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Is Collagen Type II A Cure For Arthritis and Heart Disease? |
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Is Collagen Type II A Cure For Arthritis And Heart Disease?By Dr. Alex Duarte, O.D., Ph.D. *
Collagen Type II and Arthritis
According
to the latest statistics, 50 million Americans suffer from some form of
arthritis, either rheumatoid or osteoarthritis, as well as a variety of
other arthritic conditions. All forms of arthritis share the common
symptoms of severe pain, loss of range of motion, and a diminished
quality of life. Add to this the fact that the number one killer in our
country today is still cardiovascular disease, and you have all of the
conditions necessary for a plethora of pharmaceutical and natural
medicines designed to reduce the severity of these diseases. Could it
be that one nutritional medicine called collagen type II can ameliorate
both disorders in an effective way? Safety also becomes an issue.
Currently modern medicines, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories
(NSAIDS), can cause occult bleeding, ulcers and even life threatening
side effects. Other approaches include natural medicines such as fish
liver oil, DI phenyalanine and shark cartilage. It may turn out that
the natural components of cartilage hold the greatest promise of
ameliorating both arthritis and heart disease.
I became
interested in collagen type II as a treatment for arthritis and heart
disease while researching cartilage and writing my book, "Jaws for
Life, the Story of Shark Cartilage." In my research, I discovered the
medicinally effective ingredient in cartilage is really due to the
collagen type II fraction. We know that cartilage is composed of four
or five different kinds of collagen. There are 14 different kinds of
collagen altogether, but the primary collagen, the most predominant
one, the most medicinal collagen, is collagen type II. If collagen type
II is derived from chicken sternal cartilage, from chicks six to eight
weeks old, it contains the greatest number of anti-inflammatory and
joint supporting proteoglycans. These proteoglycans include glucosamine
sulfate which has over 30 years of double-blind, placebo-controlled
studies indicating that it actually helps to rebuild the cartilage in
arthritis joints. We also know that it contains a high concentration of
chondroitin sulfate A, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory and also
supports the joint tissue. Once again, if the product is derived from
chicken sternal cartilage, these two components are in highest
concentration compared to any other cartilage source. In addition to
these, collagen type II also contains a powerful, newly discovered
antioxidant proteoglycan called cartilage matrix glycoprotein (CMGP),
which can help reduce the oxidative damage to the joint. In addition to
these new discoveries, there are other ingredients in collagen type II
that make it more effective than just taking glucosamine or chondroitin
by themselves.
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