Back in my high school days, when I first heard the term “bone broth” getting thrown around for the first time, my initial thought was um, isn’t chicken broth already made with bones? It wasn’t until I started weightlifting and my coach introduced me to the myriad of health benefits that bone broth offers – that I found out that bone broth is different from regular chicken stock.
Bone broth is a liquid containing brewed bones that requires a long cooking time to extract as much nutrition out of the bones as possible. To make bone broth, people use cow, chicken, and even fish bones and use bones that have more connective tissue. To differentiate between the two – regular stock uses the bones for flavor while Bone broth uses the bones for flavor and nutrition.
Bone broth has recently gained a lot of popularity, especially among health-conscious people. This is due to the fact that it is thought to have numerous health benefits.
Although there is little study on bone broth itself, there is a lot of evidence suggesting consuming it can be healthy.
This article delves deeper into bone broth, including how to produce it and its potential health benefits.
What Is Bone Broth, Exactly?
In order to make bone broth, animal bones and connective tissue are simmered for a long time to obtain nutrients from the bones.
Soups, sauces, and gravies frequently contain this nutrient-dense stock. It’s also become popular as a health drink in recent years.
Bone broth dates back to prehistoric times, when hunter-gatherers made a broth from otherwise inedible animal parts such as bones, hooves, and knuckles.
Bone broth can be made with bones from a variety of animals, including pork, cattle, veal, turkey, lamb, bison, buffalo, deer, chicken, or fish.
Marrow and connective tissues can also be used, such as feet, hooves, beaks, gizzards, or fins.
How To Make Bone Broth
Bone broth is available in stores, but it is very simple to make at home.
Saving bones from prior meals is an easy way to create it. For example, a chicken carcass complete with beak and claws might be used to produce bone broth.
Many butchers and meat departments at supermarkets also sell any bones they have on hand.
You may try the following recipe to make your own bone broth:
- 1 gallon of water
- 1 ounce of vinegar
- 3–4 pounds of bones and tissues
In a large pot or slow cooker, bring all of the ingredients to a boil, then reduce to a low heat for 10–24 hours before serving. Pour into smaller storage containers after straining via cheesecloth.
To give the broth more flavor, you can add salt, veggies, and spices like sage or thyme.
After creating a large pot of soup, divide it into smaller freezer containers. The broth will stay longer if you heat these smaller containers as needed.
It’s recommended to utilize a variety of bones, such as marrow bones, oxtail, knuckles, and feet, to prepare the most nutritious broth. Even within the same batch, you can mix and match bones.
Vinegar is vital because it aids in the extraction of all of the valuable nutrients from the bones and into the water, which is what you’ll be drinking.
Benefits Of Bone Broth
1. Highly Nutritious – Contains Important Minerals And Vitamins
Bone broth is a nutrient-dense food in general. Vitamins and nutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous, are abundant in bones.
Additionally, boiling connective tissue into bone broth offers the body natural cartilage compounds.
Collagen can also be found in tissues and bones. Cooking collagen turns it into gelatin, which delivers amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, to the body.
It’s impossible to say how much of each nutrient will be in a given batch of bone broth because it relies so much on the type and quantity of bones and tissues used.
The nutritious content, is directly dependent on the ingredients you utilize, as each adds something unique to the table. So, it is advisable to include a variety of different types of bones and tissues.
Calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and other trace minerals are abundant in animal bones, which are the same nutrients required to form and strengthen your own bones
Iodine, which is required for optimal thyroid function and metabolism, is also found in fish bones
Glucosamine and chondroitin, natural substances found in cartilage and known to enhance joint health, are found in connective tissue.
Vitamin A, vitamin K2, minerals like zinc, iron, boron, manganese, and selenium, as well as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, are all found in bone marrow.
The nutrients in the ingredients are released into the water in a form that your body can easily absorb while they simmer.
Many people don’t get enough of these nutrients in their diet, therefore bone broth is a wonderful method to supplement their diet.
2. Is Good For Digestive System
Scientists have discovered that the health of your intestinal tract has a significant impact on your overall health.
