Collagen, Magnesium & Creatine: What Science Really Says | Stacy Sims Explains | Be Well Moments

Are your supplements actually helping you, or just draining your wallet? In this episode, Dr. Stacy Sims breaks down the truth about three of the most popular supplements women buy: collagen, magnesium, and creatine.You’ll learn which type of collagen (if any) really supports joint health, why most collagen powders don’t count toward your daily protein, and the surprising reason women should be cautious with “vegan collagen.” Dr. Sims also explains which form of magnesium actually improves sleep and muscle relaxation — and why so many products don’t deliver results. Finally, she reveals why creatine is one of the most powerful yet overlooked supplements for women, especially in perimenopause, supporting energy, mood, gut health, and performance.

Dr. Stacy Sims

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This episode is sponsored by: NOWATCH: Health tracking reimaginedKnow your body, trust yourself.15% off with code LWBW15 at nowatch.com

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If you enjoyed this episode you might also like:

Dr. Stacy Sims EXPOSES the Myths Hurting Women's Health | Fasting, Protein & Exercise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1uksGzoick

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Live Well Be Well, a show to help high performers
improve their health and well-being.
Talk to me about supplementation.
Should women be supplementing with collagen and if so, why?
One of the reasons. That one's a hard one.

(00:20):
I have to. Chuck in.
A few hard ones I know you have to got to.
OK. So if we look at collagen,
there's things that aren't well known.
We have collagen peptides. We also have native collagen,
which is the whole molecule of the collagen.
If we look at collagen peptides,because they're small bits of
collagen, they're actually absorbed and can go to target

(00:42):
tissue. And we see that there is
evidence that if you're using type 2 collagen, which is joint
specific and you're using peptides, they can actually go
and they can help attenuate the decline of some of the
cartilage. So it does help with joints.
If we look at using native collagen with that native

(01:02):
collagen or the whole collagen molecule is not absorbed, but it
causes an immune response. So then you are getting an
immune response that's telling the body not to attack the
cartilage. So there is evidence to show
that if you're looking at type 2collagen specific to joints that
it can help with reducing the degradation of cartilage.

(01:25):
It's not going to stop it, but it's going to help reduce it.
OK. When we look at the type threes
and ones, which is the most common that's out there, that
doesn't do anything for joints. That's your hair, that's your
nails, that's some of the structural stuff around your
intestines and organs. But it doesn't help with joints,
right? But when you look at most of the

(01:46):
stuff on the on the market and you're seeing things like vital
protein, collagen protein, that's not protein that goes to
our daily intake of protein because collagen does not count
as our daily intake of protein because it's structural.
One of the amino acids, right? Because it's structural and
they're always type 1 and 3. So they're like, yeah, you can

(02:08):
take this supplement and it really benefits your joints and
it accounts for your protein intake.
It's like, no, it doesn't. One, it's the wrong kind of
collagen, and two, it doesn't count for my protein intake.
So do you say don't have collagen?
I if. You do.
You don't have it as your protein intake.
You don't have it as your protein intake, but if you're
someone who has a family historyor has a diagnosis of

(02:30):
osteoarthritis, then it can be beneficial to use type twos.
But you have to be very cognant that you want type 2 peptide and
native OK. And it's hard to find, so you
have to do your due diligence tofind it.
Any good brands? No, I can't say that because
it's global, right? Every country's a little bit

(02:50):
different. OK.
And what about, I mean, I know it's not your area, but on the
beauty side of things, because women are going to want, I think
women buy it for that reason as opposed to the the bone density.
And when you're seeing people using collagen, the type ones
and threes, and yes, they get strong nails, they get lustrous
hair, all those kinds of things.When we look at vegetarian and

(03:10):
vegans and they're not getting collagen and you see this vegan
collagen walk away because there's no such thing as vegan
collagen. There's a collagen booster,
which is copper and zinc and vitamin C.
You can use that. That's going to help your body's
own production, but it's not going to be like ingesting
collagen. 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in this

(03:33):
nutrient that so many of you guys might not be aware of.
And women, if you're listening, you are more at risk of being
deficient in this nutrient. So I'm going to first of all
explain what the physical symptoms are.
If you have cold hands and feet,pale skin, extreme lack of
energy or fatigue then you mightbe suffering with iron
deficiency or anemia. Now First off, please go to your

(03:56):
GP to get your iron levels checked.
Secondly, please explore a good iron supplement.
Many people that come to me are worried about taking iron
supplementation because it can cause Constipation or GI
distress. That's why I'm so incredibly
proud to be partnering for this episode with Spartan, the number

(04:16):
one iron rich water supplement. Now I've personally been using
these for years. The reason why is because they
are naturally sourced, highly absorbable iron.
That means it's much more gentleon your stomach.
There's no harsh tablets, it's just one naturally sourced
ingredient that works very well.You can pick it up in Boots or

