Bone Broth: Benefits, Nutrition, Recipes & How to Make It

Bone broth is made by simmering the bones, cartilage and connective tissue of chicken, beef, lamb or fish for many hours, until the collagen they hold melts into the water as gelatin, along with amino acids such as glycine, proline and glutamine.19 It's one of the most healing foods of all time, because it gives your gut lining, joints and skin the very building blocks they're made of.23

Nearly a third of the protein in your body is collagen, yet most of us eat the muscle meat and throw away the bones, skin and cartilage, the parts richest in it.10 So when your digestion feels off, your joints ache or your skin starts losing its bounce, part of what's behind it can be a body running short on the raw materials it repairs itself with. Bone broth puts those parts back on your plate, in a warm cup that's gentle on your stomach.

Around 2016, when I was writing about bone broth and collagen, I started using broth with patients to help them heal from chronic digestive issues.11 Today it's a daily food in four of my protocols, from gut healing to longevity, and it's simple enough to make in any kitchen.312613

Did you know?

• Collagen makes up about 30% of the protein in your body, and glycine sits at every third position along its chain, which is why collagen-rich foods like bone broth are so rich in glycine.914

• In a food survey of 1,500 Irish adults, people ate only about 3.2 grams of collagen a day on average, and adults 65 and older about 2.9 grams.15

• One modeling study estimated that the glycine your body makes, plus what a typical diet supplies, may fall about 10 grams a day short of what collagen building calls for.16

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What is bone broth?

Cooks use the words loosely, but the difference comes down to what goes in the pot and how long it stays there. A broth is usually simmered from meat for an hour or two and a stock from bones for a few hours. Bone broth simmers bones, joints and cartilage for a day or more, which pulls far more gelatin out of them. That long simmer is also why bone broth is so gentle on your stomach: its protein arrives already dissolved in a warm liquid.

A short history of bone broth

Bone broth has been used for thousands of years for health, for immunity and for longevity.17 In Chinese medicine, it was recommended with most of your meals, alongside carrots, celery and sweet potato.2 Chicken soup, meanwhile, earned a reputation as a remedy for colds that has lasted so long that modern researchers have tested it, both in the lab and in people.1819 Until recently, though, broth had almost disappeared from the modern diet.1

Types of bone broth: chicken, beef, fish and more

Any clean animal with bones can go into the pot (pork bones and shellfish stay out), and each one makes a slightly different broth.

Chicken bone broth

As I said in a show on supplements for adults over 40, "Chicken broth in particular might be the most beneficial because not only does it have collagen, it also has glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid."17 When researchers analyzed a chicken-vegetable bone broth, they found hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate in it. In rats with bone loss modeled on menopause, that broth raised bone mineral density.20 Chicken feet, necks and wings are the gelatin-rich parts (the collagen in them is the kind described in our guide to chicken collagen), and our chicken bone broth recipe uses all three, so it sets firmly when it chills. Cracking the bones of a roast chicken carcass before they go in lets the marrow simmer into the broth too.

Beef bone broth

Beef bone broth has a deeper, roasted flavor, and it's the leanest of the three, with 31 calories, 4.73 grams of protein and 444 milligrams of potassium in a cup of USDA's homemade beef stock.21 For the supplement form of the same protein, see our guide to bovine collagen. In the pot, knucklebones and other joint bones carry the cartilage that makes a beef broth gel, and our beef bone broth recipe roasts them first for flavor.

Fish bone broth

Fish broth is the quickest to make and the lightest to drink. Use the heads and frames of fish with fins and scales, such as cod, halibut or salmon. A cup of USDA's homemade fish stock brings 5.27 grams of protein, 10% of the daily value for phosphorus and 67% for vitamin B12.22 Its collagen is the kind sold as fish collagen.

Lamb, goat and turkey broth

Lamb and goat bones make a rich, savory broth and are handled like beef: roast them first, then simmer them low. Turkey works just like chicken, and the carcass from a holiday turkey makes one of the best pots of the year (the recipe is below).

