The Benefits of Bone Broth and How To Incorporate It Into Your Child’s Diet

Episode Transcript

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Hi everyone, welcome to the show. I am Dr. Nicole and on today’s show, we’re going to be talking all about bone broth. Chances are you’ve heard something about bone broth at this point, since it’s all over social media, all over TV, great books about it, one of the hot topics in health and wellness for the last few years. I drink bone broth, my kids and my family drink bone broth and I recommend it often to patients at the clinic. It’s a really nutrient-dense benefit-packed food that supports all aspects of health, including mental health and behavior, which is what we like to talk about on the show. So to help us learn more about bone broth and why we should be drinking it, I decided to go to one of my dearest friends and the person who started the bone broth craze, Dr. Kellyann Petrucci. She’s going to give us the lowdown on how bone broth is such a beneficial food for kids and adults. 

I want to tell you a little bit about her, Dr. Kellyann is a celebrity weightless expert and natural anti-aging specialist who teaches patients and viewers how to become slimmer, younger, faster. As one of the resident nutritionist and health experts for the Dr. Oz show, she regularly appears on natural media, making appearances on Good Morning America, including The Doctors and hosting her critically-acclaimed PBS special, “21 Days to a Slimmer, Younger You.” She is the author of 9 books, including the New York Times Best-seller and international sensation, ‘The Bone Broth Diet’. I’m thrilled to have her with us, welcome to the show, Dr. Kellyann!

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Hello, Dr. Nicole! She’s like my sister, this one!

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

So excited that we were able to coordinate schedules. You’re traveling constantly, we don’t get to talk to each other or spend time together nearly enough, and it was a crazy feat of magic with your assistant to work out this time today for us to do the show, so I’m so thrilled that you’re here. You know, you are really the one who started this whole phenomenon about bone broth and I have been so lucky to be able to learn from you and benefit from your knowledge about this for the kids and the families that I serve. So let’s dive in, and for people who aren’t even really sure of anything about this topic, let’s start out by talking about: What is bone broth? What is it? How is it made? Let’s start there.

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Yeah, so I have to say that I was really proud to be the one that created and fueled a whole food category. And while there are a lot of things that I could talk about, I chose to talk about bone broth because it just is that amazing. So what bone broth is, it’s really simple but powerful: It’s a soup that’s made from taking bones — and you want to take the bones of anything with a lot of cartilage in. So thicker bones are great, any knuckles or anything like that that has cartilage in it. You want to put the bones in water and you want the water to be one inch over the bones and you want to simmer it for long periods of time because when you do that, all of the goodness comes out. So it’s basically bones that are simmered over a long period of time. You can use chicken, beef, turkey, even fish broth. 

And what everyone has to really understand is that when we are talking about broth, people instantly think of, or they make that relationship, because that is what we’re used to: A can of Progresso soup or a can of Campbell soup, and what people really need to know is that there is a distinct difference between bone broth — since we’re talking about what it actually is, between bone broth and the canned soup that you buy in the store, because the canned soups are flash frozen. So in other words, they’re made very quickly, they’re not simmered and they don’t have these bones in them. And the bones are what is so important, again, because you have some magical things in them and we’ll start to talk about that, but there is a distinct difference. Don’t think that you can pick up a can of regular soup and get the same benefits. You’re not going to. It’s that long, simmering process where all the goodness comes out. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

I think that’s a great point, because people say, “Oh, you know my grandma, my mom used to give me chicken noodle soup or things like that when I was sick.” And really, there is no comparison to soups that we may have grown up eating off the store-shelves. And what we’re talking about with bone broth, which is like you said, hours and hours — and for those of you who haven’t made it before, we’re talking about lots of hours. 12 hours, even up to 24 hours of simmer time, either on the stove in a large stockpot, in a crockpot, Instant pot, there are lots of ways to do it but it’s that slow process of really simmering those bones. So let’s get into why it’s made that way, what is that pulling out of the bones? What’s so beneficial about these bones? What are the ingredients that we’re trying to get from that?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Yup, there are certain things you want to extract, and I want to talk really quick that — you had mentioned kind of briefly about the ways that you can cook, and I think that that’s important. You can cook with a slow-cooker, which is one of my favorite ways and you can cook over a stockpot over the stove, and now a lot of people are using what’s called an instant-pot or this pressure cooker and the pressure cooker, actually, you can cook for a shorter period of time, that’s what a pressure cooker does, and get a lot of the same benefits, but those typically are the three ways that people cook a lot of bone broth, and again: My favorite way has always been the slow cooker or the crockpot.

