Bone broth contains several compounds with known anti-inflammatory activity, particularly the amino acids glycine and glutamine, but the honest answer is that no human clinical trial has directly tested whether drinking bone broth reduces inflammation in people. The most striking evidence comes from a single mouse study on ulcerative colitis, where bone broth dramatically lowered key inflammatory markers. That result is genuinely interesting, but it sits in a landscape of highly variable broth compositions, isolated nutrient studies, and a near-total absence of controlled human data. The science is more promising than dismissive, and more complicated than the wellness industry suggests.
What Animal Studies Actually Found
The closest thing to a direct test of bone broth’s anti-inflammatory effects is a 2021 study in mice with induced ulcerative colitis. Mice given bone broth preventively showed substantially less intestinal damage and major shifts in inflammatory signaling molecules. Pro-inflammatory cytokines dropped sharply: IL-6 fell by about 95%, TNF-α by roughly 69%, and IL-1β by about 61%. Meanwhile, anti-inflammatory cytokines surged, with IL-10 increasing more than fivefold and IL-4 increasing more than fivefold as well.1PubMed Central. Analysis of the Anti-Inflammatory Capacity of Bone Broth in a Murine Model of Ulcerative Colitis Those are dramatic numbers, and they involved actual bone broth rather than a purified supplement. But mice are not people, the broth was given before the inflammatory injury rather than after, and no one has replicated the experiment in humans with inflammatory bowel disease or any other condition.
A separate line of animal research looked at collagen hydrolysate, a processed form of the collagen that dissolves into broth during cooking. Mice given collagen hydrolysate by mouth showed dose-dependent increases in plasma glycine levels, and inflammation in their ear tissue went down accordingly, with reduced swelling and lower IL-6 production.2Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia. Collagen supplementation as a complementary therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis: a systematic review This supports the idea that collagen-derived amino acids can tamp down inflammation, but the doses used were controlled supplements, not a mug of simmered bones.
The Amino Acids Behind the Claims
When people talk about bone broth being anti-inflammatory, what they are really talking about, whether they know it or not, is glycine and glutamine. These two amino acids are the workhorses of most anti-inflammatory claims, and the research on each one, taken individually, is genuinely interesting.
Glycine has been called the smallest anti-inflammatory micronutrient. It works in part by dialing down nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), a signaling pathway that acts like a master switch for inflammation throughout the body. When NF-κB is overactive, the result is a cascade of pro-inflammatory cytokines and tissue damage. Glycine dampens that cascade. Research also links glycine supplementation to lower levels of free fatty acids and improved insulin signaling, both of which matter for chronic, low-grade inflammation.3PubMed Central. Glycine: The Smallest Anti-Inflammatory Micronutrient The catch is that most of these studies use isolated glycine supplements at known doses, not bone broth.
Glutamine, meanwhile, is best known for its role in maintaining the gut lining. The cells that line your intestines rely heavily on glutamine as fuel. When glutamine is depleted, the tight junctions between intestinal cells weaken, letting bacteria and food particles leak into the bloodstream and trigger inflammation. Supplementing glutamine can reverse this in animal models and in some clinical situations involving critically ill patients or people recovering from surgery.4PubMed. Glutamine and the regulation of intestinal permeability: from bench to bedside The logic connecting glutamine to bone broth is straightforward: bone broth contains glutamine, glutamine helps seal the gut, a sealed gut means less systemic inflammation. Each step of that chain has some evidence behind it. The question is whether a bowl of broth delivers enough glutamine to matter.
The Variability Problem
This is where the story gets uncomfortable for bone broth advocates. The nutrient content of bone broth varies enormously depending on what bones you use, how long you simmer them, whether you add acid, and a dozen other factors. A 2019 study comparing laboratory-prepared and commercially available bone broths found that amino acid levels in standardized recipes were significantly lower than those in a reference dose of collagen supplements for every key amino acid tested, including glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline.5PubMed. Bone Broth Unlikely to Provide Reliable Concentrations of Collagen Precursors Compared With Supplemental Sources of Collagen Used in Collagen Research The researchers concluded that if collagen precursors turn out to be therapeutically useful, bone broth is unlikely to deliver them reliably.
Café-prepared broths were actually the highest in amino acids, probably because restaurants often use larger quantities of bones and longer cooking times, but the variation between batches made it impossible to predict what you were getting. Commercial bone broths from stores ranked lowest overall. A separate analysis of bovine bone broths confirmed that glycine, alanine, proline, glutamic acid, and aspartic acid are the dominant amino acids, but also found that free amino acids, the form your body can most readily absorb, accounted for only about 3 to 10% of the total amino acid content.6Food Chemistry: X. Operational parameters and key characteristics of amino acids and flavor compounds profiles of bovine bone clear and white broths Most amino acids in broth exist in a bound state, meaning your digestive system has to break them down further before they become available.
