3 Amazing Benefits of Bone Broth For Gut Health

Written by Jennifer Smith, Natural Medicine Practitioner and Certified in Holistic Nutrition

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What is bone broth? 

Bone broth is derived from simmering animal or fish cartilage, tendons, and bones for hours at a time. It is widely used in many cultures around the world to aid in restoring or strengthening overall health. One particular health benefit of bone broth is its role in gut health. 

The Importance of a Healthy Gut 

It is becoming more evident now that a healthy gut is essential to overall health. Signs of a healthy gut include healthy stools, regularity, abundance of energy, and healthy skin tone. Likewise, poor gut health will lead to lack of nutrient absorption, constipation. diarrhea, insomnia, bad breath, and blotchy, uneven skin. 

What you might not realize is that gut health can also affect your mental and behavioral health, from making stress and anxiety worse, to leading to brain fog, poor memory, lack of focus and concentration, and low energy. This is why it is so important to find way to improve your gut like with bone broth.

Bone Broth is Rich in Nutrients and Minerals 

Bones contain a number of minerals including zinc, calcium, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, and sodium. In addition to minerals, bone broth also contains collagen, gelatin, glycine, and seventeen different types of amino acids. When simmered at low heat for a lengthened amount of time, these nutrients seep into the water and create "liquid gold." 

Protective and Anti-Inflammatory Properties 

The amino acids, gelatin, glycine, and nutrients in bone broth help to strengthen the mucus layer and intestinal barrier within the gut while also altering the gut microbiota composition. Furthermore, these nutrients aid in reducing inflammation. No wonder many people and cultures around the world eat bone broth when they are ill! 

Bone Broth Aids Digestion 

While rich in nutrients and minerals, bone broth can also do wonders for digestion. As mentioned above, this liquid gold assist in altering the gut microbiota; a strong, diverse gut microbiota is essential to break down food byproducts for proper absorption. Furthermore, the broth itself helps to hydrate the body, thus, promote better digestion for healthy, regular stools. Drinking bone broth is great but adding vegetables and herbs to the bone broth is even better as this will increase nutrient content and further aid in digestion. 

The Easiest Way To Make Bone Broth

Below is a recipe I have used from Jenny McGruther over at NourishedKitchen.com

Print Recipe

Perpetual Soup or Bone Broth the Easy Way

Perpetual soup: Bone broth can be made in a slow cooker using this simple technique. NOTE: I added the apple cider vinegar to allow the bones to release more minerals into the broth.

Source: nourishedkitchen.com

Course: Soup

Serves: 3

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken (or the frame of a roasted chicken)
  • 2 sweet bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • any vegetable scraps you have on hand
  • filtered water
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Directions

  1. Place one whole chicken or the frame of a roasted chicken into your slow cooker with sweet bay, black peppercorns and any vegetable scraps you have on hand. Cover with filtered water and cook on low for one week.
  2. After twenty-four hours, you may begin using the broth. As you need broth or stock, simply dip a ladle or measuring cup into the slow cooker to remove the amount of stock you need. Pour it through a fine-mesh sieve or, preferably, a reusable coffee filter which will help to clarify the broth. Replace the broth you remove from the slow cooker with an equivalent amount of filtered water. If you’re using a whole, fresh chicken, you may also remove chicken meat from the slow cooker as desired for stir-fries, in soups or in
  3. At the end of the week, strain off any remaining broth and discard or compost the bones. The bones from your chicken should crumble when pressed between your thumb and forefinger. Their softness is an indication that much of the nourishment from the bones – minerals, amino acids – have leached from the bones and into the broth you’ve enjoyed all week long. Wash the insert of your slow cooker and start again.


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Ultimately, bone broth has many beneficial components including an abundance of nutrients, minerals, and amino acids. Such nutrients aid in protecting the gut, providing anti-inflammatory properties, and overall, promoting better digestion.


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Written and Reviewed By:

Jennifer Smith, BA, NMP, CHN

Jennifer Smith is a Natural Medicine Practitioner and Holistic Nutrition Practitioner. She has a Bachelor's degree in Christian Counseling. She has completed advanced training in Functional Nutrition, Functional Medicine, Natural Health Consultant diploma, Biblical natural medicine, and Biblical Eating and Clinical Nutrition. Jennifer has a Functional Medicine virtual clinic in Naples, FL called Fx Remedies Virtual Care. 

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