Bone broth is created by slowly cooking animal bones and connective tissues from a healthy animal with aromatic herbs and vegetables and anything acidic over low heat (24 hours or longer). When paired with the acidity, the prolonged boiling period helps extract collagen and all of the vitamins and minerals contained inside the bones, cartilage and marrow, resulting in a far higher nutritious value. The outcome is a broth that may be utilized in various soup recipes or consumed from a cup.
As a result of bone broth’s meteoric rise in popularity as the latest and greatest health craze, the broth has also achieved widespread notoriety as a dish in its own right. People drink warm broths out of mugs, either with or without meals, and pop-up stands selling broth are gaining popularity all across the country, especially in New York City.
Collagen is the short answer to why it is so mending. Most people are only familiar with the phrase as an active component found in various anti-aging creams and lotions. However, collagen is the protein that makes up the greatest proportion of our bodies. You can find it in tendons, skin, blood vessels, muscles and bones. It is also present in the digestive system. In addition to helping replace cells that have died, it contributes to our skin’s firmness and flexibility.
After 25, the amount of collagen that may be found in our bodies starts to decrease gradually. The visible indicators of age, such as wrinkles and hurting joints, can be attributed to this process. So we can thank it for those things. Because of this, it is essential to include collagen (or gelatin) in our diets as we age. It is so that we can make up for what is being lost.
The fact that homemade bone broth is both simple and inexpensive to prepare is one of the many benefits of creating your own. When you are ready to create broth, you may keep the bones and carcasses from any source of meat and store them in a bag suitable for the freezer until you need them. Although any bone will be fine, joints with many ligaments and tendons, such as knuckles and feet, are likely to produce the highest quantity of gelatin. Gelatin is the sticky, thick substance that rises to the top of a good soup. Are you interested in the benefits of bone broth? No need to look any further! You won’t have any problems using Bone Broth.
What Makes It So Healing?
Some numerous healthful nutrients and minerals may be found in bone broth. Some of these nutrients include glucosamine, chondroitin or glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Minerals such as phosphorus, calcium and magnesium can also be found in bone broth. However, gelatin is the most important component of its health benefits, which is noteworthy. Jello is a common name for a substance called gelatin, which has a consistency similar to that of jelly and does not occur in its natural form in green or blue. Muscle meats must be supplemented by gelatin and other non-muscle meats (such as organ meats, skin and bone marrow, for example) to maintain a healthy balance. Methionine is an important amino acid that, when present excessively, will rapidly undergo metabolism to produce homocysteine, a toxic substrate.
Because they contribute to plaque production in the artery walls, high homocysteine levels have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. It has also been linked to an increased likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease. Both methionine and cysteine are necessary for producing proteins since they are essential building blocks. Methionine is a precursor to the amino acid cysteine. Carnitine and S-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e), which perform many metabolic roles, most notably detoxification, require methionine to be synthesized. Methionine is necessary for this process as well. When methionine is digested, part of it becomes homocysteine, contributing to the negative impacts on one’s health. It is where the difficulty starts. Glycine is a different amino acid that you must consume to counteract the effects of homocysteine. The most common places to find glycine are in animal skin and bones, as well as other gelatinous components of the animal (bone broth comes from these places).
What Does The Research Say About Potential Bone Broth Benefits?
Because of the vast list of benefits that are said to come from drinking bone broth, there is an increase in interest in drinking it. But what does scientific research conclude? Is there any truth to the claims made about bone broth?
Claim #1: It’s A Nutritional Goldmine
The “unique” nutritional profile of bone broth has garnered much interest in recent years. The fact that it is high in protein while being low in calories and contains essential minerals like calcium, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium are why people appreciate this cuisine.
The earliest study on bone broth was published in 1937 and looked at the nutritional value of both bone and vegetable broths. Both of these methods were widely used to provide sustenance to infants during that historical period. However, the researchers concluded neither was a particularly good source of nutrition. Nevertheless, the broths that offered the greatest amount of minerals contained the greatest number of vegetables.
Bone broth was the subject of an investigation published in 2017 in the journal Food and Nutrition Research. The investigation concluded that bone broth was not an especially good source of calcium or magnesium.
Although sellers emphasize the mineral content of bone broth, the vegetables employed in the cooking process are more likely to be the source of the beneficial elements than the bones themselves.
Calcium concentrations in bone broth typically range from 0 to 19 mg per cup, and protein amounts typically range from 6 to 9 grams. However, when weighed against other foods that provide these nutrients, it has a relatively low protein level when compared to other foods:
- Collard greens: 1 cup = 150 mg calcium.
