Pig's Feet Bars & Turtle Blood: A New Beauty Trend?
First came the Organic Eateries, then the Oxygen Bars, but Pig’s Feet Bars?? If pig’s feet are the answer to our beauty prayers, I believe the Southerners would all be immortal by now. Trust me, I know…I’m from the south. They eat pig’s feet down there like Californians pay taxes—nonstop.
If this is the new trend, count me out. Have you seen pig’s feet in the grocery store? They’re cheap, they’re ugly and they don’t look at all appetizing to me. There is already an existing restaurant which serves a lot of pig’s feet dishes. The New York restaurant, Hakata Tonton, opened at the end of 2007 and offers tasting menus centered around pig digits. I hope this doesn’t catch on in L.A. I can imagine all of the Kokoros, Pink Berries and Sprinkles going out of business only to be replaced by ‘Divine Swine’, or the uber trendy, ‘Joli Porc’. Lines will be hours long and the red velvet ropes will be tended by muscle-bound actor-wannabes with token tattoos on their biceps. Paris will show up for the boneless, glazed pork toe mini-wraps and the paparazzi will go wild. It’s unthinkable.
Not only are pig’s feet ending up on the table, turtles (terrapin) are slowly crawling their way into American menus as well. These soft-shelled turtles, called “Suppon” in Japan, are said to enhance beauty and sexual performance. Suppon Soups and Salads, Suppon [blood] Sake are becoming very popular in other markets. Being from New Orleans, I have had a bit of turtle myself. Not the soft-shelled Suppon, but various turtle dishes abound where I come from so you are likely to have it thrown into gumbos and ‘dirty rice’ just as much as one would come across alligator meat (which I like). Although I don’t recall ever having eating pig’s feet, I have eaten more than my share of pig skin in the form of ‘Cracklins’. The real kind, not the kind you find in the potato chip isle. However, they are still fried and dripping with oil and I can’t imagine the collagen structure being present anymore. I truly can’t fathom getting anything more out of this Cajun delight than it going straight to your thighs.
But does consuming pig’s feet and turtle meat work to your beauty benefit? Do they really saturate your body with usable collagen that can give you the skin of Venus? Japanese women have been reported to take collagen supplements. Now, I have used the collagen supplements heralded by beauty mavens everywhere. I saw no discernible difference in my skin. As far as Collagen Drinks, I have tried Toki Collagen drink powders and saw no visible improvement in my skin. But others swear by it. The sad fact is, we’re going to age whether we like it or not. Short of telomere therapy, we can’t stop the ends of our DNA chains from shredding and betraying us into wrinkled and diseased oblivion. But even the use of Telomerase isn’t available to us right now. So we clutch our collagen pills and creams and gaze into the mirror with hope.
Am I willing to scarf down pig toes? Well, that depends. If it works, I very well may. But someone better hand me some hard, scientific evidence before I pick up my fork and go hogwild. I can’t imagine the skin of pigs and similar porcine products being a superfood, so off I went to separate the ‘fat’ from the fiction.
It has been long recommended by grandmother’s everywhere to eat your Jell-O for great hair, skin and nails. I have tried it. Heck, I actually LIKE Jell-O. But I never see a difference in my skin, hair, or nails. Although proclaimed as a super-protein, gelatin is reportedly an incomplete protein which contains little or no amino acids that your body cannot already make on its own. Interestingly body builders often use products which contain hydrolyzed collagen or collagen hydrolysate to help them product more muscle mass. However, according to many medical doctors, Gelatin has no real nutritional value. But it sure tastes good when you add sugar and artificial flavoring to it and add a dollop of Cool-whip.
As far as the pig’s feet and turtle meat? Before I made a hog of myself, I did a little research on what the nutritional values were. Obviously the turtle meat has more in it than either of the other two. Honestly, I feel a diet rich in anti-oxidants, plenty of water, exercise and a good sunscreen would do you more good than the below options.
- Turtle meat contains about 218 calories, 9 g of fat and 32.5 g of protein per 1 cup (cooked). Its daily nutritional values are: Vitamin A 10%, Vitamin B-6 9%,, Vitamin B-12 25%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 20%, Copper 20%, Vitamin D 0%, Vitamin E 5%, Folate 5%, Iron 13%, Magnesium 8%, Niacin 9%, Phosphorus 30%, Riboflavin 22%, Thiamin 9%, and Zinc 11%.
- Pig’s Feet (not pickled) contains about 150.6 calories, 9.6 g of fat, and 14.9 g of protein per 1 cup (cooked). It’s daily nutritional values are: Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin B-6 3%,, Vitamin B-12 2%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 4%, Copper 2%, Vitamin D 0%, Vitamin E 0%, Folate 0%, Iron 2%, Magnesium 1%, Niacin 2%, Phosphorus 4%, Riboflavin 2%, Thiamin 0%, and Zinc 6%.
- Gelatin Powder (sweetened with low calorie sweetener) contains about 17.8 calories, 0 g fat, 2.85 g [incomplete] protein per 1 cup, prepared. It’s daily nutritional values are: Vitamin A 0%, Vitamin B-6 0%,, Vitamin B-12 0%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 0%, Copper 3%, Vitamin D 0%, Vitamin E 0%, Folate 0%, Iron 0%, Magnesium 0%, Niacin 0%, Phosphorus 7%, Riboflavin 0%, Thiamin 0%, and Zinc 0%.
All I can add is that if you want to find out if something works for you, ask your doctor first and if he/she says go for it, well go for it. Just be sure take before and after photos, Macro close-ups if you can. The proof is in the pudding and if you can’t see it working for you, how do you know it’s working short of histological studies? I am not totally knocking it, just leery of yet another beauty trend which doesn’t have the science to back it up, nor the knowledge of its long-term effects. Especially one that has me dining on the feet of an animal which cannot sweat. I don’t dig on swine.
If anyone has any comments on the use of collagen supplements and drinks, pig’s feet, or turtle meat/blood, please post about it. I know wishful thinking can have us all convinced, especially when we’re using several products at once and aren’t sure which is working to our benefit. But if it works, don’t think I won’t be among the first to get out my credit card,out. I am a sucker for maintaining my skin, ‘As Seen On TV’ products, kitchen gadgets, and checkout stand impulse buys. Let me know what worked for you! Have VISA, will travel.
Photo Credit: Barry Holubeck; “Feeding Pig-Pig in Switzerland was a daily ritual before watching the BASE jumpers step off La Mousse.”
Marianne
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Suppon really works, not just as a beauty product or for energy and immunity and increased stamina, but even as a cure for fever, coughs, colds, etc. The only catch is where to get the "real stuff", those grown in high quality under very controlled farm conditions, and capsuled as supplements (given it's not practical to go out and eat a turtle every day.) I use suppon supplements as part of my regular regimen in lieu of prescriptions drugs.It's a little known secret only to a persistent few who looks for it.