Bone broth nutrition facts (per cup)

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy records for home-prepared stock (chicken FDC ID 172884, beef 172883, fish 172885) at each record's 1-cup weight; % Daily Value uses FDA adult label values. USDA keeps no separate record for 24-hour bone broth.232122

What stands out in that table is how much protein broth delivers for so few calories: beef stock gives you 4.73 grams for 31 calories, about 15 grams of protein per 100 calories.21 Broth also carries potassium, phosphorus and some magnesium, along with the sodium that helps you hold on to fluid.232122 Even with vinegar in the pot, calcium and magnesium stayed under 5% of daily needs per serving in lab tests of bone broths.24 So lean on leafy greens and other calcium-rich foods for that mineral, and let broth do what it does best, which is to bring you gelatin, glycine and protein in a warm, easy cup.

Collagen, gelatin and glycine in bone broth

Gelatin keeps collagen's unusual amino acid profile, heavy in glycine and proline, which your body uses to build and repair its own collagen in skin, cartilage, tendons and the gut lining.14 That makes bone broth one of the richest everyday food sources of glycine and proline. It also brings glutamine, an amino acid your gut cells use for fuel, which our guide to L-glutamine explains in more detail.25 Broth sits at the top of our list of the best collagen-rich foods, for exactly these reasons.

How bone broth works in your body

Chinese medicine has a principle called like supports like: eat the tissue you want to support, and bone broth may be the clearest example of it.26 When you drink it, your gut, joints and skin get the same building materials they're made of, a little like patching an old brick wall with bricks from the same kiln.

Your gut lining is where those materials go to work. Its cells are held together by tight junctions, the seals that keep nutrients from leaking away and help keep inflammation down, and I recommend amino acid-rich foods like bone broth, collagen and bovine or fish gelatin to support them.10

Glycine does a second job your liver depends on. It's one of the three building blocks of glutathione, the antioxidant your liver uses to detoxify, and a 2018 review argued that the glycine in your diet may set the limit on how much glutathione you make.27

Bone broth benefits: what it's good for

Bone broth in Chinese medicine

Long before anyone measured glycine, Traditional Chinese Medicine treated broth as a food that warms you and builds you back up. Its guidance for a struggling gut is written right into the Healing Leaky Gut Protocol: "A healing gut prefers warm, cooked, soft foods over raw, cold, or fibrous ones."3

Broth also nourishes your deeper reserves in Chinese medicine terms. On my show, I've described it this way: "Bone broth is very nourishing to the adrenals and the kidneys."43 When your thyroid is low, Chinese medicine says to warm your body, so I recommend drinking both chicken and beef bone broth and making soups your most common meal.43

Chinese medicine also has a rule of thumb for colds and other viruses: eat a lot of light yellow foods, such as garlic, onion, chicken broth and miso soup, which tend to be immune-activating.4441 A golden chicken broth with garlic, onion, ginger and a spoonful of miso is that idea in a single bowl, and it's the base of the immune soup below.

How to make bone broth at home

Making bone broth takes a few minutes of work and a long, slow simmer, and the bones you choose matter more than anything else. For chicken, use necks, feet, wings or the carcass from a roast chicken, ideally from pasture-raised birds. For beef, use a mix of knucklebones, marrow bones and oxtail, ideally from grass-fed cattle. The feet, necks and knuckles count most, because their cartilage and connective tissue are what give a broth its gel.

