Boil an animal's stripped carcass until the connective tissue disintegrates and the bones, leached to exhaustion, may crumble under light pressure. The result is bone broth, a pricey wellness drink. Yet the stuff is becoming increasingly popular, thanks in part to praise from celebrities. Enthusiasts claim it curbs overeating and is good for the skin, bones and gut. What, though, does the research say?
Start with weight loss. Bone broth contains protein, which can promote the release of appetite-suppressing "satiety hormones" such as cholecystokinin, peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Studies have also shown protein reduces the stomach's production of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger. Evidence that bone broth actually provides enough for weight loss, however, is almost as thin as the drink itself.
In one trial, published in June 2025 in Clinical Nutrition Open Science, 64 obese adults shed an average of 7.4kg after a bone-broth-rich diet, while also gaining muscle mass. But as the participants took regular light exercise throughout the trial, and no control group was included, it is possible a similar regimen without bone broth might produce comparable results.
Swigging bone broth may, as many devotees contend, trim appetite by creating a sensation of fullness. A paper in Appetite in 2007 found that "preloading" with soups before a lunch main course did cut total caloric intake by a fifth. That trial, however, did not test bone broth, which suggests that any watery food can be used for this hack.
What about skin and bones? Bone broth, boosters note, contains collagen, the main structural protein in those tissues. Some clinical trials have found collagen supplements can boost bone density in postmenopausal women. But bone broth's collagen content is typically well below the doses used in supplement studies. Bone broth is not a great source of calcium, iron or magnesium, either. An analysis of 30 preparations of bone broth, published in 2024 in European Food Research and Technology, the authors wrote, "generally contradicted the popular narrative". Servings provided less than 5% of the recommended daily intakes of those minerals.
Bone broth does beat collagen supplements on nutritional breadth. Compounds released during simmering, for example, include glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate. Some research suggests these may lessen joint pain in people with osteoarthritis, a condition in which cartilage breaks down. Results, though, have been inconsistent.
The amino acids in bone broth may also have benefits. Consider a small trial reported in Medicina in 2021. Researchers in Mexico fed six mice bovine bone broth for ten days. Another six were given water instead. Acids (of the non-amino kind) were then rectally administered to cause colonic lesions. The control group's colons became highly inflamed and suffered "severe architectural distortion". In the mice given bone broth, inflammation and damage were moderate. Bone broth's amino acids, the researchers suggested, may have curbed inflammation enough to limit the mice's injuries. Whether a similar process is at play in humans will take time to investigate.
In short, although some of bone broth's purported benefits are plausible, evidence remains sparse. Much clearer is that the stuff is wholesome and, for many, comforting. So feel free to indulge: the only harm bone broth will do is to your wallet.