Bone Broth Benefits: What the Evidence Actually Supports

Is bone broth actually good for you? As food, yes. It is warming, savoury, low in calories and a far better cooking base than a stock cube. As a supplement for your joints, skin or gut lining, the case is much weaker than the marketing suggests, and the reason is simple: bone broth does not reliably contain enough of the thing the research is about.

That is worth separating out, because the collagen research people cite when they recommend bone broth is real. It just was not done on broth.

The Short Version

What Bone Broth Actually Is

Bones and connective tissue simmered in water for hours, usually with a splash of vinegar. The long cook breaks collagen down into gelatin, which is what makes a good broth set to a wobble in the fridge. That wobble is a decent sign you extracted something.

It is one of the oldest foods there is, and people have been making it for as long as they have been cooking bones. Nothing in this article argues against that. The argument is only with the modern claims stacked on top of it.

The Collagen Problem

Here is the thing most articles skip. Collagen supplements have been studied properly and the results are reasonably encouraging. A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis in the International Journal of Dermatology pooled 19 randomised trials covering 1,125 people and found hydrolysed collagen improved skin hydration, elasticity and wrinkles compared with placebo.

So far so good for collagen. The problem is the leap from “collagen supplements work” to “therefore drink bone broth”.

Researchers at the Australian Institute of Sport actually measured this. Their 2019 analysis tested commercial and home-made bone broths for the amino acids that matter for collagen synthesis: glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, lysine, leucine and hydroxylysine. Every one of them came in significantly lower than a 20 g therapeutic dose of a reference collagen supplement.

Two further findings are worth your attention. The amino acid content of broths made to non-standardised recipes varied enormously, so one batch tells you little about the next. And commercial bone broths were lower in every amino acid than the home-made versions, which is the opposite of what the price would lead you to expect.

The researchers’ conclusion was blunt: bone broth is unlikely to provide a consistently reliable source of these amino acids.

And eaten collagen does not go to your joints as collagen

This part gets stated backwards constantly. Collagen you swallow is protein. Your gut breaks it into amino acids and short peptides, which are absorbed and used wherever the body decides, exactly like the protein in an egg. There is no delivery mechanism that routes it to your knees.

The plausible theory behind collagen supplements is subtler: supplying a large, concentrated hit of specific amino acids may give the body more raw material for its own collagen synthesis. That is a dose-dependent idea, which is precisely why the measured shortfall in broth matters.

The Gut Claims

You will often read that the gelatin in bone broth acts as a sealant for the gut lining and repairs leaky gut. That is not something the human evidence supports, and the confident phrasing is doing a lot of work.

There is a study people point to. A 2021 paper in Medicina did find anti-inflammatory effects from bone broth in a model of ulcerative colitis. It was done in mice. That makes it a reason to run a human trial, not a reason to make promises to people with digestive problems.

What is fair to say is gentler and still useful. Warm, salty, easily digested liquid is genuinely easy to tolerate when your appetite has gone or your stomach is unsettled, which is why broth has been given to ill people for centuries. That is worth something. It is not the same as repairing an intestinal lining.

Minerals, and the Lead Question

Bone broth is widely described as mineral rich. In practice the amounts of calcium and magnesium that make it out of the bones and into the water are modest, and nowhere near what a glass of milk or a handful of almonds gives you. Treat it as a pleasant savoury drink rather than a mineral supplement.

The more interesting finding points the other way. Bones store lead, and a 2013 study measured lead in three types of organic chicken broth and found several times the concentration of the tap water used to make them. Broth from skin and cartilage came in at 9.5 micrograms per litre and chicken bone broth at 7.01, against 0.89 for the water control.

Keep that in proportion. It was a small, blinded study of three broths published in a hypotheses journal, not a large analysis, and those concentrations are below the levels regulators set for drinking water in many countries. It is not a reason to pour your broth away. It is a reason to treat a daily litre of it as a habit worth questioning, particularly for children and in pregnancy, where there is no known safe level of lead exposure.