Beef and lamb bones taste best blanched and roasted first, while chicken and fish bones can go straight into the pot. Add carrots, celery, onion and garlic (the peels can stay on), bay leaves, peppercorns and fresh herbs, then cover everything with cold filtered water and add a splash of apple cider vinegar. Vinegar earns its place in the pot, because in lab tests, acidifying a bone broth raised the calcium and magnesium drawn out of the bones 17.4- and 15.3-fold, and simmering longer than 8 hours drew out more still.24

Keep the pot at a bare simmer, chicken for 24 to 48 hours and beef for 24 to 36, skimming off the foam and fat that rise and adding water so the bones stay covered. Then strain it into shallow containers and refrigerate it promptly, and the fat will harden on top so you can lift it off. A broth that sets like jelly in the fridge tells you it's full of gelatin. Homemade broth keeps 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and 2 to 3 months in the freezer, the federal food safety guidance for soups and stews.45 Freeze what you won't use in a few days in jars or ice-cube trays.

Pressure cooker or slow cooker?

A slow cooker is the easiest way to hold a pot at a gentle simmer for a day or two, and both recipes above fit a 10-quart cooker on low. An electric pressure cooker gets you a lighter broth in an hour or two, and it's the version I suggest for people who are sensitive to histamine, as the safety section below explains.8 For more ways to cook it, see our collection of bone broth recipes.

How much bone broth should you drink a day?

In the Healing Leaky Gut Protocol, you start in the Replace step by sipping 8 to 16 ounces a day, warm, between meals, and you continue daily in the Repair step, ideally 16 ounces.3 For everyday health, the Mitochondrial Longevity Protocol keeps it at 8 ounces most days.6 Every single day, I recommend either drinking bone broth or having collagen, whether that's a supplement or a protein that contains it.2 Our guide to how much bone broth to drink a day walks through the amounts for different goals.

How much collagen a mug delivers depends on the pot. In a lab analysis of commercial and homemade bone broths, amino acid levels varied widely from recipe to recipe, with café-made broths running highest and homemade broths ahead of store-bought ones. A broth made to one standard recipe carried less glycine, proline and hydroxyproline than the 20-gram dose of collagen used in research.46 So on the days you want more, stir a spoonful of bovine or fish gelatin or a scoop of collagen into your mug. Gelatin has been tested that way: in a study of 8 men who each tried all three drinks, 15 grams of gelatin with vitamin C an hour before exercise raised a blood marker of collagen building 153%, against 53.9% with a placebo drink.47

Timing is flexible. Between meals works well while you're healing your gut, and a warm cup or a warm breakfast smoothie is a gentle way to start the day. The evening is the time to drink it if better sleep is your goal.387

How to use bone broth: recipes and ideas

The simplest way to use bone broth is to sip it warm from a mug with a pinch of sea salt. Once you have a pot in the fridge, it finds its way into almost everything you cook.

That last idea comes straight from my own practice, because when I started writing about bone broth, I started having patients do a bone broth fast, where they would just drink bone broth and herbal tea and do a form of intermittent fasting with it, and the results people saw were fantastic.11

For a gut-repair week, the base of your diet should be soups. Think of a classic chicken vegetable soup with a few tweaks: organic chicken, bone broth, celery and carrots, a little grated ginger and a pinch of sea salt, plus onions if you do okay with them (skip them if you have SIBO).8

When I'm sick, I make an immune soup with chicken bone broth, chicken, carrots, celery, onion and garlic. I grate in ginger and add thyme, oregano, sage and a big tablespoon of yellow miso,40 and I'd throw mushrooms in there too.44 Here it is with amounts.

After a holiday feast, my advice is simple: "For a few days, go easy on the sweets. Focus on more soups, a lot of bone broth, a lot of vegetables and a lot of berries after going higher in carbs and higher in fat during the holidays."48 The turkey carcass from a holiday dinner makes a rich broth for exactly that week, and our leftover turkey recipes help with the rest of the bird.

For a warm breakfast, rather than a frozen fruit smoothie in the morning, I have patients blend a sweet potato or pumpkin smoothie with a scoop of collagen or bone broth protein, about 20 grams, and drink it at room temperature or warm.8

Homemade vs. store-bought: how to choose the best bone broth

Homemade is the gold standard, because you choose the bones, the water and the length of the simmer. When you buy bone broth, read the label the way you'd read a recipe.

