Bone broth 🦴 Believe the hype?

Bone broth and collagen supplements have surged in popularity recently and according to my research and personal experience, the hype is warranted.

It’s broth season 🍁🦴 let’s explore 👇

The bone broth I consume daily at home comes from Brodo. Brodo was founded by Chef Marco Canora of Hearth NYC, the only verified seed oil free restaurant in Manhattan (where I chose to take Dr. Paul Saladino)

Their broth is really the best I’ve tried. It’s made from slow-simmered meatier bones, and is far thicker than competitors, which means higher protein content and more nutrients.

It’s sourced from local co-ops and farms and made without shortcuts, many competitors are made from stewed meat-paste, not real bones.

I have a biweekly subscription to Brodo’s beef broth, which comes room temperature but completely preservative free.

You can subscribe to Brodo here and read about their process here

First off, what’s the difference between broth, stock, gelatin, collagen peptides and amino acids like glycine? These are essentially the same starting material at different levels of processing.

It starts with cartilage and other collagen-rich connective tissue in animals. Everything from pig skin and ears, to oxtail and bone marrow are richer in collagen than muscle cuts of meat.

When heated sufficiently this tissue converts to gelatin, which is far easier to digest than raw cartilage. Simmering these tissues for extended periods of time, and skimming off the fat, leaves you with a protein and nutrient rich golden liquid perfect for a variety of fall and winter recipes.

Collagen peptides are industrially hydrolyzed gelatin, usually sold as powders that are easier to dissolve in something like coffee. Glycine is the dominant rare and beneficial amino acid in this tissue, and supplements are sold of this directly.

Traditional European diets relied heavily on stews, stocks and sauces rich in collagen and gelatin. Today these foods have completely disappeared from our diet, leaving us to consume nearly all muscle meat which lacks these critical amino acids and peptides and instead loads us up on BCAA’s which could cause obesity.

The benefits

Skin & joints

Bone broth is rich in collagen, which is proven to slow the progression of wrinkles and improve joint health along with Glucosamine and Chondroitin. Choosing broth over refined collagen peptides also offers rare nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin K2, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, iron, zinc, selenium, and boron.

For a long time science thought we digest all proteins fully down to their amino acids, but it turns out this is not true, and many peptides (short chains of partial proteins) actually get incorporated into our tissues directly. This seems to be the case with collagen peptides from broth or powders.

Metabolism, sleep and antioxidant capacity

Additionally, glycine which is not abundant in muscle meat is crucial for our antioxidant and anti-inflammatory glutathione systems, immune system, nerve function and sleep quality.

For a real deep-dive, a super interesting blog/channels: Fire in a Bottle has been diving into the science of how overconsumption of BCAA’s from muscle meat might be driving American obesity, and has successfully improved his glucose tolerance with a high-collagen diet.

Glycine + NAC supplementation improves numerous biomarkers in older adults

Takeaways

Strive to get more collagen-rich proteins in your diet, ideally from quality grassfed beef bone broths. Gelatin powders are also a great and not-super-processed option to add a quick 15g of glycine-rich protein to a meal.

Collagen peptides and glycine both come out of factories, but there’s no reason for us to think they are bad for you. Many of the studies on the benefits to skin and joints use these peptides.

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