Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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If the building blocks of our joints, ligaments, and tendons is collagen, and collagen is formed by Lysine, Proline, and a reaction with Vitamin C (I know I may be oversimplifying things a bit), then would the supplementation of these three speed up the recovery process from joint injuries and sprains? There is not a lot of talk about supplementation of these three together, but you hear of supplementing with glucosamine and condroitin for your joints.

I tend to shy away from supplementation after switching to an evolutionary based, real food diet, and try to focus on eating the things I need to build and maintain my body. I make stocks and soups for the collagen and minerals, but would extra supplementation benefit the process?

For me specifically, it is an ankle sprain I am recovering from. I would like to run again as soon as possible. Thank you!

flag	asked Feb 5 2011 at 2:15 MF 1,346●5●13

	Isn't proline a troublesome protein found in cereal grains? (kind of similar to gluten) or am I mixing stuff up here? – Tom Feb 5 2011 at 10:27
	Proline is an amino-acid that makes up lots of different proteins, like gluten and collagen. I don't think proline is really either good or bad in and of itself... it's just a building block for proteins. – saiklón Feb 5 2011 at 15:04

saiklón · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-05 04:39:56Z UTC

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If you want the ingredients for building connective tissue than eat that.

Interesting info on the bone broth:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_259-260/ai_n10299306/?tag=content;col1

answered Feb 5 2011 at 4:39

saiklón
1,646●1●4●12

So are you saying I should eat cartilage to build cartilage, bone for bone? Wouldn't that just be deconstruction and then reconstructing? Which is a better strategy? – MF Feb 5 2011 at 19:12

Well, when you cook it long and slow you breakdown a lot of that stuff. Then your body can break it down the rest of the way. I am basically suggesting that rather than guess what your body might want to fix your injury and then supplementing with that. Why not give it everything that it could possibly use in the most natural form and then let your body figure out what to do with it? Disclaimer: I am not a scientist. P.S. I think you must have meant glycine, not lysine, in your original post. – saiklón Feb 5 2011 at 22:21

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Read pgs 4-5 as they specifically address the nutrients you are asking about. And, it sounds like you probably don't need to supplement vit C: "Scurvy is a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C. It results in symptoms such as bleeding gums, bruising, and poor wound healing. These manifestations are actually due to a deficiency of collagen, because vitamin C is needed to synthesize collagen. It converts proline into hydroxy proline. (33) Collagen, along with minerals are needed for the creation and healing of bone. It is also integral to cartilage formation and repair, along with GAGs." – saiklón Feb 5 2011 at 22:26

It looks like the answer lies in supplementing with broth (which I have been doing). Thank you for the link. I was reading about vitamin C and lysine in the book <i>Health Wars</i> by Phillip Day. This brought up the question, and correlated with the stronger fingernails I have noticed when eating larger amounts of citrus or taking C supplements. Broth/stock provides all the building blocks, and Tastes tremendous! Broth FTW! – MF Feb 6 2011 at 3:07

Eva · Answer 2 · 2011-02-05 05:00:03Z UTC

I think it might help, but most likely only if you are deficient in any of the areas to start with. Of course, if you are deficient in anything, then supplementing with that will probably help you be healthier, which will speed recovery.

coprophagous · Answer 3 · 2011-12-20 07:09:37Z UTC

30 percent of americans have gingivitis. the cure is oral doses of vitamin C. with so many humans suffering from low grade scurvey this should serve as evidence that the RDA will prevent death due to scurvey but still not be optimal for normal life. 30 percent of adults also have atherosclerosis and nearly 100 percent of those have gingivitis. Are you starting to see a connection yet? i regrew a shoulder joint, made vericose veins disappear, then i went on paleo to rid myself of rheumatoid arthritis. now, im doing some investigation on age reversal to get back some lost years. im 55 and my skin is as smooth as a baby's ass. its just too bad i have silver hair and some hair recession, or maybe i can reverse that as well.

Vitamin C, Lysine, and Proline supplementation

3 Answers