I just feel like it comes out the most, and I’ll use this word, gelatinous. I’m using the word gelatinous because here’s where the magic happens. The reason why bone broth works so well, you’re going to get the benefits or the things that are pulled out the way you’re talking about, these nutrients, is because you are getting so much good and so little bad. You’re not getting calories, you’re getting nutrients. And the nutrients are: Number one, we are as a society, as a population, we’re very mineral deficient. 

So that’s number one, you’ve got good minerals in there to start. Number two: Amino acids. So this whole composition of amino acids is really important, because amino acids are upbuilding, and that’s what we want. We want things that are upbuilding. One of the amino acids, specifically glycine, is a very good antioxidant, it’s very good at so many different things. It helps people sleep and it helps detoxify. It’s one of the ultimate detoxifiers. So it has antioxidant properties to it, it detoxifies, helps people sleep and it regulates you in a way where it actually gives you energy, so it’s really amazing.

It gives you energy during the day, yet it helps you sleep at night and it detoxifies your lives, which we always can use — that constant state of detoxification, we always want that and it gives you all of that. Now, this is where all of the bells and whistles and everything should be going off right now because the real aha is in the collagen. And in bone broth, there is cooked collagen, and we call that gelatin. And gelatin is the jiggly stuff, and if you’ve ever put bone broth in the refrigerator for a short period of time and you will see that the top creates this gelatinous or this jiggly over-casing, that is the gelatin and you want that. You want that all-day, everyday because that’s where the magic happens. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Awesome. So many great nutrients and I just want to highlight a couple for the audience. If you’re thinking about your children or even yourself having struggles with things like anxiety or mood issues or some of the dysregulated behavior and emotional kinds of things we see in kids — what Dr. Kellyann touched on these was some of the minerals and amino acids are really important. So magnesium deficiency is a huge problem across the board in the population. Almost all of us are deficient in it and magnesium is a really important calming mineral. So the magnesium that we can get from the bone broth is really, really helpful for calming and for emotional and behavioral regulation.

And then the amino acids, which are really the building blocks of neurotransmitters, not only do all the things that she was talking about, but also really support healthy brain function and good mental health. So just to tie those specific nutrient pieces into some of the things that you may be dealing with or wanting to improve for your kids, I think that’s important to know. So I want to ask a question about what people use to make bone broth, because I think there are quality difference.

I mean people can use any bones, but what do you really recommend that people should be using when they’re making, if they want to make the highest quality bone broth that they can make or if they’re looking at products out there because there certainly are lots of bone broths out there. In terms of quality ingredients, what should people be looking for?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Well the things that I recommend, just to be straight up, normally for most people, depending on how you purchase your protein, a lot of times it’s going to cost more because what you’re going to want is pasture-raised organic and I’m not going to tell you what you want to hear, I’m going to to tell you what you need to hear, that’s my job. And nobody wants to hear that they have to spend more money, but I can tell you this: The place to spend your money when you’re buying food really is in your proteins.

So if you want to buy chicken or beef or anything, you want to look for that either grass-fed, pasture-raised organic because this is how you have to think about it: We’re drinking this to heal the body, to nourish the body 10x, that’s why we’re doing this. You can’t discount the fact that whatever you take in, you’re taking in that of the animal. So you are literally taking in the energy or the elementary nutrients of that animal, the health of that animal. You are absorbing that, so you want to be really careful of what you take in. So what I say is, always do the best you can. 

I would rather have somebody eat, and this is what I’ve seen over 20+ years of practice — I would rather have someone have protein that’s not organic and not pasture-raised than buying something at a fast-food restaurant — some French fries at a fast-food restaurant. If you’re going to give me that opposition, I’m going to tell you: I’d rather have you have the protein. But when given the choice, try to find ways, any kind of food co-op, food-share, any kind of farmer’s market, any way that you can try to save money, or the best way to save money in buying protein is absolutely stock up when you see it on sale. That’s truly the best way that you can handle and manage this.

