Experience: Gelatin vs. Collagen vs. Glycine
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I wanted to share this here since it has been very helpful for me, and it turns out Ray Peat was right again:
"Despite research that clearly showed that adults assimilate whole proteins more effectively than free amino acids, much of the public has been led to believe that predigested hydrolized protein and manufactured free amino acids are more easily assimilated than real proteins"
Glycine: I started out taking pure glycine but had odd GABA-ergic reactions (shortness of breath, strong drowsiness) which likely were the result of either manufacturing impurities or amino acid imbalance. I don't know, but it was annoying/unnerving so i quit.
Collagen: Kept trying out different collagen brands, went through about 4 but always got some strange histamine or allergic reaction (of varying degrees depending on brand). Hives, sneezing. Then I read about how collagen is produced: bacterial or fungal enzyme processes which "hydrolyse" it in various unpredictable ways, creating contaminants not existing in nature.
Gelatin: Finally switched to grass fed beef gelatin, and started making orange juice jello every day. Basically dissolving it in water and then heated orange juice. No allergic reactions, no weird breathing reactions, just stress reduction and improved sleep as seen with glycine.