The Truth About Collagen
Every collagen supplement on the market started life as something far simpler. A bone. A joint. A slow simmer. Bone broth is where collagen comes from — in its most complete, most bioavailable, most ancient form.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It is the scaffolding of your skin, the cushion in your joints, the integrity of your gut lining, the strength in your hair and nails. From your late twenties, your body produces less of it every year. The visible signs — fine lines, stiff knees, slower recovery — are collagen depletion made visible.
The wellness industry's answer was the collagen supplement: powders, capsules, gummies, drinks. Some work. But all of them begin with the same raw material that bone broth has always offered — and bone broth delivers it in a form your body recognises, in a matrix of co-factors your body needs to actually use it.
At The Broth Bar, we slow-simmer bones for sixteen hours precisely because that is what it takes to extract collagen properly. Not twelve. Not four. Sixteen. Here is what that means for your body.
How It Works
When bones simmer slowly in water, heat breaks down the collagen inside them into gelatine — and gelatine into individual amino acids your body absorbs directly.
This is not a chemical extraction or a laboratory process. It is thermodynamics. The long, slow application of heat to collagen-rich tissue — bones, cartilage, connective tissue — causes the triple-helix structure of collagen to unwind. The result is gelatine: a protein that sets to a jelly when cooled, and dissolves back into a rich, golden liquid when warmed. If your broth sets solid in the fridge, that is pure collagen at work.
Gelatine is then broken down further in your digestive system into smaller peptides and individual amino acids — primarily glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and arginine — which enter your bloodstream and travel to wherever your body needs to build or repair collagen most.
"If your broth sets solid in the fridge, that is collagen — and that is exactly what we are aiming for in every batch."
This is why bone broth is considered one of the most bioavailable collagen sources available. The collagen has already been partially broken down by the long simmer — your digestive system has a head start. No binders, no fillers, no manufacturing process. Just bones, water, time, and heat.
Types of Collagen
Not all collagen
is the same.
Bone broth delivers multiple collagen types depending on the bones used — each one with a distinct role in your body.
III Type III Collagen
What Collagen Does For You
Five ways it
changes your body.
Collagen is your skin's primary structural protein — the reason young skin snaps back when you pinch it. As production declines with age, skin loses firmness and fine lines deepen. Drinking bioavailable collagen daily provides the building blocks your skin cells need to maintain elasticity, hydration, and that particular quality of light in healthy skin. The glycine in bone broth also supports the production of glutathione — one of the body's most powerful antioxidants, which protects skin from oxidative damage.
Cartilage is almost entirely made of collagen — specifically Type II. It is the reason your knees can bear your weight without grinding bone on bone. Bone broth delivers Type II collagen directly from chicken bones and cartilage, along with glucosamine and chondroitin — compounds that reduce joint inflammation, restore cartilage thickness, and improve lubrication. People who add bone broth to their daily routine often report less morning stiffness within two to four weeks. This is not a coincidence.
The gut lining is a single layer of cells held together by tight junctions — and collagen is a critical component of the connective tissue that supports it. When the gut lining is compromised (through stress, processed food, alcohol, or antibiotics), collagen is one of the first things your body needs to repair it. Gelatine — the cooked form of collagen — coats and soothes the gut lining directly. Glycine further stimulates digestive enzymes and reduces inflammation along the gut wall. This is why bone broth has been used as a digestive remedy for centuries.
Hair is made largely of keratin — a protein that relies on collagen-derived amino acids, particularly proline, for its synthesis. Adequate collagen intake supports the health of the dermal layer surrounding hair follicles, which determines hair thickness and growth rate. Nails are similarly dependent on a matrix of structural proteins that benefit directly from consistent collagen intake. People who notice nail breakage or hair thinning are often collagen-depleted — and often notice a difference within six to eight weeks of daily broth.
Tendons and ligaments are dense collagen structures — and they are among the slowest tissues in the body to heal after injury, precisely because they have a poor blood supply. Supplementing with bioavailable collagen in the hours around exercise has been shown to improve collagen synthesis in connective tissue, accelerate recovery, and reduce the risk of reinjury. Our broths are also high in glycine, which reduces muscle breakdown and supports lean mass preservation — making them ideal for anyone training consistently.
Why Bone Broth Beats Supplements
A collagen supplement is an isolated extract. Bone broth is a complete food. The difference is everything.
Collagen supplements work — but they work in isolation. They give you collagen peptides, and your body does what it can with them. What they don't give you is the co-factors your body needs to synthesise and use collagen effectively: vitamin C (from the vegetables we simmer), zinc, copper, glycine, proline, and the minerals that bone broth delivers in every cup.
Our beef broth, for example, contains Galician beef bones — rich in Type I and Type III collagen — alongside apple cider vinegar, which we add specifically to break down the bones more completely and draw out a greater concentration of collagen and minerals. The result is a cup that contains not just collagen peptides, but the entire nutritional context in which your body knows how to use them.
Our chicken broth delivers Type II collagen from whole chicken — bones, cartilage, and connective tissue — making it the highest-collagen option for joint support specifically. Both broths are simmered for sixteen hours, because that is what it takes to extract collagen completely. Anything less is a compromise.
"Every ingredient was chosen with your body in mind. The collagen is the foundation — everything else helps your body use it."
When to drink it
for collagen.
Collagen synthesis peaks with consistent daily intake. These three moments make the ritual easy — and the results cumulative.
Collagen peptides are absorbed most efficiently without competing food in the gut. A cup first thing starts the day with a dose of glycine — calming, grounding, and nourishing before anything else enters.
Exercise increases blood flow to connective tissue. Collagen consumed in this window goes directly to where the body is repairing — tendons, ligaments, cartilage. The protein also supports muscle recovery.
The body does its deepest collagen synthesis during sleep. Glycine — abundant in bone broth — also promotes deeper, more restorative sleep. A cup before bed is a ritual that works on two levels at once.
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