Collagen, Magnesium & Creatine: What Science Really Says | Stacy Sims Explains | Be Well Moments

0:00Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers improve their health and well-being.

0:10Talk to me about supplementation. Should women be supplementing with collagen? And if so, why? What are the reasons? That one's a hard one. I have to chuck in a few hard ones. I know you have to. I've got to. Okay, so if we look at collagen, there's things that aren't well known. We have collagen peptides. We also have native collagen, which is the whole molecule of the collagen. If we look at collagen peptides, because they're small bits of collagen, they're actually absorbed and can go to target tissue. And we see that there is evidence that if you're using type 2 collagen, which is joint specific, and you're using peptides, they can actually go and they can help attenuate the decline of some of the cartilage.

0:55So it does help with joints. If we look at using native collagen with that, native collagen or the whole collagen molecule is not absorbed, but it causes an immune response. so then you are getting an immune response that's telling the body not to attack the cartilage so there is evidence to show that if you're looking at type 2 collagen specific to joints that it can help with reducing the degradation of cartilage it's not going to stop it but it's going to help reduce it okay when we look at the type threes and ones which is the most common that's out there, that doesn't do anything for joints.

1:36That's your hair, that's your nails, that's some of the structural stuff around your intestines and organs, but it doesn't help with joints. But when you look at most of the stuff on the market and you're seeing things like vital protein, collagen protein, that's not protein that goes to our daily intake of protein because collagen does not count as our daily intake of protein because it's structural. one of the amino acids right because it's structural and they're always type one and three so they're like yeah you can take this supplement and it really benefits your joints and it accounts for your protein intake it's like no it doesn't one it's the wrong kind of collagen and two it doesn't count for my protein intake so do you say don't have collagen i ask you do you don't have it as your protein intake you don't have it as your protein intake but if you're someone who has a family history or has a diagnosis of osteoarthritis then it can be beneficial to use type 2s but you have to be very cognate that you want type 2 peptide and native okay and it's hard to find so you have to do your due diligence to find it any good brands no i can't say that because it's global right every country's a little bit different okay and what about i mean i know it's an old area but on the beauty side of things because women are gonna want it i think women buy for that reason as opposed to the bone density.

2:59And when you're seeing people using collagen, the type ones and threes, then yes, they get strong nails, they get lustrous hair, all those kinds of things. When we look at vegetarian and vegans and they're not getting collagen and you see this vegan collagen, walk away because there's no such thing as vegan collagen. There's a collagen booster, which is copper and zinc and vitamin C. You can use that. that's going to help your body's own production, but it's not going to be like ingesting collagen. One billion people worldwide are deficient in this nutrient that so many of you guys might not be aware of.

3:37And women, if you're listening, you are more at risk of being deficient in this nutrient. So I'm going to first of all explain what the physical symptoms are. If you have cold hands and feet, pale skin, extreme lack of energy or fatigue, then you might be suffering with iron deficiency or anemia. Now first off, please go to your GP to get your iron levels checked. Secondly, please explore a good iron supplement. Many people that come to me are worried about taking iron supplementation because it can cause constipation or GI distress. That's why I'm so incredibly proud to be partnering for this episode with Spartone, the number one iron-rich water supplement.

4:18Now I've personally been using these for years. The reason why is because they are naturally sourced, highly absorbable iron. That means it's much more gentle on your stomach. There's no harsh tablets. It's just one naturally sourced ingredient that works very well. You can pick it up in boots or buy online at Amazon, but please do not ignore this it is really critical to make sure your iron levels are in check so the jury's out on collagen we think okay we think yes but very specific on what type right and it's not going towards your protein daily intake correct because it's only one of the amino acids correct okay magnesium yes this is a big one yes there's lots of types of magnesium Yes.

5:04This is not talked about at all. So can you give your outtake on magnesium? And which one should women be looking at? Yes. So there is some data that shows that magnesium is beneficial for sleep. And this is primarily because of our muscle contractions, right? So we want to have a relaxation of everything. So if we have enough magnesium to support brain and muscle, then yes, we can get to sleep. We need one that crosses blood-brain barrier to help. and this is a biglyconate. There's only one. Yep. Isn't there? Yep. So when you're looking at your magnesium supplement, you don't want to go for, what is it?

5:41Oxalate because that's a laxative. So you have to be very conscious that you want to look for a biglyconate or glyconate. Okay. Creatine. It's the best thing out there. I knew you'd say that. Okay. How should people be looking at creatine and how much should they be taking? Yeah. So your body naturally produces around two grams a day. If you have a diet that is meat oriented, then you're also ingesting a lot of creatine that way. Most women don't eat enough to actually provide as much as the body actually goes through. We see there's a change across the menstrual cycle of how your body uses and regulates creatine.

6:21So we see that there's a increase in creatine kinase, which is your breakdown in the high hormone phase. Because again, progesterone is trying to provide all the building blocks. So really having the availability of more creatine helps with that too. If we're looking at supplementing with creatine, we want creatine monohydrate. And I don't get any kind of kickback from this company, but the company that produces CreaPure, this is a German B2B, meaning business to business. CreaPure is patented. And so it uses a water wash. There's no real side effects from using it. It's pure and it's in almost every high quality creatine monohydrate product that's out there.

7:04So if you're looking at something that has Crea Pure on it, you want to start with one to three grams and work your way up to five grams over the course of about three to four weeks. And that's going to attenuate any possible side effect. Okay. If you're looking at a cheaper version of creatine monohydrate, it comes as an acid wash because it's cheaper to produce it through acid, evaporative, and other things in the lab than it is to use a water wash, which is really specific. And this is why we start to see a lot of bloating and stomach discomfort and some of the other side effects that we see.

7:40So again, being consumer, be aware. Be aware. And a lot of people talk about creating with DOMS. Yeah. Should people be having it a specific time after they exercise? When should we be consuming it? No. No, because it doesn't have an acute effect. It takes about three weeks for the body to be saturated. Okay. So you need to - That's why you're building it up. Yes. Yes. And once it's saturated and has enough, that's when you start to see the performance effects. We see that over the course of three to four weeks of consistently using three to five grams every day, you get that full saturation. Muscle works better, brain works better, guts better, because anything that has a fast energetic requires creatine.

8:22So we see that the brain fog starts to be attenuated with creatine use. We start to see gut issues with women who, I go for a run, I had to find a bathroom every time I go for a run. Using the three to five grams over the course of a month, then that starts to dissipate as well. Wow. Because it maintains the gut integrity of the intestinal cells. You don't have as much of that separation because now you have creatine that's going to work in those energetics to hold it together. And then also we see for mood and mood health, creatine is really beneficial for that too. So actually most women are perimenopausal, maybe all women, but I'm just really thinking about the things, side effects that we were talking about or, you know, the physical sides that we might see in oneself when we're perimenopausal.

9:10This could be an amazing supplement. Absolutely. Absolutely. Gosh, it's interesting how it's not spoken about more. It's very much spoken in the sports domain, I think, but just general health for women, it's just not spoken about. Yeah. So Crea Vitalis and Creatine for Life. Creatine for Life website has all the stuff that creatine does for health. And there are a lot of my colleagues in the sports science and supplement world that also are doing research on creatine for health. And so all the peer reviewed studies that you can find are on creatine for health website. crea vitalis is a offshoot of crea pure that is designed specifically for health and not bodybuilding so it's a lower dose and it's a very high quality protein or high quality creatine supplementation so there's definitely stuff that's coming out and it's a push to get into the health space for both men and women but yeah it's slow coming thanks so much for listening to hear the full episode.

10:09There's a link in the description.