Gelatin

Gelatin is cooked collagen: the protein of skin, bone and tendon, dried to a powder. It is a third glycine by weight, which is the amino acid muscle meat is poorest in and the one the body uses to make bile, glutathione and the sleep-promoting signal in the brainstem.

A diet heavy in steak, chicken and eggs without any skin, bone or broth is a diet short of glycine. Gelatin is the cheap fix and bone broth is the slow one.

  • Daily, with meat-heavy days
  • 1 recipe
  • Connective tissue
  • Updated Sep 2026

What it supplies

Nutrient · per 100 g dry powder (a tablespoon is about 7 g) Amount % DV Relative amount
Protein 86 g 172%
Glycine ~19 g 0%
Proline ~12 g 0%
Hydroxyproline ~10 g 0%
Fat 0.1 g 0%

Source: USDA FoodData Central.Percent Daily Values are based on adult reference intakes. The bars stop at 100%; the numbers do not.

Why it works

Muscle meat is rich in methionine and tryptophan and poor in glycine; eating a lot of it without glycine tilts the amino-acid balance in a direction that, in animals, shortens life and, in people, raises homocysteine. Glycine is the counterweight, and traditional cooking supplied it through broth, skin and gristle.

Glycine also calms the nervous system at night — 3 g before bed improves sleep quality in trials — and feeds the gut lining, which is why gelatin sits in the digestion cluster.

How much, how often

  • 1–2 tbsp

    Daily, with meat-heavy days

    Balances the methionine in muscle meat with glycine.

  • 1 tbsp

    Before bed

    About 1.5 g glycine; 3 g is the dose shown to improve sleep quality.

How to buy and prepare it

Beef gelatin from grass-fed cattle, unflavoured. Gelatin sets liquids; collagen peptides (hydrolysed collagen) dissolve in cold liquid and do not set — same amino acids, different behaviour. Buy gelatin for custards and gummies, peptides for coffee.

Avoid flavoured jelly powders; they are mostly sugar and colour.

Bloom it first: sprinkle over cold water, wait five minutes, then dissolve in hot liquid. One tablespoon sets two cups of liquid softly. Stir a tablespoon into broth, custard or warm milk; make fruit-juice gummies; or take a spoon of peptides in coffee.

Dry, sealed, room temperature; it keeps for years. Set gelatin dishes keep four or five days in the fridge.

Recipes that use it

In these guides

Questions

Gelatin or collagen peptides?
Same amino acids. Gelatin sets and is cheaper; peptides dissolve cold and are convenient. Use whichever you will actually take.
How much a day?
One to two tablespoons, or 5–10 g of glycine, roughly balances the methionine in a normal meat intake. A tablespoon before bed is the sleep dose.
Does it build collagen in skin or joints?
Trials show modest improvement in skin elasticity and joint comfort at 10 g a day over months. The stronger case is the glycine itself, which the whole body uses.