Collagen supplements and Breast Cancer

Hello @anjalima. For women who have hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, they should generally try to avoid long duration of supplements that can interact.

I found this Mayo Clinic Minute that may be helpful as you start to explore this topic.
- Mayo Clinic Minute: Are supplements safe for cancer patients?: https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-minute-are-supplements-safe-for-cancer-patients/

Have you asked your doctor for his/her specific recommendation given your diagnosis?

Thank you.

I was referred to a medical website that referenced “ herbal remedies “ but collagen was not on the list.

I’m looking into ways to preemptively protect my bones while on AI.

Thank you for this reference. 🌸

You’re welcome 😊

I have been researching this topic - wondering if any of our wise minds here have anything to offer about collagen peptides.

Admittedly researchers are still unsure exactly how BC metastasizes - although they have many observations. One is that the cancer cells crawl along collagen fibers and spread from collagen fiber to collagen fiber, thus infiltrating different areas of the body. This is probably why it is recommended to stay away from collagen supplements. Cancer cells can also wrap themselves in collagen fibers to hide and survive treatments. And yet other studies suggest collagen may be beneficial.

Having said all of this, something doesn't make sense to me. When we consume collagen supplements, we are not eating collagen fibers that later migrate to find themselves arranged into breast tissue or elsewhere. We are simply consuming the nutrients necessary to enable our bodies to rearrange them into protein molecules for use throughout the body. We are simply consuming more protein - which in turn causes us to create more collagen everywhere in the body.

Collagen holds the body together and gives us better joints, muscles, skin, etc. (Or - protein holds the body together - same thing.) Would it not follow, then (according to the anti-collagen theory), that we should limit protein so that we have just enough to hold the body together, but not enough "extra" to make collagen fibers available to the cancer? Would that really make any sense? Am I missing something here?

Also, I would think that some women have dense breasts more in response to their hormones than to protein consumption.

Why do collagen supplements get the bad rap - and not protein in general?

Thank you in advance for any comments!