But to answer your point, to circle back: You are taking on the health of the animal and the easiest and fastest and best way by far to make bone broth is to use the chicken carcass already made at the grocery store, and I know a lot of times they have an offering of an organic that costs quite a bit more but you are going to get a lot more health and a lot more nutrients and a lot more bang to your buck so you can even look at it this way: When you’re getting those kinds of nutrients, you don’t even need to eat as much as you would normally, a normal serving of protein because you’re getting that 10x value there.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

And I think the protein point is really important to touch on. Many of the kids that I see in practice are not getting enough protein during the day. They tend to have very carbohydrate-heavy diets and protein is so important for growth and development, for brain functions, so this is a really simple way to get more protein into kids. And I agree with what Dr. Kellyann is saying. If you just want to start somewhere, start with what you might have in your freeze or refrigerator right now.

I have families who say, well we have this turkey that we made or rotisserie chicken or whatever. You could just throw those bones in there and start there. What we do as a family, we have a butcher not too far from our house. We also have a grocery store — a local chain of grocery stores that has lots of pasture-raised and grass-fed meats there. And they will sell you the bones from that. So we just go. We call ahead and say hey, here are some of the bones that we’d like to pick up and they’ll have them ready for you.

So lots of great ways that you can do that but start with what you have and work from there for sure. Dr. Kellyann, you talked a bit about collagen. I want to circle back to that a little bit. You talked about the importance of collagen. You really recommend that people should be getting a daily dose of that. Could you just talk a little bit more about the benefits of making sure we’re getting collagen in our diet on a daily basis and maybe how people can work that in a bit more? 

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Sure, you’re getting that from the connected tissues of a lot of the proteins that you’re eating. I want everything to think about collagen as the glue that kind of holds the body together. It’s the largest protein source of the body and the problem that we have is after about age 20, we start losing collagen every single year. And this is really important, and what I love about collagen — again, it’s very upbuilding and again it’s a protein that, when you have it in protein form, it’s very low in allergens. That’s one of the good reasons why I love it the most.

There are so many other proteins on the market that people have problems with and I’m sure you see that all the time, Dr. Nicole, in your practice. But this is a protein that is low allergenic and it does so much. The hair, skin, nails, teeth — It does so much of that upbuilding that I talked about, that I find it so beneficial and of course, I think a child having this at a young age — wow, that really puts them in a position to win in so many ways because it’s so nutritional for even the joints. And again, a great source of protein for the brain.

So what I try to do is find a way that you can make it habitual in your diet. For me, I drink collagen in my coffee or collagen coffee because I know I enjoy coffee, I know I’m going to have it every day and that I have a creamer that I use and I put some of the collagen creamer in there. That way I know I’m going to get collagen every day. And I have to tell you, I cannot believe the difference when you take it in daily, how it can change things so much and in terms of how you feel and how you look. And again, if you have children that are playing a lot of sports, this is another really great use of collagen in order to get them not only in shape in terms of joint health and having the protein that they need, the protein requirements for recovery, it really does make a big difference — and easy, it’s very easy. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, I think the ease of it is what’s so nice, whether we’re talking about getting it through bone broth or through something like a collagen creamer or there are different types of collagen shakes and things available and it really does make it easy to do. And I love what you pointed out about the low allergenicity of these, that can be such an issue. So many kids and adults, for that matter, have allergies or sensitivities to things like dairy proteins or just other types of foods.

And really, I rarely encounter a patient who can’t tolerate the collagen from the animal protein, especially if you’re getting it from a quality source and so I find that that’s so helpful even for kids who need to be on an elimination diet or need to be on restrictive diets for various purposes. Bone broth or the collagen powders and things like that are a great way to incorporate that into the diet without aggravating their allergies or their sensitivities. 

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Well, I’d like to just bring up a point that you said, I want to hammer that a little bit, and that is — most people don’t realize that collagen is dairy-free. They don’t realize that. So this is a protein, you don’t have to worry — the molecules are smaller and it’s dairy-free and that means for happy kids. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, absolutely. Happier guts, happier all of that. Speaking of guts, that is really a big thing that I find it so helpful with the bone broth too. I have a lot of kids that I see in practice who are struggling with gut-related issues, whether it’s leaky gut or bacterial imbalances, constipation, diarrhea. And bone broth, I have found, is such a supportive healing, soothing food for that. What have you found with that?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Well, let’s not forget why I got into this in the first place, as did you and so many other practitioners. I studied in Europe, I was fascinated by the fact that back in the early 90s, a lot of the people or physicians in Europe were talking about something called internal milieu, which turns out to be all of the tissues, the surrounding — so you have your cells in your body, but then you have all these fluids surrounding and that’s your internal milieu. That and your gut health make up your body’s ecology, your internal ecology and we have this whole system, this organized system that’s inside of us and the thing is, we have to keep checks and balances, that’s the way it is whether we like it, we don’t like it, we are bags of bugs, period, end of story.

