collagen

March 14, 2009

Dolores,

I copied this from google. The only difference in the one I am taking is

that it is type 1 and 3 which is for the dermis. The people I know are

taking it for their skin and a side effect is as below .less joint pain.

Collagen is the protein building block found in skin, ligaments, tendons,

bone, cartilage, blood vessels, and other connective tissue. There are

about nineteen different types of collagen, but collagen type II is the most

abundant in the human body. Collagen type II is specifically found in

joints, such as the knees, elbows, hips, wrists and fingers. These joints

are the ones most affected by arthritis.

Oral collagen type II has been shown to alleviate the pain and swelling

associated with both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Why it might help arthritis?

When people suffer from arthritis, there is a selective destruction of

collagen type II in the joint cartilage. This destruction of cartilage may

activate the immune system to develop antibodies against collagen type II.

This sets up an autoimmune response to all of the cartilage degenerating in

the body, which results in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In osteoarthritis

there is a wear and tear destruction of cartilage with loss of collagen type

II, but there is no immune response.

Oral collagen type II is thought to help prevent an immune response through

oral tolerance. There is a part of the intestine called the GALT

(gut-activated lymphoid tissue) which is part of our immune system. In

essence, white blood cells in the GALT allow us to eat a variety of

different kinds of proteins without developing an allergy or sensitivity to

them. Consequently, repeated oral collagen intake will result in a state of

absent or minimal immune response to the collagen found in the joints. This

will cause a reduction in the pain and swelling associated with rheumatoid

arthritis. The exact mechanism is still not fully understood. It is also

unknown why this treatment would relieve the symptoms of osteoarthritis and

other types of arthritis that are not associated with autoimmunity. [1]

March 14, 2009

Thank you for the wonderful article on collagen. I will put this into my

collection of saved articles and will definitely research it thoroughly. I

recently wrote a paper for someone who went through some collagen replacement

surgery. She needed the article to present her experiences for the hospital

where her surgery was performed in the U.K. She was unable to do this for

herself because of severe sclerodactyly, so I wrote it for her. I didn't delve

into the why because it may have been personally too painful for her

psychologically. Apparently there is a doctor who replaces disfigured facial

features on patients who have scleroderma disfigurement. Although my

disfigurment isn't too noticeable, it is increasing and wondered if this surgery

is offered in the U.S. as an alternative or only superficially for cosmetic

purposes. The former could be covered by Insurance, the latter is not. This

article I wrote was about two weeks ago and since

it sparked my interest, I took note of your post and decided to find out more

about collagen replacement and how it helps. So, again thank you. It is an

area I will research and possibly add to the book I am writing re: Coping with

incurable and terminal diseases. Thank you, Dolores P.R.

From: Cooky Stonkey <cookee1@...>

Subject: rheumatic collagen

" rheumatic " <rheumatic >

Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009, 4:08 PM