The benefits of bone broth for muscle growth, joints & more

Written by Martin Ebner
Updated September 2026

Bone broth has somehow managed to become a soup, a supplement and, for a while, an entire personality.

People claim it builds muscle, repairs joints, heals the gut, reduces inflammation and transforms your skin. That’s an impressive workload for something your gran would recognise as stock.

Bone broth can be nutritious, comforting and genuinely useful. It contains protein, gelatine and various amino acids, but the nutritional value changes enormously between recipes. It isn’t medicine, and it doesn’t become a superfood simply because you drink it from an expensive mug.

Here’s what bone broth may actually do, where the evidence becomes shaky and whether it deserves a place in your diet.

WHAT IS BONE BROTH?

Bone broth is made by simmering animal bones and connective tissue in water, usually with vegetables, herbs and something acidic such as vinegar.

The long cooking process breaks down some of the collagen in the connective tissue into gelatine. Once eaten, that gelatine is digested into amino acids including glycine, proline and hydroxyproline.

Those amino acids don’t travel directly from your bowl to your knees. Your body absorbs them, combines them with the rest of your available nutrients and decides where they’re needed.

A broth that sets like jelly when chilled has extracted plenty of gelatine. That doesn’t tell you exactly how much protein, collagen, calcium or anything else is in each serving.

WHAT ARE THE REAL BENEFITS OF BONE BROTH?

At its simplest, bone broth is a warm, savoury way to consume fluid and a modest amount of protein. It can make meals more satisfying, turn leftovers into something useful and help you eat when your appetite isn’t brilliant.

What it isn’t is a guaranteed multivitamin in liquid form.

The mineral content depends on the bones, recipe, acidity and cooking time. Research examining animal bone broths found that the amounts of calcium and magnesium were generally less than five per cent of the daily requirement per serving. Bone broth shouldn’t be treated as a reliable calcium supplement.

The protein and sodium content can vary just as much. Some commercial products provide a meaningful amount of protein, while others are essentially salty stock. Check the label rather than assuming every carton contains the same thing.

If bone health is your priority, adequate protein, calcium, resistance training and vitamin D matter far more than whether you drink broth. I’ve covered the vitamin side separately in my guide to vitamin D3 and K2.

CAN BONE BROTH SUPPORT YOUR JOINTS?

Bone broth contains compounds used by the body to build connective tissue. That makes a joint benefit plausible, but plausible isn’t the same as proven.

There’s reasonable evidence that standardised collagen derivatives can produce small improvements in pain and function for some people with osteoarthritis. A 2024 analysis of 35 controlled trials found small to moderate benefits, although the studies used measured collagen products rather than random bowls of broth.

We can’t automatically transfer those results to bone broth.

When researchers analysed different broths, they found that the amounts of key collagen-related amino acids varied substantially and were generally lower than the quantities provided by the collagen supplements used in research. Their conclusion was that bone broth isn’t a consistently reliable source of those amino acids.

That doesn’t make it useless. It means you shouldn’t promise that a cup every morning will repair cartilage or remove joint pain.

Persistent pain, swelling, locking or a sudden loss of movement needs a proper assessment. Soup shouldn’t be your diagnostic plan.

IS BONE BROTH GOOD FOR MUSCLE GROWTH?

Bone broth can contribute to your daily protein intake, but it isn’t the best protein for building muscle.

Collagen is low in several essential amino acids and contains much less leucine than proteins such as whey. Leucine helps trigger muscle protein synthesis, while all nine essential amino acids are needed to complete the job.

A 2024 controlled trial comparing whey, pea and collagen supplements found that whey and pea protein increased muscle protein synthesis, while collagen didn’t produce the same response.

That’s why I wouldn’t replace eggs, dairy, meat, fish, soy or a decent complete protein powder with bone broth. Enjoy it as part of your diet, then get most of your protein from foods that provide a stronger essential amino acid profile.

If gaining muscle is the goal, total daily protein, enough energy and progressive training remain the priorities. My guides to how much protein you need and how much muscle you can realistically gain in a month cover that in more detail.

Bone broth can sit beside those things. It can’t replace them.

DOES BONE BROTH HEAL THE GUT?

This is probably the biggest claim attached to bone broth, and one of the easiest to exaggerate.

Its amino acids and gelatine may be relevant to the intestinal barrier, and laboratory and animal research gives scientists a reason to investigate further. A recent review of bone broth and gut health found promising mechanisms, particularly around intestinal barrier function.

What we don’t yet have is strong clinical evidence that ordinary bone broth “seals a leaky gut”, treats inflammatory bowel disease or repairs digestive problems in humans.

If you enjoy it and it agrees with your stomach, carry on. If you have ongoing pain, bleeding, unexplained weight loss or persistent changes in digestion, speak to a medical professional rather than trying to heal yourself with stock.

CAN BONE BROTH HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS?

Possibly, in the same unexciting way that any filling, relatively low-calorie food can help.

A cup of broth before a meal may make you feel more satisfied. Replacing a higher-calorie snack with it may reduce your overall intake. Neither effect means the broth itself burns fat.

It also isn’t automatically low in calories. Recipes containing plenty of meat, marrow or added fat can be much richer than clear commercial broths.

Treat it as food, count what’s actually in it and don’t expect it to override the rest of your diet.

BONE BROTH OR COLLAGEN SUPPLEMENTS?

Bone broth wins on flavour, tradition and making use of food that might otherwise go to waste. A standardised collagen or gelatine product wins on convenience and knowing roughly how much you’re consuming.

They aren’t interchangeable with complete dietary protein, and neither is compulsory.

If you want a measured gelatine powder for cooking, Amandean Premium Grass-Fed Gelatin Powder is still available. It’s unflavoured and works well for thickening soups, making jellies or adding gelatine to recipes without simmering bones for half a day.

That’s a practical cooking recommendation, not a promise that the powder will rebuild your joints or grow your muscles.

If muscle growth is the main target, choose a complete protein first. My comparison of collagen and whey protein explains the difference.

HOW TO CHOOSE A DECENT BONE BROTH

Homemade broth gives you control over the ingredients, but its nutrition will vary from batch to batch. That’s absolutely fine when you’re treating it as food.

With packaged broth, check the protein and sodium per serving. Look at the actual serving size too. A large protein number is less impressive when the manufacturer has quietly defined one serving as the entire carton.

A short ingredient list is usually preferable. Bones, meat, vegetables, herbs, water and salt are enough. You don’t need a wellness ceremony attached.

KEEP THE BROTH, LOSE THE MIRACLES

Bone broth is nutritious food. It can provide fluid, flavour, gelatine and some protein, and it’s a decent way to use ingredients that might otherwise be wasted.

It isn’t a reliable muscle-building protein, a guaranteed joint treatment or a clinically proven cure for gut problems. Its nutritional content varies too much for those promises.

Have it because you enjoy it, because it improves a meal or because a warm bowl makes you feel human on a miserable day. Those are perfectly good reasons. We don’t need to invent better ones.

If this has made you suspicious of every “superfood” in your kitchen, good. Check It Oot is where I investigate the next one before the internet turns it into medicine. One email once or twice a month, and I promise not to make you drink soup for breakfast.