What’s The Difference Between Collagen Powder And Bone Broth?
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It's hard not to notice how collagen supplements (you can get them today in powder, liquid and even gummy form) have exploded on the health and wellness scene. They wouldn't be so popular if people didn't find the benefits of adding a collagen supplement to their daily routine. However, bone broth has also become more popular. So what's the difference between collagen powder and bone broth?
Although collagen powder and bone broth are derived from animals, we'll outline the differences between them, how each is made and the nutritional benefits of both.
Here we go!
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COLLAGEN POWDER AND BONE BROTH: COMPARISON CHART
Collagen Protein Powder | Bone Broth Protein |
|---|---|
made from Skin/hides (bovine) of cows or Fish (marine) Only | Made from bones, joints of animals Only |
No Meat or Bones included (Hides, Joints Included) | No meat or hides/skin included (Bones and Joints Included) |
Concentrated, Bioavailable, Hydrolyzed Collagen Protein | Less Amount of Collagen Protein |
Sometimes Additional Amino Acids Are Added To Powder | Important Minerals And Unique Combination of Amino Acids |
Generally can Target All Parts Of The Body: Skin, Hair, Gut, Bone, Joints | Boosts Immunity, heal Gut And Overall Health |
Versatile, cost-Friendly, Easy to Buy | Comforting, Easy to Make (Although Time consuming), Easy to Buy |
There is a saying that says proteins are the expression of life, and given that the human body is made up of approximately 16% proteins, that certainly makes sense.
Even more important, collagen protein is approximately 30% of those 16% overall proteins in your body.
Each protein molecule in the body is made up on amino acids that string together and are synthesized by outside factors.
For collagen protein, in general, it's made up of a unique amino acid mixture of glycine, proline, hydroxyproline that is synthesized by vitamin C, copper and zinc. These strings of amino acids create long, strong and flexible fibril strands. Think of fibrils like the strands of string in fabric, like a shirt.
As a result, these fibrils combine to form a type of glue of scaffolding that binds cells and holds your body together.
You'll find collagen protein in connective tissue such as the skin and scalp, nails, hair, tendons, ligaments and cartilage. You'll also find it in your eye, your gut, muscles, bones, digestive system and arteries.
Not only does this workhorse protein hold your body together, it also sends out important signals to the rest of the body that helps repair damaged cells and reduce inflammation--which is why collagen often helps to reduce joint pain.
Lastly, you start out life with lots of collagen. Hence, why children have shiny, full hair, taut, smooth skin, strong muscle mass and bones and a healthy digestive system.
What happens as we age? Let's find out how those wrinkles start to appear!
Aging and Collagen
When we start out in life, we have a lot of collagen in our bodies. It's evident in young people's glowing skin, shiny hair, strong nails, ability to eat lots of foods without digestive problems and overall good health.
However, as time goes on, your body naturally slows down collagen production to the tune of approximately 1% per year starting in your late 20s.
Once a woman hits menopause and beyond that 1% collagen drop accelerates even more.
Not only that, you can invite free radicals into your body to damage existing collagen. How you ask?
- By getting too much sun, not eating nutritious foods, drinking too much, too much stress, not enough sleep and smoking.
With this in mind, we see the effects of less collagen by such outward signs like the lack of elasticity in the skin and less hyaluronic acid in the body.
For example, you'll start to see fine line and wrinkles, sagging skin, thinning and brittle hair, eyesight changes, artery weakness, brittle nails, dry skin, achy joints and a problematic gut.
Now you can see why adding collagen protein through supplements or collagen-rich foods can be that 'fountain of youth' you've been looking for!
Bone Broth Explained
Bone broth (or gelatin, which is concentrated bone broth) is derived from the unused parts of animals like the bones and joints to extract out the collagen protein and powerful amino acids for consumption by humans.
This superfood isn't a new creation--it's been around since ancient civilizations. Before modern times, most people used all parts of an animal for many purposes. In this case, they would boil the bones and joints of animals in water for many hours. That resulted in the extraction of amino acids and collagen into the broth.
This broth was used for flavoring of other food, boost immunity and healing from sickness, serve to tide over during time when food was lean and provide comfort and warmth.
You probably are most familiar with bone broth as your mother or grandmother may have made chicken soup for when you were sick. They don't call chicken soup the 'Jewish penicillin' for nothing!
Bone broth isn't only good for when you're sick though. It's a good idea to add it to your daily routine to support good health and your anti-aging efforts.
Difference Between Collagen Powder and Bone Broth
How Is Collagen Powder Made?
To be clear, a collagen powder supplement is also referred to as collagen peptides or hydrolyzed collagen. Why are those terms also used? We're going to explain...
Collagen powder is made from the hides (skin) of cows (bovine) or scales from fish (marine). (It is not made from the bones of these animals--only the skin.) The skin of animals is processed into a gelatin (concentrated collagen).
At this point, the collagen protein is too large to be absorbed by the body (meaning it's not bioavailable).
To make the protein bioavailable, the gelatin is broken down into smaller molecules called peptides through hydrolyzation (water) and then processed into a powder.
The final product is a powder that has a high concentration of collagen protein.
You don't have to worry about any bad tastes or smell of the powder! The hydrolyzation process removes both.
As a result, you can mix the powder into liquids or food, put into a capsule, pill or tablet and added to ready-made drinks.
The Benefits of Collagen Supplements
Those who have increased their collagen protein powder intake through a supplement can expect to experience some or all of these benefits:
Skin health
Collagen supplements have been shown to improve skin's elasticity and hydration. Both of these help to smooth and plump the skin, which in turn reduces the look and severity of wrinkles and fine lines.
