Bone Broth On Keto: Five Reasons To Include It In Your Diet
Bone broth is an ancient, nutritious food renowned for healing the digestive system. Not only is bone broth on keto a great choice, but it also provides a range of health benefits. What’s the nutrient content of bone broth, and how can it positively affect your health?
What is Bone Broth?
Bone broth is a food made by boiling and simmering the bones of animals. Bone broth is a nutrient-dense stock commonly used in sauces, gravies, and soups. Many people drink bone broth as a health drink.
Bone broth dates to prehistoric times when hunter-gatherers transformed animal parts like hooves, bones, and knuckles into a drinkable broth. You can make bone broth with the bones of any animal from pork and beef to bison, lamb, chicken, or fish. You can also use marrow and connective tissues like hooves, feet, gizzards, beaks, or fins.
How Do I Make Bone Broth?
Making bone broth is easier than you think.
Try our bone broth recipe! All you need is water, vinegar (typically apple cider vinegar), bones, a large pot, and seasoning (you could try salt, pepper, and herbs de provence). You might choose to add vegetables to enhance the flavor, such as garlic, celery, and onion.
Bring the ingredients to a boil in a slow cooker or large pot. Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 12-24 hours. The longer you cook your broth, the more nutrition and the better the taste. Let your broth cool and strain it into a large container.
Adding vinegar helps pull all the valuable nutrients from the bones into the water or broth. For the most nutritious broth, use a variety of bones, such as marrow bones, knuckles, feet, and oxtail. You can mix different bones in the same batch.
What are the Health Benefits of Bone Broth on Keto?
The nutrient content of bone broth varies depending on the ingredients. Here are five reasons to include bone broth on your keto diet:
1) Minerals and Nutrients!
When you simmer the ingredients, the nutrients are released into the water in a form that’s more readily absorbable. Many people don’t get enough of these nutrients. Animal bones are packed with magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and other trace minerals that you need to strengthen and build your bones. Fish bones contain iodine — a mineral that’s essential for metabolism and thyroid function.
The connective tissues give you certain natural compounds that can support joint health. The marrow provides vitamin K2 and A, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and minerals like zinc, iron, and manganese. The animal parts also contain the collagen protein that turns to gelatin when cooked, giving you a great source of important amino acids
[1].
2) Digestive Health!
The health of your intestinal tract and digestive system is paramount for improving your overall health and wellness. Bone broth isn’t just easy to digest; it might also help your digestion in general. The gelatin in bone broth attracts and holds liquids and binds to water in your digestive tract, improving gut motility.
In studies, gelatin has been shown to protect and heal the mucosal lining of the digestive system in rats. Researchers believe the same effect is true of humans, but more research is needed [2].
Gelatin contains an amino acid called glutamine that helps maintain the intestinal wall’s integrity and function and shows promise for gut healing. Glutamine has been shown to prevent and heal a condition called leaky gut or intestinal permeability. Leaky gut happens when the barrier between your bloodstream and your gut is compromised, which causes substances that your body doesn’t normally allow to leak into your bloodstream, leading to inflammation and other health problems. Leaky gut has been linked to several chronic diseases.
Drinking bone broth might be beneficial for those with leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and other digestive issues [3].
3) Anti-inflammatory
Studies show the amino acids in bone broth, such as arginine and glycine, have strong anti-inflammatory effects. Arginine might help fight inflammation — a factor associated with obesity and numerous chronic conditions like diabetes, certain cancers, arthritis, and heart disease. Higher arginine levels in the blood are also linked to reduced inflammation in obese women [4] [5] [6].
4) Joint Health!
Collagen is the protein found in the tendons, ligaments, and bones. During the cooking process, the collagen is broken down into another protein called gelatin. Gelatin has important amino acids that promote joint health, such as proline and glycine, that your body uses to build connective tissue, including tendons and ligaments.
Bone broth also has chondroitin and glucosamine – natural beneficial compounds found in cartilage that can decrease joint pain and lessen osteoarthritis symptoms. Collagen has proven to help with rheumatoid arthritis [7] [8] [9] [10] [11].
5) Weight Loss Support!
You might be trying the keto diet to reach your weight loss goals. Studies show bone broth can increase satiety, reduce calorie intake, and lead to weight loss over time. The gelatin promotes feelings of fullness and is more effective for reducing hunger than the casein protein found in dairy [12] [13] [14].
Some research revealed an increase in muscle mass and a reduction in body fat when collagen consumption was combined with resistance training [15].
Do You Consume Bone Broth on Your Keto Diet?
What are your favorite keto bone broth recipes? Do you prefer a simple bone broth soup or blending bone broth into a tasty keto dish?
References
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Beef, Neck Bones, Cooked.
Samonina, G., Lyapina, L., Kopylova, G., Pastorova, V., Bakaeva, Z., Jeliaznik, N., Zuykova, S., & Ashmarin, I. (2000). Protection of gastric mucosal integrity by gelatin and simple proline-containing peptides. Pathophysiology, 7(1), 69-73.
Rapin, J. R., & Wiernsperger, N. (2010). Possible links between intestinal permeability and food processing: A potential therapeutic niche for glutamine. Clinics (Sao Paulo), 65(6), 635-643.
Zhong, Z., Wheeler, M. D., Li, X., Froh, M., Schemmer, P., Yin, M., Bunzendaul, H., Bradford, B., & Lemasters, J. J. (2003). L-glycine: A novel anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and cytoprotective agent. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 6(2), 229-240.
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Towheed, T. E., Maxwell, L., Anastassiades, T. P., Shea, B., Houpt, J., Robinson, V., Hochberg, M. C., & Wells, G. (2005). Glucosamine therapy for treating osteoarthritis. Cochrane Database Systematic Review, (2), CD002946.
Hochberg, M. C., Martel-Pelletier, J., Monfort, J., Moller, I., Castillo, J. R., Arden, N., Berenbaum, F., Blanco, F. J., & Conaghan, P. G. (2016). Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 75(1), 37-44.
Richy, F., Bruyere, O., Ethgen, O., Cucherat, M., Henrotin, Y., & Reginster, J-Y. (2003). Structural and symptomatic efficacy of glucosamine and chondroitin in knee osteoarthritis: A comprehensive meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163(13), 1514-1522.
Kumar, S., Sugihara, F., Suzuki, K., Inoue, N., & Venkateswarathirukumara. (2015). Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 95(4), 702-707.
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Jordan, H. A., Levitz, L. S., Utgoff, K. L., & Lee, H. L. (1981). Role of food characteristics in behavioral change and weight loss.Journal of the American Dietetics Association, 79(1), 24-29.
Rubio, I. G., Castro, G., Zanini, A. C., Medeiros-Neto, G. (2008). Oral ingestion of a hydrolyzed gelatin meal in subjects with normal weight and in obese patients: Postprandial effect on circulating gut peptides, glucose, and insulin.Eating and Weight Disorders, 13(1), 48-53.
ochstenbach-Waelen, A., Westerterp-Plantenga, M. S., Veldhorst, M. A. B., & Westerterp, K. R. (2009).Journal of Nutrition,139(12), 2285-2292.
Zdzieblik, D., Oesser, S., Baumstark, M. W., Gollhofer, A., & Konig, D. (2015). Collagen peptide supplementation in combination with resistance training improves body composition and increases muscle strength in elderly sarcopenic men: A randomized controlled trial.British Journal of Nutrition, 114(8), 1237-1245.
