With trendy new diet fads and health gimmicks popping up daily all claiming to be the next best thing, how do we know if bone broth is good for you? Does it really work and hold up to all the health claims? When a supplement can heal our joints, rejuvenate skin, cure brain fog and cognitive inefficiencies, and even help with anti-aging, it’s bound to raise a few eyebrows. Bone broth nutrition is a widely publicized topic in the health and fitness world. But what is bone broth and what nutrients does it contain?
What is bone broth? Bone broth is known as “nature’s multivitamin.” The nickname originated from the nutritional content of bone broth. This superfood contains significant amounts of essential minerals, amino acids, and proteins like collagen and gelatin. These nutrients collaborate to support gut health, immune system efficiency, and virtually every crucial bodily function known to sustain life. It’s a modern health revelation that’s here to stay.
Bone broth has been ancestrally used worldwide for thousands of years as natural nourishment for the body. The healthy and beneficial homemade broth results from slow boiling various bones of vertebrate animals—the world’s best source of natural collagen. Many people also use joints, ligaments, and tendons, along with a mixture of vegetables, herbs, and spices. This process creates broths and stocks with healing qualities.
The types of bones used vary depending on the recipe you’re preparing. Often, beef, chicken, pork, ham, turkey, lamb, fish, elk, goat, and even buffalo bones are used to create a savory broth. By allowing the ingredients to slow boil for 12 hours or more, the bones can fully release their nutrients from the bone marrow into the broth. This process creates a nutrient dense gelatin upon refrigeration. The simmer extracts collagen, amino acids, and other vital minerals. The flavorful and nutritious broth makes for excellent soups that taste great and offer numerous health benefits.
Is bone broth good for you, and is it a healthy choice to add to your diet? The short answer is yes, bone broth benefits the body in more ways than you can imagine. It really works and has remarkable nutritional value, regardless of your age or goals. Everyone should be regularly eating bone broth to maintain peak mental and physical health. Bone broth is good for you because it’s real food. There is nothing artificial or processed about it. The slow boiling of ingredients creates an immensely nutritious and low-calorie meal that boosts immunity and heals the body.
Note, when we refer to bone broth, we’re not talking about the high-sodium and preservative-packed boxes on store shelves. Although there may be some health benefits to them, the nutritional value is much lower than homemade bone broth. With store-bought broths, stocks, and bouillon (dehydrated stock), you’ll likely encounter several artificial ingredients or excessive MSG and salt. You’re better off making bone broth in a crock pot or pressure cooker. The other option is buying a grass-fed bone broth powder from a trusted seller to reap the full range of health benefits without the additives.
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We know bone broth is good for you, but what do the bone broth nutritional facts and information state? What individual nutrients are in this compelling liquid that makes it so healthy and beneficial?
Here’s the truth: the nutritional value of bone broth varies from one broth to the next. If you’re looking for a fact panel breaking down the exact quantity of each nutrient in homemade bone broth, it doesn’t exist—there are too many variables. Recipes, ingredients, cooking time, bone types, bone quality, the animal’s diet, etc. Nutrient consistency only exists when you’re buying branded bone broth protein powders.
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With that said, regardless of the nutrient density, experts everywhere agree that bone broth should be a key component of everyone’s diet. In other words, don’t stress over the nutrition facts, all bone broth is healthy! The benefits of bone broth have been well researched and are supported by science. Here is a quick summary of how bone broth obtained the name, “nature’s multivitamin.”
In other words, bone broth benefits nearly every aspect of living. Bone broth is an excellent way to increase intake of micronutrients essential for good health while reducing caloric consumption. This superfood provides important chemical compounds and minerals that we otherwise lack from the traditional western diet.
Below, we’ve compiled the nutrition facts in a list containing all the amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and the full nutritional content of bone broth. All the items could be an entire article on their own, so we’ve highlighted the main health benefits of each nutrient.
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are a family of carbohydrates that support and maintain elastin, collagen, and the turgidity in cellular spaces between fibers and bones. GAGs promote moisture retention in elastin fibers and collagen allowing them to remain soluble. The ability of glycosaminoglycans to attract water makes them useful as a shock absorber and lubricant in the body.
This class of nutrients is especially important for skin care products where GAGs support the metabolism of epidermal and dermal cells. Their rejuvenating properties allow them to keep the skin’s elastin and collagen in excellent condition. GAGs interaction with copper peptides also helps with the repair of scars and wrinkles, a highly desirable skin benefit as we age.
The three GAGs providing many of the bone broth benefits are glucosamine, hyaluronic acid, and chondroitin sulfate.
Bone broth benefits the body by providing it with easy-to-absorb electrolytes and essential minerals. Electrolytes help the body maintain the fluid balance between extracellular (outside) and intracellular (inside) environments. Bone broth is good for you because, like drinking sports beverages, bone broth helps restore a depleted electrolyte supply ensuring proper hydration of the body.
Hydration is crucial for the optimal function of major organs, especially the brain. While sports drinks are not exactly “smart drugs” per se, electrolytes role in cognitive function should not be understated. A proper electrolyte balance supports bodily functions such as muscle contraction, nerve impulses, cognition, and maintaining a healthy pH level. The electrolytes found in bone broth’s nutritional content include sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg++), and calcium (Ca++).
You’ll also find essential minerals such as phosphorus within bone broth. Phosphorus plays a critical role in bone density, heart health, circulation, digestive and gut health, and nerve signaling functions. Below is a list of the electrolytes found in homemade bone broth and bone broth supplements.
The benefits of bone broth involve several amino acids that support healing and bodily repair. Among the amino acids are glycine, arginine, proline, and glutamine. These nutrients are classified as “conditional” amino acids, meaning they are nonessential but are essential under some conditions.
Many people are deficient in these amino acids due to poor eating habits and carbohydrate-heavy diets. Lack of quality grass-fed animal products can lead people to be chronically deficient. Amino acids provide much of the nutritional value of bone broth making supplementation important to avoid the adverse side effects of deficiencies. Here is a breakdown of how each amino acid benefits the body.
Collagen is the nutrient responsible for most of the bone broth benefits. Collagen is considered the most important protein for skin rejuvenation, strong bones, digestive and gut health, and connective tissue maintenance. Osteoporosis, premature aging of the skin, joint pain, and many other issues arise if you’re collagen deficient.
Collagen was prevalent in the diets of our ancestors but is profoundly lacking in modern western diets. For this reason, bone broth is a sought-after supplement for maintaining peak physical and mental health. As we age, natural collagen synthesis declines leading to weaker bones, joints, and less durable skin. By continually feeding our bodies a steady supply of collagen, we not only maintain our youthfulness, but we can even reverse the effects of aging.
Collagen protein and gelatin go hand in hand, but they are not the same thing. These beneficial nutrients are similar, though. Gelatin results from boiling collagen-rich bones. Since people rarely eat raw skin, joints, ligaments, and tendons, they cook them. During the boiling process, full extraction of collagen, minerals, electrolytes, and amino acids create the consumable gelatin. The thicker the gelatin upon refrigeration, the more nutritional value it provides.
What is bone broth? Bone broth is a natural multivitamin in every sense of the word. This supplement provides an abundance of minerals, electrolytes, and essential nutrients that support all aspects of living. Bone broth promotes healthy digestion, immunity, healthy weight management, and much more.
Try not to overthink the bone broth nutrition facts and information. Understand that all bone broth is good for you. Focus on different ways you can squeeze bone broth into your diet, and you will become a much healthier individual. Have you tried bone broth? Let us know about the remarkable impact bone broth has had on your quality of life in the comments below!
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