Joint pain
Collagen hydrolysate supplements can help preserve the collagen in the cartilage and reduce inflammation and thereby reduce nagging joint pain and ache.
Prevent bone loss
Your bones are also made up of a lot of collagen protein fibrils. Adding collagen through a supplement may help keep your bones stronger so as to avoid weak and brittle bones.
Increase muscle mass
Muscle tissue contains approximately 1-10% of collagen. If you add more collagen to your diet, it may help increase the muscle mass and keep them strong and working correctly.
Heart health
Collagen is important to arteries as it helps to provide structure. A 2017 study showed that additional collagen in your diet can return some structure to your arteries so blood moves more freely throughout your body.
Weight loss/weight maintenance
Although there are no studies to prove that collagen by itself can cause weight loss, collagen protein can help keep you fuller longer. Therefore, you may not want to eat as much, which will decrease your overall calorie consumption.
In addition, protein has been shown to increase metabolism, which burns more calories.
Not all collagen supplements are created equal. Make sure you check our complete guide to the best hydrolyzed collagen supplements reviews.
How Is Bone Broth Made?
It was common practice for your ancestors to use all parts of the animal--from tip-to-tail as it's called. These parts include the bones and joints sourced from pork, beef, veal, turkey, lamb, bison, buffalo, venison or chicken.
As we mentioned above, the bones and joints from animals are/were boiled for hours (recommended simmering for at least 10+ hours). What's left behind is a nutritious and powerful concentration of bovine collagen (or chicken or other animal) gelatin (concentrated collagen) with crucial minerals and amino acids.
TIP: You can also buy instant bone broth powder that is super convenient and can be mixed into a liquid.
Prepared bone broth contains important minerals such as chondroitin sulfate, hyaluronic acid, calcium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus and sodium. Also, it contains vitamins A and K.
Not only that, but bone broth contains a unique combination of amino acids: glycine, proline, hydroxyproline and arginine. These four amino acids are the building blocks to make new collagen protein.
However, it's important to realize there isn't much collagen protein in bone broth. You'd have to drink quite a good amount of bone broth to get the collagen concentration in a powder supplement.
As a matter of fact, there was a study conducted that confirmed bone broth isn't the best source of collagen protein peptides.
Bone broth (especially bone broth protein powder) is easy to transport and consume and cheap to make at home, although time-consuming.
As a result, many folks make a batch of liquid bone broth at home and also stock up on high-quality, ready-made bone broth or bone broth powder to mix into liquids or food.
For your convenience, check out our reviews of ready-made or powder versions of high-quality bone broth on the market today.
The Benefits of Drinking Bone Broth
You're going to love adding bone broth to your daily routine, for lunch, a snack or part of your bedtime routine. Here are other some of the important benefits of bone broth:
Gut health
Proline and glutamine, amino acids in bone broth, can help with your leaky gut health.
- Proline can help improve digestion and lower toxins.
- Glutamine can help protect your intestinal lining
Healthy hair
Proline is one of the main amino acids in bone broth and is also the main amino acid in keratin. Keratin is a protein that is heavily concentrated in your hair strands.
Increase human growth hormone
Glycine was shown in this study to encourage the pituitary gland to secrete human growth hormone that can help keep your vitality and youthful look. As we mentioned, glycine is one of the important amino acids in bone broth.
Improve sleep
Another job of glycine is to help with sleep in these ways:
- Helps you fall asleep
- Reduces instances of insomnia
- Improves the quality of your sleep
Aids in weight loss/weight management
The collagen protein contained in bone broth can help you feel fuller for a longer period of time. Because you won't feel hungry, you'll eat fewer and that means you'll eat less calories. In general, fewer calories leads to weight loss.
So Which Is Better: Bone Broth or Collagen Peptides?
As we mentioned above, either bone broth or collagen peptides would be a healthy option to add to your daily routine. It really comes down to what your goals are.
- If your goal is to target specific areas in your body like skin, hair, joints, gut, bones and muscles, then collagen powder/peptides would be the better option. It contains a lot more concentrated grams of collagen sourced from the hides or skin from animals.
- If you're more interested in boosting your immune system and overall health, then bone broth from the bones and joints of animals would be a better choice.
Here's How You Can Get the Best Nutrition Of Both
Here's an idea...how about if you made bone broth, or use ready-made, and then add collagen powder into the broth?
You'll get the best of all worlds in a delicious, satisfying drink. Your superfood drink will give you the amino acid powerhouse combination and minerals in bone broth and concentrated hydrolyzed collagen powder.
Or, buy a bone broth collagen supplement that is so convenient and cost effective since you don't have to buy or make two different products.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In this article, we wanted to answer this question: What's the difference between collagen powder and bone broth?
Our goal was to help explain about collagen, what it is and how it helps the body. Ditto on bone broth.
Both a collagen supplement and bone broth can offer desired benefits if you're interested in supporting your overall health and wellness--from your immune system to weight management to joint health.
Furthermore, both can help rejuvenate your skin, smooth out wrinkles and fine lines, support sagging skin and return that youthful glow you enjoyed in the past.
Depending on your goals, collagen may be better than bone broth or vice versa. However, because both collagen and bone broth have exploded on the health, wellness and skincare scene, you can easily get a product that offers the benefits of both in one.
We hope you found this article useful and will take the next steps to stay looking and feeling young, no matter what your age today!