Extraordinary Health Magazine EHMagazine Vol 37 | Page 46
DOES A BODY GOOD
by Dawn Thorpe Jarvis, Sr. Director of Nutrition Science & Educational Content
We offer three products: Collagen Peptides, Collagen Beauty and Collagen Turmeric,
all from traceable sources with third-party certifications.
Collagen makes up 30% of the body’s protein; it gives structure to very important
tissues such as skin, muscles, bone, hair, tendons and cartilage. As we age, the body’s
ability to make collagen diminishes significantly starting at around age 30. This new
line is designed to bring clean, high quality, absorbable collagen to consumers, for
skin elasticity, strong hair and nails and for joint support and mobility. †
Recently we have seen a tremendous demand for collagen products and there are
various options available. So, let’s start with: what’s the difference between Collagen,
Bone Broth and Collagen Peptides?
Collagen is a very large protein; it consists of three very long chains of amino acids.
These chains are made up of 18 different amino acids including three important ones
called Proline, Hydroxyproline and Glutamine. Each collagen molecule has three long
chains wrapped around in a triple helix structure. Because it is such a large molecule,
the body needs to break it down in order to digest it. Bone broth is a partially-digested
form of collagen (made by boiling bones for hours). When collagen is completely
digested, it is in the form of small chains of amino acids called collagen peptides,
which are easily absorbed and are very bioavailable to the body. They travel in the
blood stream to deliver the amino acids to the tissues for building collagen.
GARDEN OF LIFE GRASS FED COLLAGEN
The entire world gets its collagen as byproducts from the meat/beef industry and
hence the supply chain for ethically, humanely-raised, grass-fed beef is very tiny and
the market is full of sketchy claims. Garden of Life has worked very hard to find the
cleanest source of collagen available. For us, this was the most important part of the
process, working with farmers with the same values that we uphold. Healthy cattle
roam free, feeding on Non-GMO grass, being treated humanely and not being treated
with antibiotics and hormones. All of this matters to us.
Where there are extremely large herds of cattle such as in South America, complete
traceability of the animals in the herd is not possible. So, we needed to partner
with smaller farms with more traceable systems before we could bring our
collagen to market. We are sourcing our collagen from Germany where we
worked with smaller farms; we went to Europe because GMOs are not allowed
there and the herds are much smaller and more traceable.
Our entire Collagen line is third-party Certified Paleo Friendly and Certified Keto,
plus NSF Gluten Free. As we worked on building a supply chain for our collagen, we
learned of the challenges of obtaining other third-party certifications for livestock
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(versus plant and dairy). For example,
Non-GMO Project Verification does not have
methods available yet for livestock, although
they are working on them for us. Although
we know that there are no GMOs used for our
cattle and the grass is Non-GMO, we needed
third-party verification to meet our own
standards. Our new Collagen line is tested
by IGEN™ which stands for the International
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
Evaluation and Notification Program. IGEN is
a third-party certification program developed
to test for the presence of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs).
❖ IGEN tests products using direct analysis.
❖ IGEN adheres to ridged European
standards and to receive certification,
a product must contain undetectable
amounts of GMOs.
❖ IGEN is a fully transparent certifier
with full consumer reports available on
all products tested.
The first collagen product we produced is
Grass Fed Collagen Peptides which offers
an easy way to add highly absorbable collagen
peptides to your daily diet. Although there
are sixteen different types of collagen found
throughout the body, there are only three
main types (Type I, II & III) that make up
around 90% of all the collagen in our body.
Type I makes up about 80% of that 90%.
For this reason, our Collagen Peptides are
made with Types I & III collagen.