• Bones up top. Chicken bones, beef bones, chicken feet or fish frames should be named at the top of the ingredient list, right after the water.

• A short list. Bones, water, vegetables, herbs, vinegar and salt are all a broth needs.

• No stand-ins. Skip broths that lean on natural flavors, yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein or added MSG for their taste.

• Good animals. Look for bones from pasture-raised or organic animals.

• Sodium per cup. Compare it across cartons, or buy unsalted broth and season it yourself.

• Protein per cup. A richer broth lists more protein, and a broth that gels in the fridge is full of gelatin.

Our guide to the best bone broth sources goes deeper on shopping.

Bone broth protein powder and other forms

Bone broth also comes dried, as powdered broth you stir into hot water, as capsules, and as bone broth protein powder, which is broth concentrated into a protein supplement. A protein powder made from bone broth counts toward your protein for the day. In the warm breakfast I have patients with low thyroid make, a bone broth or collagen protein and a plant protein together get them to about 30 to 40 grams of protein.43 Read those labels the same way you'd read a carton: bones named as the source, no added flavors or fillers, and the protein per serving listed plainly.

Bone broth side effects and who should go easy

For most people, homemade bone broth is simply good food, and a few people do better making it a different way or choosing a different bone.

Histamine sensitivity. Some people with histamine intolerance don't do well with bone broth, because a long cook or a lot of vinegar leaves more histamine in the pot. If that's you, make a short batch, an hour or two in a pressure cooker with no vinegar, or use a simple chicken stock. That sort of broth most everyone tolerates, even people with histamine trouble and SIBO.8

Lead. Bones store lead, and in a small blinded test of three organic chicken broths, the broths carried several times the lead of the tap water they were made with, up to 9.5 micrograms per liter against 0.89.49 Broader testing is reassuring, though, since an analysis of animal bone broths found a few micrograms of lead per serving and judged the risk minimal, and UK government tests of beef stock found little lead moving out of the bone.2450 Make your broth with filtered water, since tap water was the main lead source in boiled potatoes in those same UK kitchen tests, and rotate your chicken, beef and fish broths.50 Vinegar raised lead only slightly, so keep the splash.24

Allergies. Beef broth carries bovine gelatin, which can trigger alpha-gal (red meat) allergy. Of 40 people with red meat allergy in one study, 30 were also sensitized to gelatin, and alpha-gal was found in bovine gelatin.51 Fish broth can trigger fish allergy, and in one documented case, hydrolyzed fish collagen caused anaphylaxis.52 If either applies to you, make chicken or turkey broth instead.

Sodium. USDA's records for homemade stock list 343 to 475 milligrams of sodium a cup.2321 If you're watching sodium for blood pressure, compare the per-cup sodium on store-bought labels, or make your own and salt it to taste.

Kidney stones. Large added loads of gelatin raise oxalate in the urine. In a controlled-diet study of 10 healthy adults, 30 grams of gelatin a day for 5 days raised urinary oxalate 43% compared with whey protein, while 1 to 2 grams didn't.53 If you form calcium-oxalate kidney stones, enjoy your broth, keep added gelatin or collagen powders modest and drink plenty of water.

Fasting. If you're pregnant or nursing, managing diabetes or another condition, taking daily medication or have any history of disordered eating, talk with your doctor before a broth-only fast, and choose the gentlest form, such as an overnight fast.54

Interaction check: Low. Bone broth has no documented drug interactions, and if you're on a fluid limit for heart or kidney care, count your broth toward it.

