Then you probably do, but I am NOT going to recommend taking collagen. I know, crazy, right? 😆 If you know how I work, I am always on the lookout for upstream causes to downstream symptoms. You may need collagen because you are simply aging, it is common to begin to lose collagen in our 40’s. Or, maybe you have pain and in your research, you have come across collagen as the magic supplement to help your joints, or hair, or skin, etc.

What many people don’t know, or they might not even realize they need to pay attention to, is that collagen supplementation contributes to oxalate accumulation. Anytime I have tried to take collagen, even for a short period, then I stopped using it, I had a significant oxalate dump. If you don’t really understand the oxalate piece, I recommend this book, it’s an amazing introduction to how they effect us. The irony of how oxalates effect the body, is that they will literally cause some of the exact symptoms you might be trying to reduce with collagen, but here is the tricky part about oxalates…as you increase your intake of oxalate from the diet, your body actually goes into storage mode, so you won’t be as symptomatic as if you were to stop using, eating or taking something that contributes to oxalate accumulation. Your body needs to reduce oxalate intake to start dumping. In other words, you need to encourage more to leave the body, than you put into it. You can learn a little more about oxalates on this page in my website too. It’s brief, but it might get you started.

So if we need more collagen, and I don’t recommend actually taking collagen, then what, right? Let’s first talk about some of the benefits of collagen.

Forefront Health says this about collagen.

Collagen Protein Powder is something we use at Forefront Health to...

• Re-Balance Thyroid-Suppressive Proteins

• Restore Metabolism and Blood Sugar Handling

• Promote Deeper and More Restful Sleep

• Restore Youthful Skin, Healthy Hair, and Strong Nails

• And much more…

Collagen has been shown to help prevent and correct a number of inflammatory and degenerative diseases, including diabetes, arthritis, and cancer.

Yet, most importantly, it’s a protein that almost everyone is deficient in, including you.

The main amino acid (protein building-block) in collagen is glycine.

Research shows that we are severely deficient in glycine to the point that scientists are recommending that supplementation is the only way to “guarantee a healthy metabolism”.

For the thyroid, in particular, collagen can help boost thyroid hormone by unblocking your thyroid gland, improve conversion by lowering elevated cortisol, improve conversion by lowering bacterial endotoxins that are suppressive to the thyroid conversion process, and it can improve your ability to use your thyroid hormone more effectively by inhibiting lipolysis. And that list of other benefits above, which isn’t all inclusive, is also appealing, isn’t it? No one wants cancer, diabetes, arthritis, degenerative diseases or inflammation.

Glycine

Collagen is almost 30% glycine. Supplemental glycine also converts to oxalate and may be why collagen is so problematic for some people. Even if you aren’t having problems with collagen supplementation today, I would like to point out that everyone has an oxalate threshold, and many don’t even know if they are accumulating dangerous levels of oxalates, so taking collagen daily can be a slippery slope. One of the most common symptoms of oxalate accumulation is joint and lower back pain and isn’t that that usually the same set of symptoms that would lead someone to collagen? Confusing, right?

The solution?

Food grade diatomaceous earth! Diatomaceous earth (DE) is 80-90% silica and silica is a precursor to collagen. So what you will notice if you begin researching the many, many benefits of diatomaceous earth, which by the way is THE natural form of silica our body consider’s bioavailable (opal), is that many of the same benefits overlap with collagen supplementation. Except…there are many, many more benefits to using diatomaceous earth, instead. Why limit your benefits when you can go upstream further and provide minerals the body needs in order to produce collagen, detox the body, and heal an incredible amount of other things, which may even be at the ROOT of why you feel you need collagen in the first place, oh and silica also repels parasites, btw.

I would like to share my own results from my Oligoscans, just four months apart, and only ONE month after starting DE. Oligoscan uses spectrophotometry to measure tissue storage (aka - intracellular) of minerals, some vitamins and heavy metals. I had been using gobs of supplements and TONS of magnesium for YEARS before starting DE…my Oligoscan results never reached the green zone for certain minerals until I reduced my magnesium slightly (I cut out most of my other supplements two weeks prior to the Jan 19th scan) and added in DE, which I titrated up to somewhere around 1.5-2 tablespoons per day, at this point in testing. I have read that the optimal maintenance dose is 2 tablespoons per 100 pounds, but that deficient mineral repletion requires double that dose. I am about 114lbs. These results were quite literally mind blowing.

The other thing I noticed in scanning myself and others, is that fluoride starts detoxing, even hidden fluoride can start showing up on scans, because silica and boron are needed to detox fluoride and every.one. I have scanned has low silica. Silica also detoxes aluminum and guess what is highest in everyone I scan? You’re so smart!

So here are my reports. They are side by side so you can see how drastically different many of the results are. I went from an all-low presentation to a more balanced presentation. A good Oligoscan looks like a DNA helix in green.Because the minerals are absolutely essential to the detoxification process, especially silica, zinc and sulphur, if we are deficient in these, we will be high in heavy metals.

And here you can see the almost startling results of my husband’s fluoride when he began using DE. He hasn’t gotten up to his ideal dose yet, but wow, we never saw that outrageous level of fluoride until his silica went up more from the DE. That means storage from his brain, pineal gland and bones was being released into his peripheral tissue. It also wasn’t until he saw these results, that he began listening to me about not drinking water at restaurants when he’s traveling, which is weekly. I’m sure the showers at hotels isn’t helping, but if you can reduce any incoming toxin, you should.

It is very important to start low, and very slowly titrate DE up to the doses recommended above, because it will initiate detoxification, as well as helping balance out the microbiome and there can be uncomfortable symptoms associated with both. I recommend joining this FB page to learn more about DE use.

I also recommend finding an Oligoscan practitioner near you by requesting that info at TheOligoscan.com. It is a painless, and very quick scan of the palm using a hand-held spectrophotometer. Children as young as 2 years old with a minimum height (2’4”) and weight (23lbs) can have this done. You will also need to know the person’s blood type, in order to have the scan completed.

If you are in the Eastern PA area, I can do the Oligoscan for you, just reach out to me via the contact form below.