to educate you on the importance of collagen and what to look for in superior sources of collagen, so you don’t waste your time or money.

Tim:              Right.

Shawn:         And hopefully, it’s BioTrust, but if it’s not, you at least have a better mindset here to to know where to go to find better sources of collagen, so that you can get these benefits. But I’m looking at a graph right here in front of me, Reduction in Collagen with Age. And this is amazing, Tim.

Tim:              Yeah.

Shawn:         You see at 20 years old, it’s about 100% of our collagen levels. And you just see this line precipitously go down as we age. You see at about, let’s say 44, where I am, it’s about half. It’s about half what it was at 20. And then you get to 60, it’s at 40%. You get to 70, it’s about 20%. You get to 80 and it’s about 10%; one-tenth of the level it was at 20. And this is why we see saggy skin, and this is why we see the joint pain and the lack of cushioning. And you see more GI distress and leaky gut issues, and you see more immunocompromisation, meaning that you’re not having as healthy an immune system. Maybe one of the reasons could be the gut isn’t as good a barrier.

But there’s just so many things going on that we’ve talked about that collagen is so important for. And certainly, I would say, every day take your whey protein, like our Platinum 1 or Low Carb, and take the collagen with it. That’s part of my shake. And then you’re getting the nourishment to your muscles and to all your connective tissue. And that’s something that as we age we’re just not getting enough, one, quality protein; and two, collagen. And I really feel like those are a great one-two punch.

Tim:              Yeah.

Shawn:         And certainly something that we all are missing as we age. People just aren’t getting enough collagen at any age. And then we’re seeing, certainly as we get older, we’re not getting enough protein in general, as well.

Tim:              That’s awesome, Shawn. You’ve mentioned it before, but I just want to kind of ask this question because I think we’re at a point where it’s a good way to bring it home, but you had a recommendation or how much collagen would you recommend taking daily?

Shawn:         Yeah, some people say 10 to 20 grams is certainly good. I think that’s a great place to start, for compliance. That’s superior to where you are now, and you’re going to see a lot of benefits. It just depends. That’s where the bulk of the benefit is going to be. Maybe that’s where you get 70-80% of your benefit. But I have talked to many people that have gone up to about 40 grams and they’re seeing really good benefits. Again, maybe you’re at 80% of the benefits at 10-20 grams, but that hundred percent, I mean it’s worth it to me. So, I like maxing that out. I like trying to add it in anything I can throughout the day, because it’s magic. It’s like one of those things, like creatine, that I want to get in because it’s powerful in terms of its anti-aging. It helps with my strength, helps with my brain. It’s just core. It’s core to what I need.

And I think this is just one of those essential things that really can’t be overlooked and can’t be overhyped. I mean, I think we’re seeing it all over the internet, we’re seeing articles about it, and I think it’s not unfounded. But again, I think there’s just a lot of inferior sources out there that’s the concern.

Tim:              Yeah, agreed, Shawn. And I wanted to share my own experiences with it, so far.

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              I’ve been using Ageless Multi-Collagen for probably a month or so, maybe a little over. And anywhere between 10 and 20 grams a day, which I think that looking at the research, I’ve seen as little as two-and-a-half grams of collagen peptides having a benefit, but it really seems like 10 to 20 is like “where the magic happens.’

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              When things really start to change. So, that would be my recommendation, as well. We can go back to say that collagen makes up 30% of our body protein. And I’ve heard some people say that with that in mind, that maybe collagen protein should make up a third of our daily protein intake, which is probably closer to that 40 grams or more, like you were talking about.

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              So, I thought that was pretty interesting. So, for me personally, two things; one expected and one a little less expected. First is my knees have been feeling much better. I have a two-year-old, as you know, Shawn. And that means I spend a lot of time on the floor, moving around and a lot of different ranges of motion and positions that I hadn’t really been doing prior to that. And one, for sitting on the floor or something I do often is sit on my knees, basically. And so, over time I just noticed that my knees would be just kind of stiff and sore if I was standing or working for a period of time. So with the collagen, using the collagen regularly, I’ve noticed a tremendous improvement there. So, that’s definitely something that’s stood out to me. The other thing that I’ve noticed is I would say an improvement in sleep quality. And I think that probably can be traced back to the glycine content in collagen. Glycine also has like an inhibitory effect in terms of a neurotransmitter. So, that may be. I know I’ve heard other people talk about that as well. So, those are a couple things that I’ve noticed personally. My skin is always glowing, so I can’t say that that’s changed at all. No, I’m just kidding.