The mineral story is even more deflating. A study analyzing the elemental composition of various broths found that calcium, copper, iron, and magnesium content generally did not reach even 5% of the recommended daily intake.7European Food Research and Technology. Nutritional insights into broths in relation to elemental composition The idea that bone broth is mineral-rich, which many wellness sources assert, does not hold up well under analysis. Bones are mineral-dense, but surprisingly little of that mineral content transfers to the cooking liquid.
Gut Health and the Barrier Connection
The most plausible route from bone broth to reduced inflammation runs through the gut. A compromised intestinal barrier, sometimes called “leaky gut” in popular health circles, allows bacterial toxins and partially digested proteins to enter the bloodstream, triggering an immune response that shows up as chronic, low-grade inflammation. The amino acids in bone broth, especially glutamine and glycine, are both involved in maintaining that barrier.
A 2025 narrative review pulled together animal and human evidence on bone broth’s gut-related benefits and concluded that its combination of amino acids and minerals supports intestinal barrier function and can help alleviate gut inflammation, with particular relevance to inflammatory bowel disease.8SpringerLink. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease The review framed bone broth as more than a folk remedy, but it is worth noting that narrative reviews synthesize existing findings rather than generating new data, and much of the cited evidence involves individual nutrients studied in isolation rather than whole bone broth consumed as a food.
The practical takeaway is that bone broth’s gut-health reputation is grounded in real biochemistry. Glycine and glutamine do support the intestinal lining, and a healthier gut lining does mean less systemic inflammation. But no one has run a randomized trial where one group drinks bone broth daily and the other drinks a placebo, then measured their inflammatory markers over weeks or months. Until that trial exists, the link between bone broth and reduced gut-derived inflammation remains logical but unproven in humans.
Beyond Inflammation: Bones and Joints
Bone broth is often recommended for joint and bone health, and there is some animal evidence to support this, though it overlaps with the inflammation story. A study using chicken-vegetable bone broth identified hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate, two compounds naturally present in cartilage, in broth fractions. When researchers isolated the fraction containing both, it inhibited the differentiation of cells involved in bone breakdown and, in rats whose ovaries had been removed to mimic postmenopausal bone loss, slowed the progression of osteoporosis. Bone mineral density and bone volume were higher in the broth-treated rats compared to untreated controls.9PubMed. Hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate in chicken-vegetable bone broth delay osteoporosis progression
Hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate are well-known joint-health compounds sold as supplements. Finding them in bone broth makes intuitive sense: they come from cartilage and connective tissue, which dissolve into broth during long simmering. But the amounts present in a typical serving are unknown and likely variable in the same way amino acid content is. The study’s promising results came from a concentrated extract, not from drinking broth out of a bowl. For someone hoping bone broth will protect their joints, the evidence says the right molecules are in there but cannot confirm they are in there at useful levels.
Safety Concerns Worth Knowing About
Bone broth is generally safe, but two issues come up in the research: lead and other heavy metals. Bones accumulate lead over an animal’s lifetime, and there has been concern that simmering them for hours might leach lead into the broth. A 2013 study of organic chicken broth found that both bone broth and broth made from skin and cartilage contained several times the lead concentration of the water used to make them, with levels around 7 to 9.5 micrograms per liter versus under 1 microgram per liter for the plain water.10PubMed. The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets
That sounds alarming, but context matters. A later and more comprehensive study that tested broths from multiple animal sources measured lead, cadmium, and aluminum levels and compared them to established safety thresholds. The doses per serving came in well below the minimal risk levels set by regulatory agencies, with hazard quotients generally below 0.002, meaning the actual health risk from a serving of broth was considered minimal.11PubMed Central. Essential and toxic metals in animal bone broths For most people drinking bone broth in normal quantities, heavy metal exposure is not a practical concern. If you are consuming multiple cups per day as part of a protocol like a bone broth fast, the exposure is still likely well within safe limits, but the data on heavy daily consumption is thin.
How Homemade and Store-Bought Compare
If you are drinking bone broth for its potential anti-inflammatory benefits, the version you choose matters more than you might expect. As mentioned earlier, the amino acid analysis found that commercially available bone broths had lower levels of every measured amino acid compared to home-prepared versions using the same standardized recipe.5PubMed. Bone Broth Unlikely to Provide Reliable Concentrations of Collagen Precursors Compared With Supplemental Sources of Collagen Used in Collagen Research That probably reflects differences in bone-to-water ratio, cooking time, and production shortcuts at commercial scale.
