Bone Broth and Gut Health
Why They Go Hand in Hand
Bone broth has been having a renaissance in the health and wellness world. Celebrities are singing its praises and Instagram alone has over half a million posts with #bonebroth. It has become so popular people are switching out their morning cup of joe for a cup of warm, healing bone broth to start their day. But why has it become so popular?
While bone broth is not a new concept, the health and wellness world is beginning to understand its healing magic, and it could all boil down to one major reason – the gut. Your gut is responsible for more in your body than just processing the food you eat. From your immune system to quality sleep, your gut plays a huge role. One way we are learning to give it the support it needs is from the collagen found in bone broth.
Let’s learn how the traditional healing power of bone broth supports our gut, and, in turn, our whole body.
What Is Bone Broth?
In its simplest form, bone broth is a nutritious liquid made from animal bones, connective tissue, vegetables, acid, and water.
While there are many recipes out there to make your own bone broth, it is important to make sure you use a variety of bones to maximize the number of nutrients, including knuckles, hooves, joints, and feet. You can add oxtail and short ribs for more flavor. You can also add in your vegetable scraps and herbs to improve the taste and nutritional value of your broth.
Bone broth is full of calcium, phosphorus, collagen, omegas, glucosamine, chondroitin, and other nutrients that support your gut and overall health. By slow-cooking your bone broth, all of the nutrients release into the broth. Because broth is easy to digest, it is easy for your body to absorb all of the nutrients and reap all of the benefits.
Bone broth can take up to 24 hours to make on your own, not including the time it takes to source the best quality ingredients for your broth. We get it, life gets hectic, and having the time to commit to homemade bone broth is not always practical.
That’s where Kroma Wellness comes in, bringing you simple ways to include functional superfood nutrition into your life.
Our delicious 24K Chicken Bone Broth is as good as homemade, with the ease of simply mixing it into hot water.
Is There Vegan Bone Broth?
If you are vegan, you may be wondering, “What about me?” Well, while you cannot eat the traditional bone broth, there are ways to get close to the same nutrients in a vegan broth.
Choosing highly nourishing ingredients like seaweed, mushrooms, leafy greens, ginger, fresh herbs, and spices will give you a broth full of vitamins and minerals.
Our Veggie Broth with Miso is enriched with traditional Japanese red miso along with eleven vegetables and herbs to give you a nourishing dose of your daily veggies with a little chocho protein, too.
One protein you are not able to get without animal products is collagen. Luckily, our bodies are pretty amazing and can make their own collagen. We just have to give it the nutrients it needs to support this process. Calcium, zinc, and copper are all important building blocks for collagen and can be found in vegan “bone” broth.
How Does Bone Broth Support Gut Health?
Bone broth is full of nutrients, but the main gut superhero is collagen. Collagen helps heal the lining of the gut. A big job of the gut is to break down the food we eat and pull out the nutrients, which then enter the bloodstream and feed the rest of our body.
These days, the gut has been in the spotlight, and we are learning more and more about its importance for holistic health. The gut holds immune cells, so a healthy gut is a sign of a healthy immune system. There is also the gut-brain barrier, which can affect our mental health and cognitive wellness as well.
May Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation in the gut can cause quite unfavorable symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, or pain and cramping. Inflammation is a natural immune response, but it can become an issue when the body is constantly trying to heal.
The immune response will send out more and more inflammatory cells, in this case to the gut, and it can become a never-ending cycle.
The collagen in bone broth, or the vitamins that help your body create collagen, helps to heal the gut. When your gut is healing, inflammation in the gut is reduced.
May Support Sleep
A healthy gut microbiome can have positive effects on overall sleep. One reason is that the gut is responsible for most of the production and regulation of serotonin, which is important in sleep. By supporting your gut with healing bone broth, your gut will have more resources to produce healthy levels of serotonin.
Glycine is also found in bone broth and is important for sleep health. Not only are you getting the benefits of glycine, but, by supporting your gut with bone broth, your body is also absorbing these nutrients more efficiently.
May Help Combat “Leaky Gut”
A common symptom in many autoimmune diseases, a leaky gut is when the small holes of the intestinal lining become bigger, allowing bacteria, gluten, and food particles to escape.
Some of the main causes of this phenomenon are consuming a lot of sugar, trans fats, and/or heavily processed foods.
Including collagen-rich bone broth in your diet, and making other healthy changes like taking a probiotic supplement or eating gut-healthy foods, can help heal and reverse a leaky gut.
May Help With Nutrient Absorption
When your gut is working to its fullest potential it will pull out nutrients from the food you eat more efficiently. Once these nutrients are pulled out, your body can absorb them more easily. Not only is bone broth providing healing nutrients to your gut, but bone broth is packed full of nutrients for whole-body health. Because bone broth is a liquid, it is easy for your body to process and absorb those nutrients.
Boosts Amino Acids
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are involved in almost every system in the body. Amino acids are made by breaking down protein.
When you provide your body with protein sources, like bone broth or our Veggie Broth With Miso (made with chocho plant protein), you help your body make the amino acids necessary to support different functions like growing and repairing tissue and breaking down food.
What Are Other Benefits of Bone Broth?
Not only does bone broth support gut health, but there are also added benefits to the rest of the body. With its anti-inflammatory properties and collagen, It can help with weight maintenance and support skin, nails, hair, and joints.
May Support and Protect Joints
When looking at bone broth recipes you may find it odd that they all contain an acid, oftentimes apple cider vinegar. This acid helps to break down the connective tissues within the bones. Glucosamine and chondroitin are two healthful compounds that are released into bone broth. These are important for healthy joints and reducing chronic inflammation.
May Support Hair, Skin, and Nail Health
You have probably seen collagen on hair, skin, and nail products, from your local pharmacy's offerings to the most expensive ones you can find. Collagen is important for strength and elasticity in your skin. It helps promote hair and nail growth and strength.
Consuming collagen or collagen-promoting ingredients in an easily digestible way, like bone broth, can improve the health of our hair, skin, and nails.
May Aid Weight Maintenance
With all the protein in bone broth and the little calories it has, it will leave you feeling full longer. Not only does it help with feeling full, but you are also getting many vitamins and minerals for your body to properly function. The anti-inflammatory properties of bone broth can also help you get to, and stay at, your ideal weight when it’s part of a healthy diet and exercise routine.
The Bottom Line
Bone broth is packed full of nutrients, is easily digestible, and can provide you with the collagen you need to support a healthy gut.
You're a vegan? No worries! A good quality veggie broth is full of calcium, zinc, and copper, which your body can use to create collagen.
By healing your gut with bone broth, you may see improvements in inflammation, sleep, and nutrient absorption. You may also enjoy the benefits of healthier skin, hair, nails, and joints.
If you are looking for a way to improve your overall health, look to your gut. We are learning more and more about the importance of how our gut health impacts overall health. Incorporating bone broth into your daily routine can give you the holistic support you have been looking for.
While we all want to live a healthy life, it’s not always easy to find the time to prepare healthy foods. That’s where Kroma Wellness comes in to help. We bring you easy, convenient, superfood products that are so delicious you won't believe they are good for you.
The 5-Day Reset: Deluxe
24K Chicken Bone Broth
Veggie Broth with Plant Protein
24K Beef Bone Broth
Immunity Duo
Immunity+ Trio
Ultimate Immunity Bundle
Dr. Will Cole's Daily Essentials Bundle
