Most people don’t know this about collagen

In this episode of the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, Jeff Sarris and Jill Harris discuss the popular topic of collagen, its benefits, and its potential risks, especially for kidney stone formers. They explore the misconceptions surrounding collagen’s effectiveness in reducing wrinkles and improving skin health, while emphasizing the importance of consulting healthcare professionals before using such products. Jill provides insights into how collagen can affect kidney stone formation and offers alternatives for those concerned about aging and skin health.

Takeaways

• Collagen is popular for skin hydration and elasticity.
• Many people, especially women, seek collagen for anti-aging.
• Collagen does not eliminate wrinkles; a facelift is necessary for that.
• Hydroxyproline in collagen can increase urine oxalate levels.
• Kidney stone formers should avoid collagen supplements.
• Diet and lifestyle changes can lead to different types of kidney stones.
• Consulting a dermatologist is crucial for skin care advice.
• Self-esteem can be affected by aging and appearance.
• There are many alternatives to collagen for skin health.
• The podcast aims to help listeners live better lives.

00:00 The Truth About Collagen
06:44 Collagen and Kidney Stones: A Cautionary Tale

Jeff Sarris (00:00)
Most people don’t know this about collagen. It’s the protein powder of choice for everyone—the celebrities, the athletes, everyone who wants to be radiant and glowing. But what do they not know about this?

Jill (00:11)
Yeah, this is asked daily on the Facebook page and I get a lot of emails on this too. So collagen—as we get older, we get wrinkles. I got lots of them. I call them my laugh lines. Look, there’s things I care about. I don’t care about wrinkles and stuff. I really don’t. I walk around in hoodies and in my pajamas. I’m not, I don’t care. But I’m weird.

Most people do, and primarily women are looking into these products. Collagen is known to plump up your skin a little bit more, give it more hydration, more elasticity, and it can reduce your wrinkles a little bit. Now, the science says—so a meta-analysis, this means they took a bunch of studies—from those studies, all these little studies, they came up with: yeah, if you’re taking collagen for over 90 days, it shows a little bit of improvement in skin hydration, elasticity, and a little reduction in wrinkles.

Are we getting rid of wrinkles, ladies? That’s not happening with collagen, no matter what super influencer on social media has said. You’re not going to lose your wrinkles unless you get a facelift. Can it help? It will help a little bit.

Here’s the problem with it though for kidney stone formers. Collagen has this thing—let me try to say it. I always have a hard time with it. Hydroxyproline. So that’s an amino acid and it’s found in collagen. When we eat it or when we drink it, like in these powders and stuff, it breaks down into glyoxylate, and then from that, the liver produces more oxalate because of this. So collagen contains hydroxyproline, and that breaks down in your body and can increase your urine oxalate. For stone formers, it’s not advised.

Now, some people will say, “Well, I make calcium phosphate stones. What do I care about oxalate?” And listen, I’m getting a little woozy with this one. I’ll tell you why. I have a lot of doctors tell patients, “You don’t have an oxalate problem. You make calcium phosphate stones.” But if you go and start eating a bunch of almonds and spinach, you can convert right over to calcium oxalate stones. At the very least, make a mixed stone of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate. That’s very common, by the way.

A lot of stone analysis patients will say, “Well, my doctor said it’s calcium oxalate.” Meanwhile, there’s some things on their urine collection where I’m like, “I bet it’s calcium phosphate too.” But because the larger percentage of the stone is calcium oxalate, the doctor just says it’s a calcium oxalate stone. But it can definitely be like 70% calcium oxalate, 30% calcium phosphate.

My point is, folks, you may make one stone today based upon diet and lifestyle habits, but if you change them and do other things, you can go over to another stone former type. Maybe you’re doing low carb and you make uric acid stones. You fix that and you start bringing in some of the grains that have higher oxalate and spinach, and now you’re gonna make a calcium oxalate stone. So you can make different types of stones. I’m just putting that out there.

So the bottom line for me: for most people who are not stone formers, this isn’t going to make them all of a sudden turn into a stone former. But for somebody who is known as a kidney stone former, I would not be using collagen. I always tell patients, no. Use some creams maybe, do whatever you got to do, talk to your dermatologist.

Like I said, I think it’s really important. I am not against you using these potions and whatever you’re trying to do to look younger. I think that’s important for some people. They feel less confident, their self-esteem is lower. It makes them feel better to look younger and that’s absolutely fine for them, but they do have to find another way. So I want to make sure I’m very clear on this. I am a huge proponent of people doing things that make them feel better in the world so they can show up happier, stronger, confident. That’s so important and it’s so easy to be knocked down and just have your worth lowered. It just happens, right?

So if seeing your wrinkles fail makes you feel better—and I want to be clear, collagen’s not taking away wrinkles. It’s not, okay? And the science is very shady on nails and hair too. There is a placebo effect. A lot of people think they look 12, 13 years younger after they take a couple hits and that’s really not going on. But again, they feel better doing it.

But for kidney stone formers, I’m going to say, please don’t. There’s no reason why you should. There’s other things you could be using. I would go to your dermatologist and see what there is that don’t have collagen in them. There’s so many potions and stuff the dermatologist has. And I know you want to go to Marshall’s and just pick something off the shelf real fast, but I really do think when we’re putting things in our body as far as supplements—because that’s what these things are—we really should consult our doctor.

So if you want to firm up your skin, if you want to try to make your wrinkles a little lighter in your face, whatever it is that’s going to make you feel better about yourself, I would consult a dermatologist. Collagen for kidney stone formers, it would be a no. I’m sorry to say, and I know that makes a lot of people feel sad. But my job is to keep you stone free. And so that’s my take on collagen.

Jeff Sarris (07:19)
Yeah. And just like the tag on the show, it’s to live a better life. So it’s understandable if you want to feel better about yourself, but this is just one little nugget, one little thing that most people aren’t talking about.

Jill (07:24)
And it’s something that people really do a lot of, Jeff. I mean, all the time people are really seeking out collagen and collagen-based products. And I see a lot of social media influencers always touting that. And again, they’re appealing to specifically women who feel less than, and that always breaks my heart. Just talk to your dermatologist if you’re wanting to use some anti-aging kind of products, right?

Jeff Sarris (07:37)
Absolutely. And if you want to dive into all the kidney stone prevention goals of the Kidney Stone Diet, you can go to kidneystonediet.com. And you can also sign up for Jill’s weekly email. It’ll come right to your inbox, usually on Saturdays. That’ll keep you on track. But I think with that we’ll wrap and we’ll see you next week.

Jill (08:21)
Have a great week everybody. Thank you.