If you are making bone broth at home and want to maximize the potentially useful compounds, a few variables make a real difference. Longer simmering times extract more collagen and amino acids. Adding an acid like vinegar is commonly recommended to help dissolve minerals from bones, though the mineral content of broth remains modest even with acid. Using joints, knuckles, and feet, which are rich in cartilage and connective tissue, tends to yield a more gelatin-rich broth than using bare marrow bones. A broth that sets into a firm gel when cooled is a rough indicator that it is higher in dissolved collagen. None of this guarantees a therapeutically meaningful dose of any single compound, but it does shift the odds in your favor compared to grabbing a carton off the shelf.
What About Plant-Based Broths
For people who avoid animal products but are interested in anti-inflammatory broths, the comparison is not straightforward because the mechanisms are entirely different. Bone broth’s potential benefits come from collagen-derived amino acids and cartilage compounds. Plant-based broths do not contain these. However, certain ingredients used in vegetable broths have their own anti-inflammatory credentials. Mushrooms, for instance, are rich in beta-glucans and phenolic compounds, and research has documented antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties across multiple mushroom varieties.12PubMed Central. Mushrooms as Nutritional Powerhouses: A Review of Their Bioactive Compounds, Health Benefits, and Value-Added Products Turmeric and ginger, common additions to plant-based broths, also have well-studied anti-inflammatory effects through different pathways.
The comparison between bone broth and plant-based broth is really a comparison between two entirely different sets of bioactive compounds acting on different targets. Bone broth delivers glycine, glutamine, and possibly hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate. A mushroom-and-turmeric broth delivers beta-glucans, curcumin, and various polyphenols. Both are warm, hydrating, and easy to digest. Neither has been rigorously tested in humans as a complete food specifically for anti-inflammatory effects. If you enjoy one more than the other, the evidence does not clearly favor either as a proven anti-inflammatory intervention.
Why Human Trials Are So Scarce
Given the enormous popularity of bone broth and the billions of dollars in sales it generates, the absence of human clinical trials is striking. The reason is partly practical and partly economic. Bone broth is a food, not a drug, so there is no patent to protect and no pharmaceutical company willing to fund a large randomized trial. The variability problem makes study design difficult: every batch of bone broth is different, so researchers would either need to standardize the product, which makes the results less applicable to what people actually drink, or accept massive variation between participants, which drowns out any signal in the data.
There is also a philosophical issue. Many of bone broth’s proposed benefits come from individual amino acids and small molecules that have been studied extensively on their own. Glycine’s anti-inflammatory effects are well-characterized in cell and animal models.3PubMed Central. Glycine: The Smallest Anti-Inflammatory Micronutrient Glutamine’s role in gut barrier function has been studied in clinical settings.4PubMed. Glutamine and the regulation of intestinal permeability: from bench to bedside Chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronan are sold as joint supplements with their own bodies of research. What nobody has done is test whether these compounds, delivered together in the specific concentrations and ratios found in bone broth, produce effects that individual supplements do not. It is entirely possible that bone broth’s value lies in the synergy of its components, or that the concentrations are simply too low to matter. Without the trial, we are guessing.
For now, the most accurate thing you can say about bone broth and inflammation is that it contains compounds with demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity, that animal studies using whole bone broth show impressive results, and that nobody has confirmed those results translate to humans drinking broth in real-world quantities. It is a genuinely promising food with genuinely incomplete evidence, which is a less satisfying answer than the internet usually gives you but a more honest one.
When Bone Broth Might Be the Wrong Choice
A few situations are worth flagging. People with histamine intolerance often react poorly to bone broth because slow-cooked foods tend to be high in histamine. If you notice headaches, flushing, or digestive symptoms after drinking broth, histamine may be the culprit, and longer-simmered broths tend to be worse. People on a low-glutamate diet, sometimes recommended for certain neurological conditions, should also be aware that bone broth contains glutamic acid as one of its primary amino acids. And anyone with chronic kidney disease should check with their doctor before adding bone broth as a daily habit, since the protein load and mineral content, even though modest, can be relevant when kidney function is compromised.
For most healthy people, bone broth is a nourishing food that is unlikely to cause harm and may offer some anti-inflammatory support, even if we cannot quantify exactly how much. Treating it as one component of a broadly anti-inflammatory diet, alongside vegetables, fatty fish, fermented foods, and whole grains, is reasonable. Treating it as a standalone anti-inflammatory treatment is getting ahead of the evidence.