Colladeen and Omega 3

[charlesdb]

I saw my Hoeopathic physician - who is also a qualified Doctor - who told me that she is on a committee researching Hypermobility in conjunction with a London hospital. It was encouraging to hear that knowledge is spreading. She suggested I tried Colladeen and Omega 3 to help elasticity and strength. Colladeen is made by Lamberts and contains anthocyanadins(from grapefruit seed) and bilberries and is marketed to help fluid retention - but is also helpful in strengthening the collagen. I wonder if anybody out there knows anything about Colladeen and does it really help?

[EmilyG]

My doctor (who knows a little about HMS because she took the time to look it up when I started seeing her) came across new research on Colladeen a little while ago and suggested I looked into it. Next time I saw her she said she'd looked further into it and decided it probably wasn't going to be beneficial for me. As with other such supplements, she said that because HMS causes a faulty template for collagen, as it were, a substance trying to 'build up' and 'strengthen' collagen wouldn't work, because it has the incorrect base. I hope this makes some sort of sense!

[Finarda]

To continue the house building metaphor, in reality we also produce the plans to take the building blocks and mortar and create them into walls and then to take the walls and build the house so there are many stages where the plan could be faulty. Take for example we make the mortar incorrectly so the bricks don't stick together properly but Colladeen may actually provide the mortar so that although our plans are faulty for making mortar, the overall house blueprint may be OK and therefore you could potentially build a successful house if only one of the materials is built somewhere else.

OK, that was totally confusing! But the point is we don't know where the faulty genes are or what they do. It's entirely possible that we actually incorrectly take a nutrient and fail to convert it into one of the larger molecules that are used to make collagen. Perhaps the nutritional supplement actually provides that intermediate molecule.

Think of pernicious anemia. While not genetic and actually autoimmune, the body attacks the B12 that is digested so most people get injections so that it bypasses the gut. However, studies have shown that digesting huge amounts of B12 (about the equivalent of 2 bottles of B12 tablets) will also work as the body only attacks so much B12 and actually continues to allow a certain percentage to be absorbed.

Caveat, I'm totally making this up and I don't know how collagen is made and whether there are intermediary molecules (there often are in biology) but I just want to challenge many people's beliefs and give examples of cases where providing external sources of a molecule, or large quantitiies of a molecule CAN actually be useful.

Fiona (technically I have a degree in biology but I haven't used it since I graduated many, many years ago!)

[Finarda]

Ooops, yes, I deleted a few words and forgot to add them back in - I should have said that "the body attacks the gastric parietal cells and/or the intrinsic factor that helps absorb the B12 that is digested". Megadosing can actually work in PA but from what I remember it wasn't clinically recommended (and the studies I read class megadosing as using huge amounts of supplements - you'd never be able to megadose on food). My uncle has PA and I have low B12 frequently hence why I had done some research on it a few years back.

My other point isn't really about PA just using it as an approximate example. In PA, there are various ways and degrees that it can happen so we shouldn't totally discount nutritional supplementing for HMS/HEDS (and again, I'm talking about getting the nutrients via supplements not just food). I don't know if any of what I'm saying is actually the case, but the most relevant point is that neither does anyone else since we don't know how HEDS or HMS actually works on a genetic or molecular level and I always cringe when I see the natural reaction (which even I have) that nutritional supplements won't work.

Fiona

[Jaws]

Hi Charles

I have been taking Colladeen for about a month, having spotted a recent magazine article where a naturopath (or was it 'nutritionist'?) advised an EDS sufferer to take them, along with some other supplements. He mainly felt that it would help with her blood vessel related symptoms and bruising. This certainly seems to be the suggestion in the leaflet accompanying the product that comes inside the box. It is supposed to help with water retention and other symptoms too. I thought I'd give it a go, although too early to say yet whether it is helping. I thought such a powerful antioxidant would help keep my youthful looks even if it does nothing for the EDS!

Warning - it is not cheap. Interestingly Lamberts @ Nature's Best sell their own product at a pound or two more than I managed to find it elsewhere on the net! Expect to pay about £13-£15 a box. The recommended dose is //// for the first month or two, reducing to //// thereafter.

I hope this is helpful.

Mod edit - dosage removed, please read site rules