Mushroom Broth Vs. Bone Broth

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Time to Read: 6 Minutes

Is there anything more comforting than bowl of warm broth? Broths are easy to make and filled with nutrition. Here let’s discuss the popular bone broth and compare the same to mushroom broth (an alternative for vegetarians and vegans).

Mushrooms are fungi but categorised as vegetables, rich in vitamin D, copper and several minerals.

So what exactly is a mushroom broth?

Mushroom broth can be made with either sliced mushrooms, dried mushrooms or by combining both. Onion, garlic, cloves, celery, pepper corn, bay leaves and spices of choice are sautéed with mushroom until light brown and soft. These vegetables have to be strained later, so no need to cut them perfectly. Couples minutes later it’ll be fragrant enough for you to get the cue to add seasoning and water. Salt, soy sauce, miso paste etc. all make great seasoning. You will need to let the broth boil for a few hours to get the best flavour.

This broth can be enjoyed as is or with some noodles! It is also a great option to make your broth in batches and store it for a few weeks in the fridge.

What is Bone broth then?

Bone broth is another big trend now. The classic one is beef bone broth. Roasting the bone helps develop a flavour, however it’s not essential. Carrots, celery, onion, garlic can be chopped roughly, as all of it will be shimmering for 10 to 12 hours roughly. A slow cooker is better for the job. Bay leaves, pepper corn and enough salt need to be in the ingredients before topping it up with water. This is called to be a sipping broth.

Bone broth: Market size and industry - How companies profit by selling this.

Bone broth is marketed like it will give you supernatural powers like Wolverine. Horrifying slaughter house of chicken and beef are origins to these bones or bone broth protein powder.

Facts of bone broth and the way it is marketed.

1. Bone broth is good source of calcium: Well true bone broth has some calcium but you’ll have to drink 11 cups of bone broth to get your daily dosage of calcium. You could alternatively get 1/4^th your daily calcium serving by just eating a cup of beans. Besides, most of the minerals in a cup of bone broth come from the vegetables added to the broth VS the bones.

2. Collagen in bone broth helps skin, joints and bones – This is sort of ‘eat that part of animal, to fix that part of me’ mentality. Collagen actually is poor source of Amino acids. But the amino acids in collagen do contribute towards skin and hair health. A cup of bone broth might as have much as 400 times more lead and toxic chemicals that the maximum limit. High lead consumption through bone broth is not the best way to get your collagen though. Plants are in fact a better source to improve skin texture than animal bones. Higher antioxidants in plants result in least amount of DNA damage, which in turn supports anti-aging.

3. Eating Bones is the missing health link – Viewed literally as Elixir of life/Miracle foods – The bone broth hype is associated with history fallacy. It is presumed that throughout anecdotical history, meat and bones were consumed. Study says that the longest living population didn’t eat meat or bones, they were predominantly vegetarians.

Is bone broth really worth? The big danger is lead exposure. Levels of lead in the broth of organic chicken is found to be upto 400% higher than the maximum accepted level! It is like trying to drink urine to get your daily VIT C doze. You could, but why would you.

Once lead enter' s the system of farmed animals, it attaches itself to the bones of the animals and could take upto 30 years for the body to get rid of the same. Imagine boiling these very bones for hours together to later drink that water!

Even standard set accepted levels on lead in our food is enough to cause multiple problems from memory loss to gout.

Average cost to consumer

A daily bone broth serving would cost $75 a month (INR 6000/-) and $900 a year. Looking to the bigger picture the very irony is, bone broth is a solution people turn to when fixing a problem that is caused by animal protein in the first place. Diets high in animal protein and dairy hugely contributes to reduced calcium in the body.

Is mushroom broth a better alternative?

Health experts are slowly switching to a much sustainable alternative instead, mushroom broths. Mushrooms are nutritious and loaded with minerals. Especially for picky eaters who do not reach their daily intake of vegetables and fruits, a cup of mushroom broth can get you your daily fill of a vitamin pill.

This broth helps boost gut health and strengthen, immune system.

Mushrooms were traditionally used as medicines to address different health conditions, including its immunological, anti-cancer, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and antiviral properties. Lowering cholesterol and protecting liver are also the potential health benefits of mushrooms in broth style.

This fat free and cholesterol-free vegetable has a lot to offer. Especially when combined with other plants and veggies, a plant-based broth is just as magical and without the lead toxicity from that of bone broth.

What about collagen on a vegan diet?

Collagen is the main protein of all connective tissue, its upto 70% of the protein in our skin. Fortunately, the human body is well-designed and makes its own collagen when consistently given the nutrients it needs to do so. Collagen like all proteins, is made of building blocks of amino acids. Check this site out for some amazing plant- based collagen options.

However, without vitamin C collagen production is disrupted. The body literally falls apart as collagen is broken down and not replaced. This results in joints beginning to wear down as your tendons weaken.Unfortunately, humans are unable to produce vitamin C on their own and must rely on food and supplements as a source.

The best food sources of vitamin C have one thing in common: they are all plant foods.

Vitamin C rich foods include oranges, red peppers, kale, and broccoli. Collagen, as aforesaid has anti-aging properties and helps maintains joint health. A plant based diet has shown remarkable changes in response to arthritis, knee osteoarthritis with herbs like turmeric and sesame seeds.

A vegetarian diet can roughly save you INR 5 lacs / $750a year.

Bone broth are nutritional but pointless, a misguided nutritional search for problems that were likely caused by animal-based products. They are merely degenerated cartilages or antibody infected bones leading to toxic chemical exposure..

You get get all the nutrients you get from bone broth though a healthy plant- based diet.

Plants on the other hand offer collagen building blocks, in addition to other nutrients in sufficient quantities. Eating diet rich in green leafy vegetables is ideal with hot or cold mushroom broth, at times.

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