Bone broth is not only simple to digest, but it may also help with the digestion of other foods.
Bone broth contains gelatin, which naturally attracts and holds liquids. This is why broth that has been correctly made congeals in the fridge.
Gelatin can also bond to water in your digestive track, making it easier for food to pass through.
In rats, it has also been demonstrated to preserve and mend the mucosal lining of the digestive tract. In humans, it’s thought to have a similar effect, although additional research is needed to prove its efficacy.
Glutamine, an amino acid found in gelatin, helps maintain the function of the intestinal wall and has been shown to help prevent and cure “leaky gut.”
When the barrier between your stomach and your bloodstream is compromised, you have leaky gut, which is linked to a number of chronic disorders.
Substances that your body typically rejects make their way into your bloodstream, causing inflammation and other issues.
Drinking bone broth may help people with leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, for all of these reasons.
3. It May Aid In The Treatment Of Osteoarthritis.
Bone broth has chemicals that help maintain joint health and may even help those with osteoarthritis.
The benefits of type 2 collagen in persons with osteoarthritis symptoms in their knees were investigated in a 2016 study published in the Nutrition Journal. Collagen was derived from chicken connective tissue.
Its findings demonstrate that collagen can help persons with osteoarthritis alleviate symptoms like pain, stiffness, and decreased physical function in their knee joints.
Bone broth may be a simple approach to get the same sort of collagen, as well as other beneficial elements, into the body.
4. It Could Aid In The Reduction Of Inflammation.
Glycine and arginine, two amino acids contained in bone broth, have powerful anti-inflammatory properties.
Arginine, in particular, may be particularly useful in the treatment of chronic inflammation.
In one animal study, giving mice with asthma oral arginine lowered airway inflammation and alleviated asthma symptoms.
Another study in rodents suggests that supplementing with arginine may assist with combat inflammation, but additional human research is needed to back up these findings.
While some inflammation is important, persistent inflammation can lead to a variety of health problems.
Heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and a variety of cancers are among them.
As a result, it’s essential to consume a variety of anti-inflammatory foods.
5. Improves Joint Health
The major protein found in bones, tendons, and ligaments is collagen.
Collagen from bones and connective tissue is broken down into another protein called gelatin during the cooking process.
Important amino acids found in gelatin help joint health.
It contains proline and glycine, two amino acids that your body requires to make connective tissue. Tendons, which connect muscles to bones, and ligaments, which connect bones to each other, are examples of this.
Bone broth also contains the natural chemicals glucosamine and chondroitin, which are found in cartilage.
Glucosamine and chondroitin have been shown in multiple trials to help reduce joint pain and osteoarthritis symptoms.
6. May Support Weight Loss
Bone broth has a low-calorie count, but it can still satiate hunger.
Regularly consuming bone broth has been linked to increased sensations of fullness, as well as a reduction in body weight and belly fat in studies
Bone broth is also high in protein, which may aid in hunger control, weight loss, and the maintenance of lean muscle mass
In addition, a study of 53 males revealed that when collagen was paired with resistance exercise, it helped enhance muscle mass and reduce body fat
7. May Improve Sleep Quality
Bone broth’s amino acids may also help some people sleep better. The amino acid glycine is a safe therapeutic option for improving sleep, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
People who take glycine before going to bed may find that they sleep better and are less tired the next day. Drinking bone broth with a light supper may help these folks get the glycine they need.
Takeaway
Bone broth is high in readily available nutrients and minerals, which may help the body function optimally. It’s difficult to say how much of each nutrient will be in each batch due to potential differences between the types of bones used.
Bone broth may have other health benefits that are yet to be discovered. For the time being, bone broth is a nutrient-dense beverage that may help the body and many of its processes.
Rahul is a sports and performance consultant. Over the course of his 15-year career in the fitness sector, he has held positions as a strength and conditioning instructor, gym owner, and consultant.
He is deeply committed to assisting people in finding happiness and feeling good about themselves.
Rahul has a master’s degree in exercise science and is a certified NSCA CSCS and CISSN.