The bottom line

Bone broth: frequently asked questions

References

1. Axe J. Ancient Remedies. Little, Brown Spark; 2021. Chapter "Meals Are Medicine," p. 94 (bone broth).
2. Axe J. The BIGGEST Causes of Fast-Aging Skin (How to Reverse Aging). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2025 ("one of the most healing foods of all time" at 12:06; chicken broth, proline and glycine at 24:52; every day at 25:09; Chinese medicine at 32:58; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsTht-zHz-U&t=726s).
3. Axe J. Healing Leaky Gut: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (p. 15, "Foods That Heal": "1 Bone broth Glycine, glutamine, collagen — the building blocks of new gut lining" and the TCM principle; Replace step, "Bone broth daily — sip warm between meals, 8–16 oz"; Repair step, "Bone broth — continue daily, ideally 16 oz" and "Bone broth — large daily intake").
4. Ray ML, Bryan MW, Ruden TM, et al. Effect of sodium in a rehydration beverage when consumed as a fluid or meal. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1998;85(4):1329-36. doi:10.1152/jappl.1998.85.4.1329. PMID:9760324
5. Thomas C, Kingshott RN, Allott KM, et al. Collagen peptide supplementation before bedtime reduces sleep fragmentation and improves cognitive function in physically active males with sleep complaints. Eur J Nutr. 2024;63(1):323-335. doi:10.1007/s00394-023-03267-w. PMID:37874350
6. Axe J. The Mitochondrial Longevity Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (p. 21, 7-day meal plan and daily drinks: "Bone broth — 8 oz most days"; Phase 1 eat-freely list).
7. Axe J. The Truth About Cortisol Face and The Exact Steps To Fix It. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (bone broth in the evening for sleep at 34:31; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xJRhK-04k8&t=2071s).
8. Axe J. How to Heal Your Gut in 30 Days. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2025 ("number one food for most people is bone broth" at 46:21; histamine and the short pressure-cooker batch at 46:28; soups as the base of the repair phase and his gut-repair chicken vegetable soup at 47:44; the warm breakfast smoothie he has patients make at 58:38; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehASjzDVW5Y&t=2781s).
9. Shoulders MD, Raines RT. Collagen structure and stability. Annu Rev Biochem. 2009;78:929-58. doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.77.032207.120833. PMID:19344236
10. Axe J, Cole W. Heal Your Cells. Avery; 2026. ISBN 9798217181353 (collagen as nearly one-third of the body's protein while most people eat almost exclusively muscle meat; "Step 3. Rebuild the gut barrier": bone broth, collagen or gelatin for the tight junctions of the intestinal lining).
11. Axe J, Petrucci K. The Real Reason Your Gut Won't Heal (And How Bone Broth Fixes It) | Dr. Kellyann Petrucci. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (using bone broth with patients at 2:42; patients' bone broth fast at 5:13; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mitZMXMzRx4&t=162s).
12. Axe J. The Anti-Inflammatory Reset: The 30-Day Healing Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (p. 22, daily foods table: "Bone broth · 1 cup daily · Glycine and collagen for the gut lining and joints").
13. Axe J. The SIBO Protocol. DrAxe.com protocol. 2026 (p. 22, "Top 10 SIBO-friendly foods": bone broth, 1 cup daily).
14. Ricard-Blum S. The collagen family. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2011;3(1):a004978. doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a004978. PMID:21421911
15. Nulty CD, Walton J, Erskine RM. Habitual Dietary Collagen Intake Is Lower in Females and Older Irish Adults Compared with Younger Males. J Nutr. 2025;155(5):1408-1416. doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2025.03.002. PMID:40058700
16. Meléndez-Hevia E, De Paz-Lugo P, Cornish-Bowden A, et al. A weak link in metabolism: the metabolic capacity for glycine biosynthesis does not satisfy the need for collagen synthesis. J Biosci. 2009;34(6):853-72. doi:10.1007/s12038-009-0100-9. PMID:20093739
