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Is bone broth really a ‘liquid miracle’? Here’s what science says

Bone broth is having an extended moment in the dietary limelight. Often called “the liquid miracle” or “liquid gold” on social media, bone broth supposedly relieves joint pain, improves gut health, promotes skin elasticity, and more. It’s a staple in the paleo and keto diets, and you can now buy bone broth supplements (in capsule or powdered form). Bone broth is even popping up in high-end pet foods. Trendiness aside, does bone broth deserve all the hype? The answer depends on what health benefits you’re looking for—and what you make of the scientific evidence that’s beginning to trickle in.

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 Bone broth is hyped by celebrities and hailed as a wellness superfood – here’s what the science says

When someone tells you to “clean your plate”, bones usually aren’t included. But for some people, bones – or rather, what’s inside them – are the best part of a meal. Bone broth, once a humble kitchen staple, has surged in popularity in recent years, championed as a superfood by celebrities and wellness influencers.

 Bone broth: a miraculous health tonic, or just a crock of soup?

These days, it seems like everyone’s got an opinion on bone broth. The trendy, savory liquid goes for top dollar at urban eateries, but it doesn’t seem all that different from the stuff sitting in cans and boxes at your local supermarket.

Articles of Interest

How to Actually Make Bone Broth

With bone broth as popular as ever these days, it’s easy to satisfy your craving with one of the many premade options available. A homemade bone broth recipe, however, cannot be beat—and it’s a good thing for fans of the meaty liquid to have in their back pocket. Making bone broth yourself rather than buying store-bought means you can create exactly the kind of flavor profile you want from your stock.

Is Bone Broth Really Brimming With Health Benefits?

It’s called “liquid gold” on TikTok. We asked experts if there’s any science behind the health claims.

A Butcher’s Guide to Making Healthy Bone Broth

It’s intensely nourishing, deeply delicious, and worth keeping on hand all year long.

A Sip Above the Rest…Is Bone Broth All Its Boiled up to Be?

Is bone broth the elixir of life missing in your diet? A traditional food source used for centuries, bone broth has gained popularity in the food and health industry over recent years. In part to the rise of the Paleo diet, which promotes foods of the pre-agricultural era such as sustainably sourced meats, fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits, while avoiding legumes, dairy, refined sugar, cereal grains, and processed foods.

Bone Broth Is Not As Healthy As The NY Times Says It Is

Readers would have been much better served learning more about the culinary distinctions between broth and stock, or about the ancient use of "fire-heated rocks" dropped in animal guts to make soup, than to be subjected to a bunch of shady health claims by self-interested advocates who think humans should eat like cavemen.

Bone broth: the trend everyone's raging about

To some it’s just a souped up stock, but advocates say there’s more skill involved – and, given that we’ve been eating it for centuries, is there something special about it?

Bones, Broth, Bliss

Recently, this prehistoric food has improbably become a trend beverage, ranking with green juice and coconut water as the next magic potion in the eternal quest for perfect health. Like other health foods that have taken off in recent years — yogurt, quinoa — broth combines mystical connections to the ancient world and demonstrable nutrition benefits in the modern one.

Bringing Back Bone Broth and its Benefits

It’s an ancient food source, but one our modern culture has overlooked. For centuries, bone broth could be found simmering in a pot by the fire and was used as a ready-to-eat meal in addition to being an easily accessible base for soups and other recipes in the time before modern refrigeration. It’s a traditional food that modern eaters had forsaken—until recently when the benefits contained in bone broth, including collagen, minerals and amino acids have regained popularity.

Broth: The New Liquid Lunch

Broths are seemingly everywhere these days, the latest darlings of the wellness world, touted as beneficial for weight loss, skin quality, joint health and digestion. This is nothing new to chefs. In restaurant kitchens there is always a stock of some sort bubbling away for use in sauces, soups and braises, and chefs can often be seen sipping the stuff from plastic containers while they work.

How the Victorians started the modern health obsession with collagen

Shimmering, wobbling and painstakingly prepared, jelly was a staple of elite Victorian dining tables. But beneath its elegant presentation lay a deeper significance – one that reveals much about the era’s understanding of bone, health and scientific progress. By examining what jelly meant to the Victorians, we gain a fascinating insight into how food, science, and social status were entwined, and why our modern fascination with bone broth and collagen supplements is nothing new.

