© Erin Handley for Whole9
The latest superfood doesn't come from the Tibetan mountainside or Peruvian rainforest. You can even make it yourself, with a quick trip to a butcher. The hottest trend in health circles right now? Boiling bones. Bone broth is everywhere, from
healthy cookbooks to beauty blogs to a New York City restaurant that
shills the soup in to-go cups. If you haven't seen it around, know this: bone broth is made by boiling animal bones, herbs, and vegetables into a flavorful, bone marrow-filled stock.
Devotees are drawn to the broth for its long list of nutritional benefits. Can't digest your food? Joints a little achy? Memory a little hazy? Skin looking a little sallow? Adding bone broth to your diet might do the trick.
Below, health experts weigh in on four benefits of broth.
Beef up your mineral intake"People are becoming disenchanted by our convenience-focused fast-food culture.
These foods may be easy, but they don't nourish our bodies," Melissa Hartwig, co-founder of the
Whole30 challenge and
New York Times bestselling author of
It Starts With Food, tells Yahoo Health. "Homemade bone broth is chock full of nutrients missing or under-represented in today's modern diet." The simple soup is more nutrient dense than your average drugstore vitamin:
"It's an excellent source of minerals like calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium, in forms that your body can easily absorb," says Hartwig.
Heal a leaky gutDr. Amy Myers, autoimmune specialist and author of
The Autoimmune Solution, out in January, recommends the broth to patients with Leaky gut syndrome. "The gelatin in bone broth protects and heals the mucosal lining of the digestive tract and helps aid in the digestion of nutrients," Myers says. Hartwig agrees, saying, "It's rich in glycine and proline, amino acids not found in significant amounts in muscle meat (the vast majority of the meat we consume). These amino acids are important for a healthy gut and digestion."
Calm inflammation (and your mind)What do damaged joints and autoimmune diseases have in common? They're often the result of inflammation, often brought on by stress and poor food choices. "Bone broth contains chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine, the compounds sold as supplements to reduce inflammation, arthritis, and joint pain," Hartwig tells us. As an added bonus, the broth might actually prevent inflammation from the get-go:
"The amino acid glycine found in bone broth can be very calming," says Myers.
Look betterIt's not your typical beauty food, but that doesn't stop Hartwig from touting bone broth's looks-enhancing powers. Heard of collagen? "Soup bones' include collagen, a protein that breaks down during slow-cooking to form gelatin. The gelatin in bone broth... helps to build healthy skin, hair, and nails."
Better off hunting but now that puts you in a different category, especially if you torture animals. China has TCM, which is full of animal parts and cures, which IMO is what's wrong with the world. Imagine if everyone thought this was the cure. Would we run out of bones and thus kill merely for a chance that bones are better than supplements?