I have a high powered blender. I try to get the fiber and the probiotics at the same time. Fruits and vegetables have probiotics inside the flesh, not just on the skin. The science is less clear on supplements. [1]
What’s the point of eating collagen when you’re already eating protein powder? Why do you think your gut would process it differently from any other protein?
Collagen is made out of mainly 3 amino acids:(hydroxy)proline, lysine, and glycine. So in theory collagen powder is giving you very high levels of those specific amino acids which would help promote collagen formation. I can’t say I’m familiar with the literature and if there is any data behind that - but thats your reason
I've tried collagen powder before, because it's very easy to take since it easily dissolves in drinks (and I think actually improves them), and I think it made my hair and nails grow faster but didn't do much else.
As mentioned by the other buy, something like whey powder or meat will have a very different amino acid profile compared to collagen. Like fatty acids and carbohydrates, amino acids get lumped together as a group, but they all have very different effects in the body (including competition).
Most people don't need to care, but amino acid balance can sometimes be a significant factor to health issues because of all the interactions involved, especially if intake has been tilted by a particular way of eating. It's reasonable to balance out whey protein with collagen.
Honestly the topic is so convoluted that with my current grasp of if, I can't currently make a useful or broadly applicable statement beyond "some people find collagen or glycine supplementation beneficial for their X". Individual trial and error basically, much like neurotransmitter affecting medication.
Be sure to check the timeframes involved. Creatine is a naturally produced in your body, and you also get some from diet. Your body reaches saturation at a rate that varies by person. Some people will see near to 0 benefit from creatine as their body is already producing a near maximal amount of it. But even for those with low creatine levels, a brief loading phase (of ~25g a day for a week) and then 5g a day maintenance will generally see them at peak levels.
There's probably minimal risk of meaningful damage going overboard for a healthy person, but large doses can cause stomach issues for some people, and it seems unlikely to provide benefit beyond going beyond complete saturation. It looks like, of the studies you showed, the only one where they went for a large dosing for a long period of time was when experimenting with it on children with traumatic brain injuries. That's probably because the risk:reward skewed heavily towards reward there.
The 0 one is a meta study. It goes deeper into Huntington's 30g, Parkinson’s, elderly with cognitive decline, and supplementing for help with memory related tasks. I didn’t dive deep into all either because I saw what applied to me and decided to see the results.
I think dividing the dosages throughout the day would help offset the stomach issues some and there have been 5 year long studies showing creatine doesn’t have any major risks with 5-7% people experiencing GI issues during loading phases.
For those that don't know, if you aren't used to creatine then taking more than a few grams has a good possibility of giving you the shits (or sometimes even strong abdominal discomfort). This will (mostly) go away fairly quickly and varies drastically from person to person, but you've been warned. Best to take it on a weekend or something, and slowly build up to your max dose.
The effect is pronounced if taken with only water, all at once.
Instead you can take it throughout the day be adding it to your water bottle. Taking it with meals also typically subdues the effect.
The effect I suppose is comparable to something like magnesium citrate. I suspect they are doing similar things osmotically.
You don't need more than 3-5g per day (about 15mg per pound of body-weight) to see the maximal effects. There is a loading period where you take 2-4 weeks to saturate, many take an increased dose to get there faster but if you're going to be doing this consistently, after a month of daily usage 3-5g is all you need.
I was able to cease taking a gut motility drug (prucalopride) which I also had to combine with a fiber supplement to get manageable bowel movements (which is to say: no bloating, cramping and other non-specific pain most weeks).
I still have issues from time to time, but I'm now also off the fiber supplements entirely as well (some dietary changes probably helped there as well - I cut out almost all sugar).
To explain the change: I had weeks where I'd have to take 2-3 movicol satchets a day to try and alleviate the pain: after about 3 months.
Ruteri is a patented strain that secretes a protein which helps other good bacteria colonies your gut. That plus a more complete probiotic plus another product Candex can really help your gut biome. Candex is enzymes that dissolve yeasts, which have become a big gut health issue over the last 80 years. Two major brands of probiotics are primadophilus, who have ones with Reuteri and another Jarro-dophilus, which is a collection claimed to reduce putrative bacteria. Finally the ancient Japanese super food Miso prepared at temperatures which keep it alive help colonize with a biome that digests all vegetable protein nearly fully.
Probiotics are fiber or long sugars which yeasts can't digest. The big issue nowadays is yeasts and leaky gut. The herbicide Roundup is suspected as a cause of leaky gut syndrome. Avoiding non organic wheat and non organic oats can help while you heal. Going to spelt bread or at least organic can help the gut heal. Using other grains like rice and others can help. Unless diagnosed as gluten intolerant or actually having Celiac disease skip the gluten free breads just avoid non organic wheat & non organic oats while you heal. Once your gut heals you can slowly relax those restrictions.
Sorry half personal experience and other half from nutrition business journal. Final tip, be careful with bagged salad mix especially at restaurants. Redleaf lettuce is high in nutrients but yeasts love that. Next time you're near that stuff look closely at any breaks in the leaves, if you see dark especially black avoid. The dietary suggestions from my earlier comment helped me recover from painful hives from boarder line lupus. Totally recovered and still eat white bread sometimes, but more spelt bread, rice and pasta.
I think probiotic foods (i.e. insoluble fiber) are about as good as probiotic ones if you're already good and looking to stay on track. Start slow though, shocking the system with fiber can be problematic.
I am in no way an expert and only have experiments on myself to go off, but I've been experimenting on this particular question for a decade or so my anecdata might be thicker than average.
Probiotics to recover from antibiotics, prebiotics to maintain.
