The elite overlords of acne supplements are undoubtedly the vitamins and minerals such as vitamin D, zinc and magnesium. These are some of the 32 essential nutrients in human beings, and are unskippable remedies for clearing acne from the inside out.
But what about the countless herbal supplements, proteins and isolated plant compounds lining supplement store shelves? Very few are magic pills as claimed, but some are fantastic bonus weapons.
Saw palmetto can slash DHT, indole-3-carbinol/DIM can detoxify unhealthy forms of estrogen, and burdock root may lower inflammation fairly well…
…and there’s one secret supplement which I believe stands tall above all the rest: grass-fed gelatin.
Many acne patients are reporting excellent results with gelatin, but after viewing shocking study after shocking study, I don’t believe that their stories do justice to this cheap supplement’s incredible acne powers.
What is gelatin?
These days, protein deficiency is nowhere close to a widespread problem. Fried chicken is more popular than ever, steak sales are through the roof, turkeys are less likely to vote for Christmas than ever. Health and fitness circles are now advocating high protein diets in order to accelerate weight loss (which can work).
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Instead, the ever pressing problem is the variety of our protein. Back in our hunter gatherer tribal era, we ate the whole body of an animal, with generous helpings of connective tissues and organ meats such as kidneys and liver. We even ground the bones down and extracted their inner tissues.
Our food supplies were unreliable, forcing us to eat whatever scraggly morsels of meat we could find.
Nowadays though, most of the meat we eat is muscle meat, such as steak or chicken breast. Hence, we’re consuming way too much of the amino acids cysteine and tryptophan, at the expense of two rarer ones: proline and glycine.
Glycine is a non-essential amino acid. Your liver manufactures it in times of dire scarcity, but only in inadequate quantities, just enough glycine to sustain you until you get your next fix of delicious animal joints. The problem is that most of us never do. It’s estimated that the average person throws away 8-10 grams of glycine per day.
You could eat lamb liver or cow heart or ox tongue, or you could try the paleo movement’s favourite dish, bone broth, a thick soup of bones and animal joints. But those dishes are inconvenient to say the least. Is there a way to get your all-important glycine requirements without wasting valuable time, or putting your taste buds through a virtual war every mealtime?
The answer is yes – you can take gelatin.
Gelatin is little more than a paste of highly condensed animal joints and connective tissues. But its nutritional profile, and powers for acne, are utterly immense. Grass-fed gelatin is the world’s greatest source of glycine – containing over 20 grams per 100 grams. Its proline is equally plentiful, with over 10 gams per 100 grams.
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Practically speaking, unsweetened gelatin is easily scooped and tastes of nothing. It’s the easiest way bar none to get these overlooked amino acids.
Consequently, gelatin is also a bona fide miracle supplement for acne patients. I’ve done a lot of research on gelatin, and its acne powers are outstanding to say the least.
Gelatin’s famous power – increasing collagen production
The main reason why most acne patients turn to gelatin. Essentially, collagen is the main protein in your skin alongside keratin. Collagen forms a scaffolding in your skin – an intricate matrix around which all other cells congregate.
Increasing collagen can 1) accelerate the healing of dead or dying acne, 2) strengthen your skin against the perils of inflammation and free radical damage, and 3) improve your general skin tone and hydration. Collagen is also found in your joints, connective tissues, and the lining of your organs…
…which means that the condensed animal versions of those body parts, AKA gelatin, are rich in the exact amino acids you need to make it.
Your body manufactures collagen from glycine and proline, along with some vitamin C to control the manufacturing process. With insufficient glycine levels, as many of us have, your collagen production will always be restrained.
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Luckily, gelatin is 27% glycine by weight and 15% proline, and proline is particularly great at preventing the loss of existing collagen in the skin.
Gelatin even boasts direct skincare studies with fantastic results. One study from 2009 gave women over 40 either 5 or 10 grams of gelatin daily. At the three week mark, 41 percent of the women taking 5 grams reported clearer, firmer skin, while for 10 grams, 62% of women reported improved skin. After 7 weeks, 74 percent of the 5 gram women enjoyed skin improvements and 81% of the 10 gram crew had clearer, firmer skin.
Next up is a Japanese study where mice were divided into a gelatin group, and a second group which took nothing. When exposed to UV radiation, the normal mice lost 53% of the collagen in their skin. Meanwhile, the gelatin-gobbling mice had a large increase, by 17 percent. The researchers concluded that gelatin may counteract the damaging effects of UV radiation on the skin.
That’s excellent news for acne (and ageing of course), as gelatin could reopen the door to a sunny day at the beach. Indirectly, gelatin could send your vitamin D levels soaring (which are vital for acne) since you’ll be able to enjoy more sunshine exposure without inflammation.
As for ageing, you might forget that it ever existed. Ageing has numerous causes, from free radical damage to a shortening of the telomeres in your genes, but one cause is a persistent drop in collagen which begins after age 25.
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Yet another secret of gelatin is a supercharged skin tone. I talked in this article about how moisturisers always made my acne blotchy and inflamed, but how I managed to naturally improve my skin tone and smoothness with a simple megadose of vitamin C which increased my collagen levels. You can achieve the exact same thing with gelatin.