- One cup of boiling navy beans contains 126 milligrams of calcium.
- One cup of baked beans has 14 grams of protein.
- Edensoy Original Unsweetened Soymilk has 12 grams of protein per cup.
- Two tablespoons of peanut butter have 7 grams of protein.
Therefore, it may be said that bone broth does include some calcium and protein. However, this is also true of a vast number of other foods.
When raw and cooked, one cup of kale has ten times more calcium than one cup of bone broth. One cup of bone broth has approximately one-third of the amount of protein that one cup of baked beans does. Additionally, most Americans may get excessive protein (at least from animal sources).
Claim #2: It Will Strengthen Bones, Relieve Achy Joints and Keep Skin Youthful
Your body’s primary source of protein is called collagen. It maintains the lining of your intestines and helps to preserve your organs, joints and tendons. It also helps to keep your bones and muscles together. In addition, because it helps the skin retain its flexibility, plastic surgeons recommend it. We have a comprehensive selection of the highest-quality beef bone broth at Bone Broth.
Your body makes collagen, but you won’t produce as much as you once did as you get older. Because of this, most marketing will tell you that drinking bone broth will help your body produce more collagen because it already has collagen.
Unfortunately, there is little data to suggest that consuming collagen has any direct positive effects on the body. The theory that consuming collagen in its full form encourages bone formation is widely discredited amongst medical professionals. It is because the human body cannot absorb collagen naturally. Instead, amino acids are produced when the body breaks down collagen. In conclusion, it’s just another type of protein like any other.
You’ve probably seen someone selling collagen supplements for the health of their skin. However, the collagen found in supplements has been hydrolyzed, which means that it has been broken down to make it more bioavailable to the body. Therefore, it may not be as effective as other methods for reducing the obvious indications of aging, such as wrinkles and cellulite. Because the collagen in bone broth has not been hydrolyzed, consuming it does not have the same physiological impact as consuming hydrolyzed collagen.
Eating a diet high in vegetables with leafy greens is the best approach to assist your body in the production of collagen. So it is because plants provide abundant sources of the phytonutrients required for collagen production in the body.
The following are examples of phytonutrients found in plants:
- Citrus fruits, dark leafy greens, bell peppers, kiwi, berries and broccoli are some foods rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is an effective antioxidant that can help preserve your skin from the inside out as well as the outside in.
- Sunflower seeds, almonds, wheat germ, broccoli and spinach are just some of the foods containing vitamin E. Collagen synthesis can be helped by vitamin E and vitamin C working together.
- Vitamin A is an antioxidant found in various foods, including carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, cantaloupe and apricots.
- Glycine, proline and lysine are three of the amino acids that can be found in dark leafy green vegetables, soy, nuts and seeds, as well as legumes.
- It’s possible that foods high in sulphur, including garlic, onion and other members of the cabbage family, can also encourage collagen creation in the body.
The basic line is that many veggies and other plant foods have the potential to be great partners in the fight to preserve your skin’s youthful appearance, bones’ strength and joints’ health.
Claim #3: It Can Cure Your Cold
When you’ve been sick at some point in your life, you’ve probably comforted yourself with a cup of chicken noodle soup. It’s possible that you even felt better as a result of it.
An older body of study investigated whether or not chicken stock could alleviate the common cold symptoms. In addition, many believe that bone broth has (or ought to have) the same effect.
No research has been published in peer-reviewed medical journals that look at the effects of bone broth and illness. However, a few studies have looked at the effects of chicken soup.
A study published in the year 2000 in the journal Chest discovered that chicken soup could stop white blood cells from migrating, preventing the symptoms of an upper respiratory infection from worsening.
However, it was also discovered that the veggies in the soup had inhibitory effects when it came to fighting infections. The chicken by itself did not have these benefits. The findings led the researchers to the conclusion that chicken soup most likely contained many compounds with therapeutic potential. At Bone Broth, we carry a comprehensive selection of chicken bone broth in various flavours.
Could the goal have been accomplished just as successfully with veggie soup? Or is it more efficient? We don’t have any idea. But, on the other hand, it is not hard to see that the veggies, at the very least, played an essential role.
The second chicken soup study, published in 1978, concluded that warm chicken soup was more effective than cold liquids in treating upper respiratory infections, specifically in terms of reducing the amount of mucous in the nasal passages. It sounds impressive, but it’s very plausible that we could say the same thing about any hot liquid, even vegetable broth. It includes the possibility of saying it about any hot liquid (perhaps even hot water).
