Bone broth and collagen supplements are often recommended for healing purposes. While much nutritional benefit may be obtained through bone broth and collagen, there are increasing concerns regarding the toxicity of GMO feeds, the use of glyphosate-containing pesticides on crops, and the inadvertent ingestion of glyphosate through consuming bone broth and collagen supplements or foods.
Supermarkets, healthfood stores and online vendors have now saturated the market with bone broth, collagen supplements and foods. The resurgence of bone broth as a healing food experienced a renaissance in recent years for a means of gut healing, and for obtaining its rather unique profile of amino acids and protein source.
Bone broth is obtained by cooking animal bones, ligaments and cartilage for extended periods of time, thereby extracting a reservoir of unique nutrients such as glycosaminoglycans (like chondroitin and glucosamine), as well as collagen and the constituent amino acids such as glycine, proline, glutamine, alanine and many others.
Glyphosate & The Potential Contamination of Conventional Bone Broth & Collagen Supplements
Genetically engineered crops that are “roundup ready” have been engineered to resist the toxicity of glyphosate. The two most common types of feed used for conventionally raised animals are corn and soy.
By Monsanto’s own admission, glyphosate tends to accumulate in bones, ligaments and collagen. A 2017 study by Samsel and Seneff confirmed this finding, and reported on the findings of various packaged food products. The paper goes onto discuss how glycine, the most prevalent amino acid in collagen is likely to be replaced by glyphosate residues.
The red flags are evident: animals consuming GMO corn and soy will contain significant quantities of glyphosate in connective tissue, bones, ligaments and collagen. Some feedlot animals are fed diets exclusively of corn and soy. For consumers, this suggests that bone broth and collagen supplements derived from conventional and GMO- raised animals will contain significant concentrations of glyphosate residues. Currently, there are no industry standard tests available to measure or compare glyphosate levels in foods or supplements.
I do not recommend bone broth for my patients.
Want to know what to use instead of bone broth? Contact me for a consultation to see what is right for you.