Gelatin’s greatest power – increasing glutathione levels
Gelatin doesn’t slack off when it comes to preventing acne’s formation either. One little known power of gelatin is providing the building blocks for the all-important acne molecule glutathione.
Glutathione is the single most abundant antioxidant which your body manufactures itself. It is just as critical for preventing acne as vitamin E or vitamin C. Glutathione hoovers up free radicals on the skin, but also throughout your entire body, to prevent them from depleting other important acne antioxidants such as vitamin E or vitamin A.
It’s also a potent detoxification agent; glutathione is needed to remove toxic heavy metals like mercury from the bloodstream. Because this detoxification empties your glutathione reserves, the average man has lower levels than ever. Chemicals, pesticides, carcinogenic herbicides like glyphosate, and heavy metals like arsenic are accumulating in our environment at an alarming rate.
Acne patients are especially deficient; this study found that acne-prone skin contained 20% less glutathione than average. This study concluded that “a decline in antioxidative activity led by a decrease in glutathione quantity may play an important role in… acne vulgaris“. It’s critical for all acne patients to increase glutathione production…
…and that’s exactly what grass-fed gelatin does. The mechanism needs little explanation, as all glutathione molecules are manufactured from three amino acids: l-cysteine, l-glutamine, and glycine.
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Without dietary glycine, your body can only make the bare minimum of glutathione from the scare quantities of glycine your liver manufactures itself.
Whey protein is another commonly prescribed glutathione booster, containing all 3 amino acids. However, many acne patients are sensitive to milk’s dairy proteins and IGF-1 hormones, as I cover in my eBook Annihilate Your Acne. It’s a similar story with raw milk, and raw eggs are safe, but aren’t as hyper concentrated in glycine as gelatin is.
Gelatin may be the ultimate secret supplement for increasing antioxidant production. Most people focus on the collagen increase, but for acne itself, glutathione is easily gelatin’s showstopping power.
Gelatin enhances sleep quality
Glycine, and hence the gelatin that contains it, is well known for its calming influence on the brain.
Glycine is able to cross the fateful brain-blood barrier, and once inside, it alters important neurotransmitters by stimulating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDA). The stimulation of NDMA is believed to have two key benefits: inhibiting muscle activity during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and lowering core body temperature enough to facilitate sleep in the first place.
The stress hormone cortisol can act on certain transmitters that keep you awake, but glycine diverts that cortisol to more therapeutics uses.
Furthermore, oral supplement of glycine can increase your serotonin levels, a building block of the sleep hormone melatonin, and a key ingredient for a healthy circadian rhythm (the day/night awake cycle built into all animals). One study found that a mere pinch of glycine powder under the tongue could relieve non-stop overthinking within seconds, a classic sleep deprivation culprit.
Direct studies have been equally terrific, as this 2007 study found that taking 3 grams of glycine before bedtime substantially lowered sleep-onset time, while improving sleep quality.
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Meanwhile, in a randomised double blind study (great for reliability), sleep deprived volunteers took either 3 grams of glycine before bed or an inert placebo. Those taking the glycine enjoyed improvements in self-reported areas dubbed as “fatigue”, “liveliness and peppiness”, and “clear-headedness”. They concluded that “glycine produced a good subjective feeling after awakening from sleep“.
The reparative processes of sleep were clearly more efficient, which is great news for the reparative processes that allow acne to heal. That’s not all, as glycine can relieve virtually every unpleasant sleep deprivation symptom, from painful eye strain to morning fatigue to feelings of unease and difficulty concentrating. Glycine can even improve memory recognition.
Elsewhere, glycine has been tested with success as a treatment for schizophrenia. Promoting serotonin release should improve depression, and glycine can even normalise the functioning of neurotransmitters in addicts and prevent them from relapsing.
If glycine can supercharge your sleep quality then gelatin will undoubtedly do the same. The advantage for acne? Sleep deprivation is a massive cause of it.
Your skin looks grey and tired after a night spent tossing and turning, and your acne suffers similarly. 30% of the US population suffers from insomnia, and we discussed in this article how sleep deprivation causes oily skin by decreasing insulin sensitivity. We discussed in my eBook how sleep affects acne in a myriad of other ways, plus rarely known secrets for sleeping more soundly.
You never know, a glycine deficiency could be the root cause of all your sleeping woes.
Gelatin may be an anti-inflammatory juggernaut
Here’s a piece of history for you: way back in 1905, gelatin was recommended by Erich Cohn of the University of Bonn for treating “intestinal catarrh” – an inflammation of the mucus membrane now known as irritable bowel syndrome. In fact, gelatin has a long and prosperous history of treating signs of digestive inflammation.
Gelatin’s powers include lining the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract, shielding it from inflammatory chemicals and overgrowths of malicious yeasts like candida. Scientists have stated that glycine probably has undiscovered anti-inflammatory properties as well. For acne, the benefits could include preventing food allergies, improving acne nutrient absorption, and ending leaky gut syndrome.
