Why You Should Start Drinking Bone Broth

Why You Should Start Drinking Bone Broth

January 28, 2015 by Megan Heimer 6 Comments

Bone broth…it’s time to get on board. If you haven’t you should because it’s the new Diet Coke – only it’s healthy, won’t make you fat, and won’t rot out all your teeth and eat a hole through your gut. You can pick up a cup on your way to work, order a broth bowl at your favorite bistro, or head to the butcher to pick up some bones and make your own. I’ll forewarn you though, making it stinks…but the benefits don’t.

In the 1930’s a paper was published on bone broth. It basically stated that bone broth was a drink of low nutritional value because it contained very little starch and sugar and a ton of this stuff called gelatin. Bad science, poor nutritional advice, and well-meaning scientists of the day recommended sugar cubes and potatoes over bone broth. Imagine that?

What researchers didn’t realize is that gelatin is one of the most nutritious substances on the planet – a protein that literally anyone can digest. When animal bones and marrow, feet, tendons, and ligaments are simmered for 24-48 hours, collagen (which gets broken down into gelatin) is released along with amino acids, and highly absorbable minerals like calcium, magnesium, sulphur, silicon, phosphorus, and trace minerals. 

Because of this, bone broth is touted for its ability to remineralize the body, heal the joints and bones, fill in wrinkles, and help with leaky gut and other digestive issues, auto-immune conditions, arthritis, and cellulite. Throughout history, the gelatin in bone broth has been used to heal peptic ulcers, infectious diseases, and cancer. Sugar and starch can’t do that.

If you’re looking for some recent ground-breaking studies on gelatin you probably won’t find them. We decided to pull the plug on researching the benefits of anything natural in favor of research that would help us synthesize chemicals in the lab so we could have addicting fake meat flavors like neurotoxic MSG. Yum.

What you will find are studies on many of the nutrients found in bone broth:

• Glycine plays a pivotal role in preventing neurobehavioral disorders, regulates blood sugar, promotes muscle growth, heals wounds, inhibits inflammation, helps regulate hormones, prevents arthritis and inflammatory diseases, and has proven promising at preventing and treating cancer. 
• Proline prevents and reverses atherosclerosis, helps lower blood pressure, and helps produce collagen for joints, ligaments, tendons, and skin. 
• Glutamine strengthens the immune system, heals the gut lining and improves metabolism. 
• Arginine builds muscle, enhances fat metabolism, and prevents a whole bunch of other things I’m not at risk of because I’m in my 20’s. All you need to know is that arginine enhances sexual performance. Enough said. 
• Collagen forms the foundation of bones, muscles, skin, and tendons. It gives the skin its strength and elasticity and declines with age subjecting the body to numerous health conditions. Good thing bone broth has you covered. Several studies have found that collagen improves severe rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, regenerates tissue, plays a role in many autoimmune diseases, and helps the body look good. 
• Chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine in bone broth may help reduce inflammation and Dr. Canale, MD., from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons certainly seems to be a fan. Even Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD., recommends bone broth as part of her gut healing protocol.

I could go on, but you get the point. Bone broth contains a whole bunch of awesomeness that can help you live a better life. If you look at other cultures like the Japanese, Koreans, and even the French, you can see the benefits of a good bone broth. If you speak to your 1oo-year-old Grandma, she would tell you about the importance of utilizing every part of an animal and how bone broth was a staple in times of sickness. 

If you stalk the Weston A. Price Foundation’s website (like I do), you will see countless discussions and articles on the importance of bone broth, how to make it, and the difference between boxed stock and the real deal. If you read this book by Sally Fallon Morell and Thomas Cowan, MD., you’ll see why bone broth is important for baby. 

If you talk to your friends who are blowing up your Facebook feed with pictures of their bone broth creations (like mine do), you will see the results:

Cracked heals? There’s a bone broth for that.
Dull skin? There’s a bone broth for that.
Can’t poop? Hard poop? Poop too much? There’s a bone broth for that too.
Seriously, is there anything bone broth can’t do?

Drinking bone broth isn’t just a fad. So, throw out your coke and pick up some bones from your butcher, a cup of bone broth from the “brothal” drive-thru, or make friends with some really cool Amish people and ask them for some chicken feet.

Although I’m usually not a fan of doing what the “herd” does, this is one herd I’m happy to follow. 

Photo Credit: jaslean_kaur via Creative Commons 2.0