We actually have more bugs, let’s call them our microbes — these microbes, which are very protective to us, we have more of them than we actually do cells. So then you can understand clearly why it’s so important to keep them, the healthy microbes, outweighing the ones that do not serve us, the bad microbes, as we call them. And how we get bad microbes is by many different things. And I’m sure you’ve seen this in practice, Dr. Nicole, with patients that have been on pharmaceuticals for a long period of time or have been in a sad rather, diet as we call it, the more standard traditional diets where a lot of microwaved foods even that are even damaging to the lining of our gut and gut bacteria. So we have to just know that this is what’s happening. So how do we live and not have this constantly on our mind all the time? 

I mean we want to live our life, we don’t want to think throughout our life all the time. So the reason why I like bone broth is it kind of takes that off the table for me. I don’t have to take a million different things or think through this all the time. I know that when I’m drinking bone broth, I’m enjoying it very much, I’m having it in all different kinds of foods and I know that it’s healing my gut.

And one of the other reasons why it’s so important that our gut is always in this state of recurring switching of bad to good and constantly populating and repopulating is because the common undermining for just about every single problem that we say, every modern-day disease — cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, all these autoimmune problems, the common underpinning is information and it starts in the gut. So when we have problems in the gut, we have a sick gut, that’s where inflammation starts and that’s where we start seeing the problems in a lot of the kids that we see. We have, I mean they have the same problems that adults do. They get a sick gut and then you have to correct that in order to correct everything else. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Absolutely. And the inflammation, as you mentioned, is so related to chronic physiological issues, whether it’s joint problems, autoimmune disease, diabetes, all of those types of things, and then also we know now that inflammation is very related to a lot of the mental health issues that kids and adults are dealing with. So inflammation, we are seeing after the research, is one of the root causes of things like depression and anxiety and even more serious mental health issues like bipolar and schizophrenia and things like that. So keeping that inflammation down by keeping the gut healthy and functioning well is so critical for physical and mental health function, which is why bone broth is such an amazing food to incorporate into the diet because it supports that gut health and just helps with all of these different areas!

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

It really does. I just sat on a panel and as I was prepping for this panel, I came across all this research on these mental health issues like schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s — all these problems that we’re having and how diet really can solve these problems. And it’s not just me saying this. These are very prestigious medical journals that are saying a Paleolithic type of diet goes a long way in healing brain issues and cognitive function. And so it’s something to really pay attention to, and what I love about bone broth, again, it has all of those components that we’re looking for.

We’re looking for something that’s not loaded with poor use of calories. We want good use of calories, not a bad use of calories. It’s got good use of calories, again, it’s got your minerals, it’s got the proper protein and amino acid structures in there. It’s got that glue that holds the body together, it’s got what you need to palliate and to really not only build a healthy gut but to heal a gut. So if you have a sunburn, what do you reach for? You reach for aloe vera, why? Because that aloe vera, the minute you put it on your skin, you feel healing, you feel it soothing, it makes you feel better. That’s what exactly that jiggly stuff, that gelatin does to the gut. So there are so many different reasons why choosing bone broth should be a no-brainer.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

I love that it’s such an easy thing to do whether you make it yourself or you purchase one of the quality products available. You’ve got great bone broths available, let’s talk about — sometimes a challenge that parents have with kids is not wanting to try something new or kids being picky about it. So let’s just talk for a moment about some ways that parents can maybe get bone broth into their child’s diet. I mean obviously straight-up drinking it out of a mug, which is how I tend to do it, how my kids tend to do it — so you can just drink it. Let’s talk about some other ways how can people — can they use it in cooking things? How can we get this into kids?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

So one of the things a lot of the moms do, they take ice cube trays and they fill the ice-cube trays with broth. And then whenever they’re cooking anything, they just pop some of those cubes, no matter if they’re simmering, steaming, no matter what they’re doing, they pop some of those cubes into what they’re making and you’re getting some broth in them. Another way that you can do it, and you and I were talking about this previously, things like rice, noodles, maybe some quinoa, there are all kinds of ways that you can — the broth, you can make them loaded. You can load broth with so many different things and make these delicious soups, we call them broth-loading soups and there are also ways that you can use it for slimming for adults. We call it broth-burning soups.