An endless stream of studies shows that gelatin can treat intestinal inflammation:
ONE – in a 2010 study, scientists concluded that “glycine protects mammalian intestine against oxidative damage“, and that glycine was strongly protective against inflammatory bowel disease, which is notoriously linked to acne-covered skin.
TWO – glycine was again found to promote a healthy gut (study). “Because glycine is non-toxic at low doses, an administration of a moderate glycine dose (50-100 mg/kg) may be suitable to protect from intestinal damage during sepsis“. The small intestine was particularly protected.
THREE – in rats whose guts had been damaged by a high-fructose (the more harmful form of sugar) diet, eating more glycine miraculously restored the nutrient-absorbing powers of the small intestine (study).
FOUR – this 2010 review discovered that glycine could protect intestinal epithelial cells, which are critical for absorbing acne nutrients while preventing inflammatory compounds from entering your bloodstream.
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We’re not done yet, as gelatin can lower acne-causing inflammation across your entire body. If you haven’t read this article yet, then I strongly advise it. In short, chronic inflammation is when the immune system enters a hyperactive state and starts damaging tissues all over your body, including your face. Chronic inflammation is the number one cause of acne.
FIVE – this study found that glycine could control sepsis, adult respiratory syndrome and arthritis, 3 diseases with close links to inflammation.
SIX – a combination of glycine and lactoferrin decreased the skin’s inflammation with ease (which is excellent news), particularly the acne-triggering inflammatory chemical TNF-a (study). The scientists concluded that glycine had massive potential for chronic inflammatory diseases (of which acne is one).
SEVEN – cysteine, histidine and glycine all significantly inhibited NF-KappaB, a master molecule which activates and directs numerous smaller pro-inflammatory chemicals behind acne. Glycine also inhibited the inflammatory chemical interkeulin-6, which is notably higher in acne-prone skin (study).
EIGHT – this 2003 review concluded that “multiple protective effects make glycine a promising treatment strategy for inflammatory diseases“. The authors began by saying that “in recent years, evidence has mounted in favour of the anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and cytoprotective effects of the simplest amino acid L-glycine“.
How does glycine achieve these wondrous powers? Scientists aren’t completely sure, but they believe that glycine acts directly on macrophages to suppress the activation of transcription genes, and the formation of inflammatory cytokines in the first place.
The final strategy – get the right product
What’s critical is that you purchase grass-fed gelatin, because otherwise, this anti-inflammatory secret can turn rapidly into a pro-inflammatory bombshell.
Gelatin can be derived from many common livestock; cow hooves, pig joints, and chicken ligaments are all contenders. However, most gelatin is derived from cow connective tissues. Cows which are slaughtered for their meat after a lifetime of being milked present their farmers with an abundance of leftover tissues – so to make some extra coin, that’s what usually ends up in gelatin…
…but the majority of US cows are kept in CAFOs, Confined Animal Feeding Operations. These captive cows are pumped with bovine growth hormone to make them grow at an insanely fast pace. They are injected with antibiotics to prevent the diseases which are inevitably rampant in such confined and unhygienic spaces.
Worse, these CAFO cows are fed a diet of cheap soybeans and corn, the two most notorious crops for contamination with herbicides, especially the nightmarish glyphosate.
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Corns and soybeans make the cows’ tissues far too high in omega 6 fatty acids, which are pro-inflammatory in excess. They also make the cow’s stomach too acidic and decrease production of the acne-clearing conjugated linoleic acid. Not to mention that one “nutritious staple” of a CAFO cow’s diet is gummy bears, thanks to a select few idiotic farmers…
Every ounce of this inflammatory goop is transferred to the cheap gelatin in your supplement jar. Jell-O is one example; it has the correct proteins, but also the above contaminants, plus flavour enhancers, preservatives, added sugar – you name it.
Therefore, what you need for acne is organic, grass-fed gelatin. Organic guarantees the cow’s freedom from inflammatory agrochemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides), and grass-fed guarantees a nutritious diet and a peaceful life spent roaming freely around grassy fields. It’s the healthiest for the cow and because the nutrients end up in its flesh, it’s the healthiest for your acne too.
By far the greatest gelatin product on the market is this Great Lakes Pasture Raised Gelatin (amazon link). It’s grass-fed and organic, and derived entirely from cows. It’s one of the greatest supplements any acne patient can take, coming second only to essential nutrients like vitamin D and vitamin E.
Conclusion
Gelatin has been used by traditional hunter gather societies for millennia. But only now are the truly exceptional benefits for acne coming to life.
Grass-fed gelatin is an amazing supplement. Chronic inflammation and antioxidant deficiencies are the two strongest root causes of acne and the glycine in gelatin can rugby tackle them to the floor.
Increasing collagen and deepening your sleep are the icing on the cake. Gelatin also has no side effects unless you ingest truly massive quantities and therefore overdose on the amino acids. Again, my recommended product is this Great Lakes Pasture Raised Gelatin (amazon link). You’ll do especially well if you never eat organ meats or bone broth, which probably applies to most people except for diehard Paleo enthusiasts.
Give gelatin a go, and you might discover the much heralded miracle cure which every acne patient has been seeking.
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Thanks for reading!