What Bone Broth Is Genuinely Good For

• A warm, savoury, very low calorie drink. If it replaces an afternoon biscuit, that is a real win, and it is far more satisfying than it sounds in October.
• A better cooking base than a stock cube. More flavour, more body, and you decide how much salt goes in, which matters because commercial stock is often very salty.
• Something you can keep down when you are ill. Warm fluids ease congestion and a sore throat, and broth provides a little protein and sodium when eating feels like too much.
• A use for bones you already bought. A roast chicken carcass that would go in the bin becomes a few litres of stock. That is good cooking and good economics.
• Hydration that does not taste like water. Unglamorous and genuinely useful for people who struggle to drink enough.

None of that needs a health claim attached. It is just a good thing to have in the fridge.

How to Make It

1. Use about 1 kg of bones to 2 litres of water. A roast chicken carcass is ideal. For beef, ask the butcher for marrow and knuckle bones, and roast them at 200C for 30 minutes first, which makes an enormous difference to the flavour.
2. Add a tablespoon of vinegar. The acid helps draw minerals and collagen out of the bone. You will not taste it in the finished broth.
3. Add an onion, a carrot, a stick of celery, a bay leaf and some peppercorns. Hold the salt until the end, because the broth reduces and concentrates as it cooks.
4. Simmer gently, do not boil. A hard boil emulsifies the fat and turns the broth cloudy and greasy. You want the occasional lazy bubble. Chicken needs 6 to 12 hours, beef 12 to 24.
5. Skim the grey foam in the first half hour, then leave it alone.
6. Strain, cool quickly and chill. Lift the set fat off the top the next day. If it has set to a jelly, you have made a good one.
7. Keep 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Freezing it in an ice cube tray is the single most useful thing you can do with it.

Who Should Be Careful

• Anyone watching sodium. Shop-bought broth can be very salty. Check the label, or make your own and control it.
• Gout or high uric acid. Broths made from a lot of meat and marrow are higher in purines. Worth discussing with your doctor if you get attacks.
• Histamine sensitivity. Long-simmered and long-stored broths are a common trigger, and a short cook or a fresh batch is usually better tolerated.
• Children and pregnancy. Given the lead finding, treat broth as an ordinary food rather than something to drink in large daily quantities.
• Anyone treating a diagnosed condition. Broth is not a treatment for arthritis, autoimmune disease or any gut disorder, and should not replace what your doctor has prescribed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is bone broth good for your joints?

Probably not in the way it is sold. Collagen supplements have reasonable trial evidence, but a 2019 analysis found bone broth contains significantly less of the relevant amino acids than a therapeutic supplement dose, and the amount varies a lot between batches.

Does bone broth heal leaky gut?

There is no human evidence that it repairs the intestinal lining. The study most often cited was in mice. Broth is easy to tolerate when your stomach is unsettled, which is a genuine but much smaller claim.

Is shop-bought bone broth as good as homemade?

On the measurements taken in that 2019 analysis, commercial broths were lower in every amino acid than home-made ones. They are convenient, and often saltier and more expensive. Homemade wins on both content and cost.

Should I worry about lead in bone broth?

Not about an occasional bowl. A small 2013 study found chicken broths carried several times the lead of the water used, though still at low absolute levels. It is a reason not to drink large amounts daily, especially for children and in pregnancy.

How much bone broth should I drink?

There is no established dose, because there is no established medicinal effect. A cup a day as food is perfectly sensible. Drinking litres in pursuit of a health benefit is not supported by anything.

Does bone broth help you lose weight?

Only in the ordinary way that a hot, savoury, low calorie drink can take the edge off hunger and replace something richer. There is nothing special about broth metabolically.

Why did my broth not set into a jelly?

Usually too much water, not enough collagen-rich bones such as feet, knuckles or wings, or not long enough. A hard boil can also stop it setting properly. Simmer gently and use more bone to less water.

Is bone broth better than stock?

They are much the same thing. Bone broth is usually simmered longer, so it has more gelatin and more body. The distinction is mostly a marketing one.

Related Reading

• Natural Ozempic Alternatives, another case where the supplement evidence is weaker than the marketing
• Honey Lemon Tea, a home remedy that does have good evidence behind it
• Prebiotics and Probiotics for Gut Health
• Zinc for Colds, what the 2024 Cochrane review actually found

This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Bone broth is a food, not a treatment for any condition, and it should not replace care your doctor has prescribed. Speak to a doctor or dietitian before making it a large part of your diet if you are pregnant, feeding it regularly to young children, have gout, kidney disease or a histamine disorder, or are on a sodium-restricted diet. See our medical disclaimer.

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