Shawn:         [laughs] Well, you are a good-looking guy, Tim, for sure. Yeah, that is awesome. And I’m seeing similar benefits, as well, Tim. I’m seeing an improvement in the brightness and tightness of my skin. I’m seeing my joint mobility improve. But one important thing here, I wanted to say that we’ve talked about that this is a multi-collagen and superior sources. But to really clear this up, this is pretty special because we have hydrolyzed collagen peptides from grass-fed, pasture-raised, cruelty-free cattle. And that accounts for the types 1 and 3 collagen. And I will say there’s very few sources that one, are that superior bioavailability of the hydrolyzed collagen peptides that are grass-fed, pasture-raised, cruelty-free. Then we have hydrolyzed collagen peptides from sustainable fish. And that contributes to types 1 and 3. And I can tell you that the majority of the fish collagen that we got in smelled horrible.

Tim:              [chuckles]

Shawn:         And this stuff, again, odorless, tasteless, amazing. Then we have a unique and patented eggshell membrane that contributes to types 1, 5, and 10. And then we have a native undenatured collagen from chicken that contributes to type 2. So, we have these superior sources that I feel are, again, ethical in the way that we’re getting them, that have the taste solubility and lack of odor, and are just extremely highly bioavailable. And I think that makes it extremely unique compared to other collagens on the market.

Tim:              Yeah, definitely, Shawn. I think that Multi-Collagen, just that title in and of itself, you can think of it as like the multi vitamin of collagen supplements, right?

Shawn:         Yeah.

Tim:              Providing not just one nutrient, but the ones that right now, that the research tells us that we need the most to support all those health benefits from collagen. So, if you’re using a single‑source collagen protein, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on all the benefits you could be realizing from using a multi-collagen source, and like you talked about, the best of the best, cream of the crop sources. And then just to tack on to that, hydrolyzed collagen peptides and a complete protein.

Shawn:         Yeah, so beat that! [laughs]

Tim:              Yeah, buddy. Go get me a collagen shake right now.

Shawn:         Exactly, exactly. [laughs] I’ve already been using it like crazy. Now it makes me want to use it even more.

Tim:              [laughs] Yeah.

Shawn:         You and I have sold each other even more. [chuckles] But it is, it’s extremely important to me and I think the message needs to be reinforced. Look, if you’re not going to take something like multi-collagen, then at least try and eat foods that are higher in collagen and do whatever you can to improve that. And then eat foods that are higher in vitamin C, hydrate well, but certainly this is going to be superior to just about any method that you can pursue, realistically. It’s so convenient, being a colorless, tasteless, odorless powder, pretty much, that mixes well in anything, any recipe, any beverage. So, we’re loving it. And I think that can that can wrap this up.

But I think you can check out BioTrust.com, the BioTrust Multi-Collagen that has just launched. So, I think you can get a special deal on that right now. There’s a promotion around that. And I would certainly say that the Ageless Core, Multi Ageless Body, and even Ageless Glow, which is our anti-aging serum, all would stack well with this product.

So, we really appreciate you guys tuning in and listening in. It is important that you go to BioTrust.com/VIP to check out our VIP community and contribute there. And certainly you get the accountability, the knowledge from coaches, from the other members of the community. There’s a lot of competitions that happen there, to have transformations in weight, and people just telling their stories. It’s such a cool community. We’re proud to be a part of it. And this podcast is certainly important to community as well, and we appreciate your support and listening to us wherever you listen; Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, iTunes. Leaving a review for us is huge on iTunes or any other place. And lastly, BioTrustRadio.com is where you have the full transcripts, you have notes on things like the studies we mention, any links that we’re talking about. Certainly a link to the BioTrust Multi-Collagen will be there and a promotion will be listed there for you. And we’re just deeply thankful for you listening to the show and supporting Tim and I, and BioTrust, and being a part of this amazing community. So, thank you very much.

Tim:              Yeah, thanks guys. We appreciate you. All the links will be in the show notes, and if you have any questions just let us know. Thanks for your time and thanks for your support.

Shawn:      All right. See you guys.