So there are all kinds of ways, there is a multitude of ways, you can get creative. It isn’t hard. This is actually just like throwing stuff you have into this broth and sometimes, if I have a can of tomatoes — stewed tomatoes or diced tomatoes, I’ll throw that in there and I’ll work from there and I’ll just start building up. There are a million things that you can add and if you have one of those bullets, or one of those little blenders, you can throw things into the soup and you can blend it up and honestly, it tastes so good and if your child can not acquire a taste for the broth yet, if they have to develop that, there are a million ways you can mask it as we just talked about, and he’ll find it delicious, but just know, my kids are programmed now — when they’re not feeling well, or sick, the first thing that they ask for, they know it’s the broth. We pull out the broth.

And think about it. This is such a historic, so to speak, food. This is a food that is so ancestral, I mean way back in the hunter-gatherer days, they actually used to use the stomach of animals as the pot and they would make bone broth way back then and then of course, there was the kettle on the fire forever.

So, there are all kinds of ways that you can really impart this health onto children and there are stories, by the way, of Nightingale bringing broth to these hospitals because something about the broth, they say, it opens up the intestines for healing. There’s something in there that opens up the intestines and allows healing to really ensue. So if you want to heal the gut, if your child has a cold — I can tell you, I wrote a book called ‘Boosting Your Immunity’ and one of the things that I discovered in my research is that what really is well-researched for actually healing things like the cold, a common cold, believe it or not — it’s actually researched. Things like zinc and things like chicken noodle soup actually do show improvements in the duration of a common cold. So it’s not such a bad idea to pull out that broth.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, and I love — there are so many ways to work it into things, and I think if you are a parent who is listening and you are like, “Oh, I’m not going to be able to get my kid to drink this.” Think about the many ways that Dr. Kellyann just talked about incorporating it. You can pretty much use the broth, the bone broth as the liquid in whatever you might be making, whether like she said, it could be — if your child will eat noodles or grains, cook them in the broth. You can use it as a base for soups, you can use it when your sautéing vegetables, put it in shakes or smoothies, so many different ways to incorporate that. One thing I have found, Dr. Kellyann, with kids, especially if they’re not used to eating or drinking anything like this, I have found that starting with bones from chicken tends to just be an easier starting place as opposed to some other types of animal bones. What have you found with that?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

There’s no question. Whenever we put new patients or new people on bone broth, you absolutely want to start them with chicken. That has the mildest taste and mildest flavor. So always start with chicken and then move your way on from there. Even the scent in the house is a milder scent because again, this is about — a lot of people want to start acquiring — some people, myself included, the minute I met bone broth, it was a love affair. But for some people, they have to acquire this because they’re used to, again, that Progresso, that can of Campbell soup.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Right. And I will say, if you cook it yourself, it just makes the whole house smell so amazing. Yeah. We could talk all day about this. I realize that we’re running low on time. I want to make sure that we share with people where they can find more information from you. You’ve got just an amazing amount of resources on your website. You’ve also got some fantastic bone broths that you make that people can order. So where can they find you online?

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Thank you so much. Yeah, I’m happy to offer tons and tons of information, again, you’ll find — my website is www.drkellyann.com and my instagram is @drkellyannpetrucci but you can find lots of information at those two places and I’m a regular on the Dr. Oz show, you can see a lot of my work there and I just have a lot of fun doing this because, you know what? Out of everything I’ve talked about, this is so multifaceted, there are so many uses with bone broth that I’m happy to turn any family on to this amazing liquid gold. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Fantastic, and I will say from personal experience that Dr. Kellyann’s bone broths as well as her powder, the collagen creamers that she has available, the collagen shakes — my daughter loves those collagen shakes, I’ve had many patients in the clinic who that has been a great starting point for getting them started on shakes and smoothies. So lots of great stuff to check out there, highly encourage you to do that and wherever you choose to get started with bone broth — just get started, whether that’s making it yourself, purchasing it somewhere — get started with it. You can tell that we are both really passionate about it and I think you’ll find great benefits for your child and your family for sure. So Dr. Kellyann, thank you so much for being here with us today. 

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci:

Oh, it’s such a pleasure, especially for such a great doctor and such a great message, it’s been an honor. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Thank you so much. Okay, everybody, that does it for this episode of The Better Behavior Show! We will see you here next time.