17. Axe J. 11 Supplements Every 40+ Adult Should Consider. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (bone broth and chicken broth at 16:20-16:51; glycine at 17:21; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNhI28uezc8&t=993s).
18. Rennard BO, Ertl RF, Gossman GL, et al. Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro. Chest. 2000;118(4):1150-7. doi:10.1378/chest.118.4.1150. PMID:11035691
19. Saketkhoo K, Januszkiewicz A, Sackner MA. Effects of drinking hot water, cold water, and chicken soup on nasal mucus velocity and nasal airflow resistance. Chest. 1978;74(4):408-10. doi:10.1378/chest.74.4.408. PMID:359266
20. Seki Y, Ohkuma RC, Miyakawa Y, et al. Hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate in chicken-vegetable bone broth delay osteoporosis progression. J Food Sci. 2024;89(3):1791-1803. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.16962. PMID:38317402
21. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Soup, stock, beef, home-prepared (SR Legacy, FDC ID 172883; NDB 6170; 1 cup = 240 g). FoodData Central. Accessed November 4, 2026.
22. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Soup, stock, fish, home-prepared (SR Legacy, FDC ID 172885; NDB 6174; 1 cup = 233 g). FoodData Central. Accessed November 4, 2026.
23. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Soup, stock, chicken, home-prepared (SR Legacy, FDC ID 172884; NDB 6172; 1 cup = 240 g). FoodData Central. Accessed November 4, 2026.
24. Hsu DJ, Lee CW, Tsai WC, et al. Essential and toxic metals in animal bone broths. Food Nutr Res. 2017;61(1):1347478. doi:10.1080/16546628.2017.1347478. PMID:28804437
25. Matar A, Abdelnaem N, Camilleri M. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease. Dig Dis Sci. 2025;70(6):1951-1961. doi:10.1007/s10620-025-08997-x. PMID:40180691
26. Axe J. Complete Guide to Healing Leaky Gut Naturally. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (bone broth, glycine, proline and hydroxyproline, "like supports like" at 33:05-33:35; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y4g5CgMDoU&t=1985s).
27. McCarty MF, O'Keefe JH, DiNicolantonio JJ. Dietary Glycine Is Rate-Limiting for Glutathione Synthesis and May Have Broad Potential for Health Protection. Ochsner J. 2018;18(1):81-87. PMID:29559876
28. Zhou Q, Verne ML, Fields JZ, et al. Randomised placebo-controlled trial of dietary glutamine supplements for postinfectious irritable bowel syndrome. Gut. 2019;68(6):996-1002. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2017-315136. PMID:30108163
29. Liang CW, Cheng HY, Lee YH, et al. Efficacy and safety of collagen derivatives for osteoarthritis: A trial sequential meta-analysis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2024;32(5):574-584. doi:10.1016/j.joca.2023.12.010. PMID:38218227
30. Pu SY, Huang YL, Pu CM, et al. Effects of Oral Collagen for Skin Anti-Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2023;15(9). doi:10.3390/nu15092080. PMID:37432180
31. Kawai N, Sakai N, Okuro M, et al. The sleep-promoting and hypothermic effects of glycine are mediated by NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2015;40(6):1405-16. doi:10.1038/npp.2014.326. PMID:25533534
32. Axe J. Why SLEEP is Medicine: My 4 Tips to Improve Energy. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (bone broth before bed and glycine at 39:32; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmTNCfQO8_g&t=2372s).
33. Mar-Solís LM, Soto-Domínguez A, Rodríguez-Tovar LE, et al. Analysis of the Anti-Inflammatory Capacity of Bone Broth in a Murine Model of Ulcerative Colitis. Medicina (Kaunas). 2021;57(11). doi:10.3390/medicina57111138. PMID:34833355
34. Taylor G, Leonard A, Tang JCY, et al. The effects of collagen peptides on exercise-induced gastrointestinal stress: a randomized, controlled trial. Eur J Nutr. 2023;62(2):1027-1039. doi:10.1007/s00394-022-03051-2. PMID:36370176
35. Clark KL, Sebastianelli W, Flechsenhar KR, et al. 24-Week study on the use of collagen hydrolysate as a dietary supplement in athletes with activity-related joint pain. Curr Med Res Opin. 2008;24(5):1485-96. doi:10.1185/030079908x291967. PMID:18416885