(04:37):
buy online at Amazon, but pleasedo not ignore this.
It is really critical to make sure your iron levels are in
check. So the jury's out on collagen,
we think, OK, we think, yes, they're very specific on what
type. And it's not going towards your
protein daily intake, correct? Because there's only one of the
amino acids, correct. OK, magnesium, yes, this is a

(05:00):
big one. Yes, there's lots of types of
magnesium. Yes, this is not talked about at
all. So can you give your outtake on
magnesium? And which one should women be
looking at? Yes.
So there is some data that showsthat magnesium is beneficial for
sleep and this is primarily because of our muscle

(05:21):
contractions, right. So we want to have a relaxation
of everything. So if we have enough magnesium
to support brain and muscle thenyes we can get to sleep.
We need one that crosses blood brain barrier to help and this
is a bicycanate. There's only one.
Yep, isn't there? Yep.
So when you're looking at your magnesium supplement, you don't
want to go for what is it, oxalate?

(05:42):
Because that's a laxative. So you have to be very conscious
that you want to look for a bicycanate or glycanate.
OK, creatine. It's the best thing out there.
I knew you'd say that. OK, how should people be?
Looking at creatine and how muchshould they be taking?
Yeah. So your body naturally produces
around 2 grams a day. If you have a diet that is meat

(06:05):
oriented, then you're also ingesting a lot of creatine that
way. Most women don't eat enough to
actually provide as much as the body actually goes through.
We see there's a change across the menstrual cycle of how your
body uses and regulates creatine.
So we see that there's a increase in creatine kinase,
which is your breakdown in the high hormone phase because

(06:27):
again, progesterone is trying toprovide all the building blocks.
So really having the availability of more creatine
helps with that too. If we're looking at
supplementing with creatine, we want creatine monohydrate.
And I don't get any kind of kickback from this company.
But the company that produces Crea Pure, this is a German B to

(06:51):
B, meaning business to business.Crea Pure is patented and so it
uses a water wash. There's no real side effects
from using it. It it's pure and it's in almost
every high quality creatine monohydrate product that's out
there. So if you're looking at
something that has Crea pure on it, you want to start with 1 to
3G and work your way up to 5g over the course of about 3 to 4

(07:14):
weeks, and that's going to attenuate any possible side
effect. If you're looking at a cheaper
version of creatine monohydrate,it comes as an acid wash because
it's cheaper to produce it through acid, evaporative and
other things in the lab than it is to use a water wash, which is
really specific. And This is why we start to see

(07:36):
a lot of bloating and stomach discomfort and some of the other
side effects that we see. So again, being consumer, be
aware. Be aware.
And a lot of people. Talk about creatine with DOMS,
yeah. Should people be?
Having it a. Specific time.
After they exercise, where should we be consuming it now?
No, because it doesn't have an acute effect.
It takes about 3 weeks for the body to be saturated, so you

(07:59):
need to. That's why.
Yes, yes. And once it's saturated and has
enough, that's when you start tosee the performance effects.
We see that over the course of three to four weeks of
consistently using 3 to 5 grams every day, you get that full
saturation. Muscle works better, brain works
better, guts better, because anything that has a fast

(08:20):
energetic requires creatine. So we see that, you know, the
brain fog starts to be attenuated with creatine use.
We start to see gut issues with women who I go for a run.
I had to find a bathroom every time I go for a run using the
three to 5G over the course of the month.
Then that starts to dissipate aswell because it maintains the

(08:41):
gut integrity of the intestinal cells.
You don't have as much of that separation because now you have
creatine that's going to work inthose energetics to hold it
together. And then also we see from mood
and mood health, creatine is really beneficial for that too.
So actually most. Women are perimenopausal.
They're all women. But I'm just really thinking

(09:03):
about the things, side effects that we were talking about or,
you know, the physical sides that we might see in oneself
when we're perimenopausal. This could be an amazing
supplement. Absolutely, Absolutely.
Gosh, it's interesting how it's not spoken about more.
It's very much speaking in the. Sports domain, I think, but just
general health for women, it's just not spoken about.
Yeah, so Kriya Vitalis and Creatine for Life, Creatine for

(09:25):
Life website has all the stuff that creatine does for health.
And there are a lot of my colleagues in the sports science
and supplement world that also are doing research on creatine
for health. And so all the peer reviewed
studies that you can find are onCreatine for Health website.
Crea Vitalis is a offshoot of Crea Pure that is designed

(09:47):
specifically for health and not bodybuilding.
So it's a lower dose and it's a very high quality protein or
high quality creatine supplementation.
So there's definitely stuff that's coming out and it's a
push to get into the health space for both men and women.
But yeah, it's slow coming. Thanks so much for listening to

(10:08):
hear the full episode. There's a link in the
description.