collagen, gelatin, gelling, and mineral absorption

[Guest guest]

Since gelatin is the denatured form of collagen, it seems odd that the

gelatin in soup could be destroyed by excessive cooking. I suppose some of it

could

get hydrolyzed, but I wonder about the significance. I didn't know gelatin

was inherently denatured until recently, and I asked my A & P professor about the

question soup stock that doesn't gel, and if it could be from overcooking it,

and he said the same thing, that since gelatin is already denatured, he would

guess it would be a matter of concentration.

That still leaves the question unanswered of why the amount of

collagen-containing animal parts doesn't seem to correlate well. I think

said his

cooking time does, but I've never noticed a correlation with each (haven't

systematically tested for one either).

Mike recently mentioned that gelatin increases the absorption of

minerals. I just read in my A & P book that it used to be thought that bone

mineralization occurred when there was sufficient dietary minerals, but it is

now

known that mineralization cannot occur in the absence of collagen fibers

(undenatured gelatin). Dietary gelatin probably stimulates collagen production

by

increasing the amount of the specific amino acids necessary for its synthesis.

Chris