36. Myung SK, Park Y. Effects of Collagen Supplements on Skin Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Am J Med. 2025;138(9):1264-1277. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2025.04.034. PMID:40324552
37. Papakonstantinou E, Roth M, Karakiulakis G. Hyaluronic acid: A key molecule in skin aging. Dermatoendocrinol. 2012;4(3):253-8. doi:10.4161/derm.21923. PMID:23467280
38. Bannai M, Kawai N. New therapeutic strategy for amino acid medicine: glycine improves the quality of sleep. J Pharmacol Sci. 2012;118(2):145-8. doi:10.1254/jphs.11r04fm. PMID:22293292
39. Bannai M, Kawai N, Ono K, et al. The effects of glycine on subjective daytime performance in partially sleep-restricted healthy volunteers. Front Neurol. 2012;3:61. doi:10.3389/fneur.2012.00061. PMID:22529837
40. Axe J. How to Prevent & Heal Cold & Flu Naturally (Foods, Supplements, & Herbs for Rapid Recovery). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (chicken broth for every meal when sick at 26:41; his immune soup recipe at 28:11; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw-cciZ5TTY&t=1601s).
41. Axe J. How to Boost Your Immune System Naturally | Q&A with Dr. Josh Axe. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2023 (light-yellow foods at 04:12; chicken bone broth, his mom and the ancient Chinese sick-day remedy at 16:47-17:23; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9HNcZRXZbs&t=1017s).
42. Barbaresi S, Blancquaert L, Nikolovski Z, et al. Ergogenic effect of pre-exercise chicken broth ingestion on a high-intensity cycling time-trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021;18(1):15. doi:10.1186/s12970-021-00408-6. PMID:33588872
43. Axe J. How to Heal Hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's Naturally. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (warming the body with soups in Chinese medicine at 40:54; bone broth "very nourishing to the adrenals and the kidneys" at 41:23; the breakfast he has patients make, with a bone broth or collagen protein for about 30 to 40 grams of protein, at 42:32; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpI4SSyOQ6c&t=2483s).
44. Axe J, Jockers D. The Natural Healing Swaps Doctors Rarely Talk About | Dr. David Jockers. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2026 (chicken soup and Chinese medicine light-yellow foods at 29:17, his immune soup at 29:57; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFgUkzIL4ZU&t=1757s).
45. FoodSafety.gov (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Cold Food Storage Chart: "Soups and stews, vegetable or meat added: refrigerator 3 to 4 days; freezer 2 to 3 months." Date last reviewed September 19, 2023. Accessed November 4, 2026 (Internet Archive capture of October 21, 2026).
46. Alcock RD, Shaw GC, Burke LM. Bone Broth Unlikely to Provide Reliable Concentrations of Collagen Precursors Compared With Supplemental Sources of Collagen Used in Collagen Research. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2019;29(3):265-272. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2018-0139. PMID:29893587
47. Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross ML, et al. Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;105(1):136-143. doi:10.3945/ajcn.116.138594. PMID:27852613
48. Axe J. How to Boost Digestion & Detox After A Big Meal. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (soups and bone broth after the holidays at 11:23; YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLvIwtwrkNA&t=683s).
49. Monro JA, Leon R, Puri BK. The risk of lead contamination in bone broth diets. Med Hypotheses. 2013;80(4):389-90. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2012.12.026. PMID:23375414
50. Baxter MJ, Burrell JA, Crews HM, et al. Lead contamination during domestic preparation and cooking of potatoes and leaching of bone-derived lead on roasting, marinading and boiling beef. Food Addit Contam. 1992;9(3):225-35. doi:10.1080/02652039209374066. PMID:1397397
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Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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