Although drinking bone broth could make your stomach feel better, there is little evidence to suggest that it will heal your cold. However, the veggies employed in its preparation may be the source of any immune-enhancing properties that it may have.
Claim #4: It’s Good For Your Gut
Advocates claim Bone broth is beneficial for digestion and can be therapeutic for a condition known as a leaky gut syndrome. A leaky gut syndrome is a condition in which substances can seep from your intestines into your blood. Bone broth can help treat this condition.
They suggest that the gelatin will bind the water in the digestive tract, protecting the lining of your intestines from damage. Although studies demonstrate this potential in rats, this does not necessarily suggest that bone broth has the same effect on humans. But on the other hand, humans have a digestive lining that is quite unlike rats. So it’s possible that doing so could be beneficial. But all that we have right now is a theory about what happened.
What is not a theory is that you can support your gut health by eating a range of fibre-rich plant foods, especially fermented foods, which help to maintain healthy gut flora. It has been extensively proven, so it is not a theory. Check out this post for more information on how you may support your digestive health with foods.
Claim #5: It Can Detoxify Your Liver
Glycine is one of the amino acids that can be found in bone broth. A few studies have been conducted on animals that suggest that glycine supplements may benefit the livers of alcoholic rats. However, none of these studies has investigated bone broth’s effect on human livers.
It is quite unlikely that a single vitamin can cleanse the liver all by itself. The best method to protect your liver and the rest of your body from the harmful effects of toxins is to consume a diet rich in the whole spectrum of phytonutrients that may be found in meals made entirely from plants.
Check out our post here for more information on how to detox your body using phytonutrients.
It is also helpful to avoid accumulating hazardous heavy metals in the first place. It will benefit in the long run. It takes us to the most important and troubling fact regarding bone broth.
10 Creative Ways To Use Bone Broth
Here’s a movement in the world of healthy eating that we can get behind: However, despite its low cost, ease of preparation, and acceptance by even the laziest of women, bone broth is packed FULL of nutrients and confers a lot of health advantages. However, even while bone broth can have an incredible flavour, most people are looking for more inventive ways to consume it. And many thoughts are floating around in our heads. There are various ways to consume them, ranging from recipes for the warm soup to recipes for warm smoothies. The following are some of our personal favourites:
Simple Shiitake Mushroom Chicken Ramen
If you create your ramen with fresh ingredients and combine it with a collagen-rich, nutritious bone broth, you will have the best news: eating ramen undoubtedly has health benefits. So get ready to hear the best news of your life.
Asian Bone Broth Soup
This Asian soup has just a touch of heat but is otherwise quite healthful. It is a dinner option that is both extremely nourishing and soothing, and it is made with rice noodles, bone broth, carrots, onions, ginger and sesame oil, among other ingredients.
Secret Ingredient Cauliflower Soup
Can you guess what the top-secret component makes this cauliflower soup so incredibly delicious and velvety? Bone broth, you got it.
Fall Bone Broth Latte
We believe this flavorful beverage would be wonderful during any year’s season. It is a true superfood drink because it contains bone broth, sweet potato, garlic, and turmeric in its ingredients.
Mom’s Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
This tasty comfort dish may be made even more enjoyable by employing this clever way to eat healthier: In a slow cooker, simmer the chicken for 12 hours with the WHOLE bird. After that, dismember the chicken and put the bones back into the slow cooker to make a nutritious broth. You could sip it while you eat your pot pie or use it in the recipe in place of canned chicken stock. Either way, it would be delicious.
Sausage Sauerkraut Soup
Let’s talk about a dish that will help your intestinal health. This savoury soup gets its healthy dosage of probiotics from sauerkraut, while the calming bone broth helps to repair the lining of the digestive tract.
Savoury Oatmeal With Shiitake, Egg And Spinach
Is there anything more nourishing than oatmeal cooked with bone broth? It is precisely what it sounds like, and it provides the same sense of solace as it does.
Healing Lemon Ginger Bone Broth
It is best not to make things any more complicated than they already are. Instead, try sipping on this straightforward yet savoury recipe for bone broth the next time you’re in the mood for something traditional. It is recommended to be consumed in a warm mug on a gloomy day.
Bone Broth Risotto With Mushrooms And Crispy Shallots
This traditional risotto recipe calls for simmering the rice in bone broth, imparting an additional layer of umami and savoury flavour. In addition to garlic and white wine, this flavorful dish contains peas, parsley, shallots and garlic.
Easy Chicken Enchiladas
Have you ever pondered the secret behind the moist and tasty enchiladas served at restaurants? The key ingredient is chicken bone broth. You can now make this outrageously delicious dinner in the comfort of your own home.