How to create a nutritious and hydrating bone broth

When the going gets rough, this simple bone broth recipe will tide you over.

How to make bone broth

Bone broth is now our not-so secret weapon. It is the base for all of our soups and stews, adding flavour in spades. It is one of the oldest, most affordable homemade foods, often used as an elixir to cure ailments and nurture the sick. A good, homemade bone broth is rich in easily digestible substances such as amino acids, gelatine (a source of protein that helps counter the degeneration of joints), glucosamine, fats, vitamins, minerals and collagen (which improves the condition of skin).

I Was Insane Until I Started Drinking Broth

As I started to make health more of a priority, I found myself drinking a lot of broth, without a spoon and simply straight from a bowl. Not only was it delicious and great to sip on, but it also felt really healing. It filled me up and gave me energy without the jitters or crash that I got from caffeine. I really think of broth as the world’s original comfort food. It has been around for ages. It’s tasty and warming. It reminds me of being a kid, eating bowls of broth with Ronzoni pastina and parmesan cheese. Italian broth-based soups (escarole, stracciatella, tortellini en brodo) were a big part of upbringing and my definition of comfort.

Savoring the benefits of bone broth: Worth a taste?

Bone broth and stock, however, are essentially the same thing: they're both based on bones rather than meat, and include similar vegetables and seasonings. The difference is mostly in timing: Stocks generally simmer for a few hours, while bone broth recipes usually call for much longer cooking — from four to six hours to as much as a day or more — until the bones are almost falling apart.

Science Can’t Explain Why Everyone is Drinking Bone Broth

One of the latest food trends, which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, is bone broth: a stock made primarily from the bones and connective tissue of animals or fish. (The term “bone broth” is a bit of a misnomer; traditionally, a “broth” is differentiated from a “stock” precisely because it doesn’t include animal bones.)

Stocking Up: Uncovering the Secrets to the Best Broth

What do the experts recommend you do to get the most flavorful soup possible?

Taking Stock Of Bone Broth: Sorry, No Cure-All Here

To be clear, there's nothing all that new about bone broth (sometimes called stock). Around the world, chefs and home cooks have been using the feet, knuckles, tendons and bones of all sizes from poultry, beef, pig and fish to make rich, nourishing broths practically forever. There's seolleongtang in Korea, sopa de lima in the Yucatán and "Jewish penicillin" (chicken soup with matzo balls), to name a few.

The bone broth backlash: three soups that don't take days to make

Forget the latest fashion for stock that takes hours and try these faster healing meat elixirs that are ready in less than 60 minutes.

The health benefits of bone broth (and why it beats plain old stock)

Some sip it in steaming mugfuls instead of their morning tea to ease aching joints, others swear by it in a smoothie to keep the weight off. Gwyneth Paltrow drinks it for lunch “most days” and Salma Hayek says it “keeps her young”. While bone broth is a celebrity favourite, it is somewhat watery and tasteless, so does it have major health benefits for the rest of us? And is it really any better than plain old stock?

The Healthiest Way to Eat Bone Broth

For the last several years, bone broth has been everywhere—and for good reason. Not only is bone broth rich in collagen and minerals, it’s also high in amino acids, which are essential for the formation of proteins and building muscles, skin, and tissue. It may even help the digestive system, support the immune system, fight inflammation, and preserve skeletal health.

This Chef Wants to Reclaim Bone Broth

The 31-year-old queer woman of color runs Shorba Broth Bar in Vancouver, where she makes a bone broth that applies the principles of Ayurveda, an ancient food science of India believed to be over 3000 years old.

What's Up With Bone Broth, the Latest Foodie Trend

Move over cronuts, there’s a new foodie trend on the rise and it’s one that’s been around for, well, centuries: bone broth. You might know it as beef broth or beef stock. However, when you get down to the bare bones of it—ALL broth is made with bones, with the exception of veggie broth. Thanks to some rebranding, artisanal, nutritious bone broth is the now hyped-about must try food.

Resources

The 5 Health Benefits of Bone Broth You Need to Know

Forget the fountain of youth, this golden beverage offers a taste of vitality.