Collagen Doesn’t Work? ARMRA Founder Explains Why
We’ve heard all about the benefits of taking collagen, but ARMRA founder Sarah Rahal, MD tells Athletech News why colostrum is better
Most health food or general nutrition shops carry collagen products to help hair, skin, and nail growth. In recent years we’ve also been told why collagen supplements should be considered as an everyday part of our health routine, particularly for women. But have we been told the whole, true story about collagen’s benefits and an alternative that provides the same, if not more, powerful nutrients for our bodies?
Dr. Sarah Rahal, who created the colostrum product ARMRA, believes there are a few things we should know about collagen and why you should consider taking colostrum for your dietary supplement needs. First, Dr. Rahal reminds us she gives individuals the knowledge to empower themselves with education she can provide about colostrum and what she knows about collagen. When it comes to the science of both, Dr. Rahal says despite the latter’s popularity and mainstream appeal, there are “zero high-quality research studies that exist showing that collagen supplements are beneficial for skin, hair, and nail health.”
Dr. Rahal adds, “Collagen is a protein supplement. So for people who are using collagen as a protein replacement, it has a place as an ingredient, as a source of protein just like any other protein. In terms of conferring the benefits to hair, skin, and nails that are touted as the reasons to take it… there is no data…there is no data, because collagen is not absorbed into the body as collagen.”
She continues, “When you put collagen into your mouth it goes through your digestive tract and is broken down into individual amino acids, just like any other protein. It is really just a raw ingredient — amino acids. Topical collagen is too large of a molecule to be absorbed into the skin. So all of these topical products, they don’t actually even get absorbed into the body, period. Collagen is not a complete protein. Which means it doesn’t have all of the essential amino acids. It has 8 out of the 9 essential amino acids. So when you take collagen you’re not even getting a complete source of protein.”
So, what makes colostrum different? Well, as Dr. Rahal points out, colostrum is a complete protein — it contains nine out of the nine essential amino acids. You also get colostrum in a single whole food.
“You get regenerative peptides, you get whole food prebiotics, we get antibodies, tissue growth factors, adaptogens, trace minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, bioactive compounds, and these aren’t raw ingredients. These are bioactive nutrients that can’t be found in any other natural source and they were designed to be ingested into the body. All of those ingredients get broken down or amplified into more active ingredients,” she says.
Colostrum is a superfood filled with thousands of bio-active compounds which act like glue to help seal the mucosal barriers inside the body. From the pollutants in our environment to pesticides in our agriculture and harmful chemicals in everyday products, colostrum, such as Dr. Rahal’s ARMRA, helps boost our immune system and protect our inside barriers from the harmful effects of outside germs.
“Colostrum is specifically activating pathways in the body and instructing cellular DNA processes to hone these benefits within your body. Whereas collagen is just a raw ingredient, which it’s important that we have enough raw ingredients, but it’s not specific for the benefits that it touts to confer for skin, hair, and nails,” explains Dr. Rahal.
Overall, the ARMRA founder differentiates colostrum and collagen supplements, saying that the former directly activates our body’s collagen-building pathways, while the latter gives our body protein, the raw ingredient, to build new tissue including collagen.
Like collagen, ARMRA is, as Dr. Rahal states, “meant as a daily product.” “ We live in this world where our barriers are under constant assault, so we need constant repair, regeneration, and support,” she says. Customers of ARMRA colostrum have seen a number of dramatic shifts in energy and hair growth as well as other positive health results. It’s use as a dietary supplement to help fortify our immune systems is thereby different, according to Dr. Rahal, to collagen’s use as a source of protein.
So if you’re thinking about whether to take colostrum, collagen, or both, know that the choice is truly yours. Fortunately, Dr. Rahal is dedicated to providing more education to empower those seeking to improve their health.
Dr. Rahal affirms, “People have never even heard of colostrum before. [What I’ve done is founding ARMRA} is similar to what Vital Proteins did with collagen — to introduce an ingredient to the market and shape the consumer expectations around what that product is, the knowledge for the consumer around what the science is, and how this is going to be beneficial. We take that responsibility very seriously.”
“That has been at the heart and my guiding principle for everything that I have done in building out this brand.”
