[BlessedBe]

I hope I posted this in the right forum. I was reading how gelatin is really good for us, but we never get enough in our diet. Because you only get it from eating cartilage, tendons, and bones. The article went on to say how you can make a gelatin-rich broth by simmering bones (any kind of animal bones) in water with some vinegar. Has anyone heard of doing this? It sounds tough to do. Could I possibly get some kind of cartilage supplements to get it? Or heck, even gelatin supplements?

[JulieJ08]

Saving carcasses for making broth is quite common and is supposed to definitely make superior tasting broth. My mother and sister do it all the time.

But I've never heard that we're supposed to try to get gelatin in our diet.

Would Jello be a gelatin supplement?

[nelie]

I'm vegetarian so I don't eat gelatin but I've never heard of gelatin having any health benefits.

[BlessedBe]

Here is the website I read about it.

http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeat...beautiful.html

[nelie]

Oh, Weston Price foundation. I wouldn't use them as a primary source of information, their primary function is to promote the dairy and meat industries.

[BlessedBe]

Oh? Well, shoot. I was looking into getting some bones from local beef farmers. Guess it was too good to be true.

[nelie]

I was googling for gelatin and health benefits and it seemed like there was some indication that gelatin may contain some amino acids which could be beneficial for joints? Then found other sites that indicated that in research studies, there was no difference between those who took gelatin and those that didn't.

Anyway, this site covers some history of gelatin, including marketing tactics like trying to promote gelatin as important:
http://www.vegparadise.com/news39.html

The AMA speaks
The study of gelatin as a food and medicine goes back well over 100 years. An article in the May 22/29, 2002 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reprints a story that appeared in that same publication on May 31, 1902. In the original article titled "Gelatin as a Food and Therapeutic Agent," the anonymous author describes how gelatin was injected into patients to increase the coagulability of the blood and was considered especially valuable in cases of hemophilia and aneurysms. The article revealed there were cases of people suffering from tetanus following the injections.

The JAMA article is quite clear about the lack of nutritional and therapeutic values of gelatin by making the following statement:

"Gelatin is an albuminoid substance obtained by boiling skin, connective tissues and bones of animals in water. When taken alone it has but little value as a food. Animals fed upon it exclusively rapidly lose strength and weight and finally die from starvation. If it is added to other foods, it possesses the property of limiting the consumption of non-nitrogenous materials and saving the waste of albuminous tissues. It takes no part in the repair and growth of tissues and must be considered solely as an 'albumin sparer.' Consequently, gelatin must always be combined with other proper foods. It does not replace albumin, and the destruction of albumin takes place to some extent even when gelatin is taken in large amount."

[pliem2009]

yeah I agree with Julie because my mom uses bones for broth and stuff and if the bone is huge she eats the bone marrow...I guess gelatin is good for you because of the proteins....