CHAPTER 19

Anti-Aging

Can broth prevent the very diseases that it may help cure? Can it lead to optimum health, high energy, maximum longevity, and ageless aging? Those who demand hard scientific evidence will not find much. Prevention trials take years and years to complete plus millions of dollars in funding. Given that no one stands to profit much from genuine bone broth—or even cartilage, collagen, or gelatin supplement products—we don’t expect to see any studies in the foreseeable future. Still, ancestral wisdom and common sense alike argue for putting broth front and center in any anti-aging plan.

Linus Pauling, PhD, winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, suggested that a long line of “minor” infections will wear out the body, making it more susceptible to other diseases, shortening life expectancy and accelerating the aging process. Given broth’s long-standing reputation for preventing infections and speeding recovery from illnesses or wounds, it clearly makes sense to drink up.

If Hippocrates was right that all disease begins in the gut, then broth also belongs in every disease-prevention program. Besides healing the gut and supporting the proliferation of good microflora, broth provides vital nutrients and improves the digestion, assimilation, utilization, and elimination of food.

It’s important to remember that health problems rarely emerge as full-blown diseases overnight. Typically people report feeling “out of sorts” with a variety of digestive complaints, fatigue, and other symptoms for months or even years. Though conventional medicine tends to think of people as being either “sick” or “well,” most of us lie somewhere in between. Ideally, we will each take stock of our health—and make stock in our kitchens—before disease can make serious progress.

Broth’s proven power to modulate the immune system and soothe inflammation could be the ticket to preventing or even reversing colitis, Crohn’s disease, and other digestive disorders, not to mention autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, and scleroderma. Its ability to nourish the joints could stop osteoarthritis early on before creakiness even gets noticed. Because cartilage has no nerves, pain is not experienced until it has degenerated to the point where it thins, cracks, and impacts on other tissues. With broth on the menu, many diseases and disorders just don’t happen.

Likewise, the best time to cure cancer is in the earliest stages when it is still undiagnosable by conventional medical doctors. For those who have a family history of cancer or other risk factors, adopting a nutrient-dense traditional diet that includes broth offers a viable alternative to worrying, waiting, and relying on early detection. Fear, after all, can itself contribute to stress and immune system breakdown, and even attract the very condition that is feared. In any case, orthodox medicine’s reliance on early detection of cancer is not a form of prevention, does not guarantee a cure, and is usually anything but early. Worse, early detection can mean a longer course of painful, disabling, expensive, and often ineffective treatments. Indeed, many people who have survived cancer for five years after early detection attain the dubious distinction of being counted among the American Cancer Society’s “cures,” even if they die soon after.

Broth for Weight Control

Currently 65 percent of Americans are overweight, with 35 percent obese. Despite massive public health initiatives, booming sales of weight-loss products, and a glut of diet books, rates of obesity continue to increase, and we all know that overweight has been linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infertility, cancer, and nearly every other health problem.

Over the years, numerous diet books have stressed the importance of soup in weight-loss programs. However, the authors’ reasoning rarely transcends the idea that filling up on broth means less room for dinner and dessert. That may well be the case, and at least one study has shown a lower calorie intake with soup on the menu, but there are sound scientific reasons for this recommendation as well.

Broth improves the digestibility and assimilation of food, giving the body the critical message that it is deeply nourished, happy, and full. Individuals who feel physical and emotional satisfaction from their food also experience fewer cravings for sugar and starchy carbohydrates. That not only influences the attainment and maintenance of a healthy weight but minimizes the likelihood of developing diabetes or other blood sugar issues that contribute to the condition popularized by Mark Hyman, MD, as diabesity. With gut healing we also are able to house more beneficial microflora, which, in turn, bring reduced storage of carbohydrates as body fat. In contrast, poor gut bacteria increase insulin production, leading to insulin resistance and increased storage of body fat.

Although broth can contribute to the normalization of weight, it should not be seen as a magically quick weight-loss solution. That may well be for the best. A recent study in the journal Obesity suggests a little plumpness—or what used to be considered “normal” weight—confers longevity. Those who are rail thin (what the media promote as fashionably thin) or super fit (rippling muscles with virtually no body fat) do as poorly in terms of longevity as those who are obese. This surprising finding has been dubbed the “obesity paradox” because some earlier studies have suggested “undernutrition without malnutrition” is the ticket to maximum life span. In fact, those studies showed that skinny rats lived longer but were perpetually hungry and cranky.

“ Bone Building, Weight Loss, and More

The doctor I see most regularly is an American-born hormone specialist of Chinese descent. He is triple-board-certified in internal medicine, endocrinology, and anti-aging medicine. Besides being an avid learner, he is an athletic runner and biker. He ran the first bone density scan on me in late 2009, and it showed I had osteopenia in my lower spine, hips, and thighbones. A year later, when matters had gotten even worse, he prescribed weight-bearing exercise and bioidentical estrogen.

In September 2011, I started to incorporate Weston A. Price Foundation principles into my diet. Chief among them was making bone broth. When the results from my latest bone scan came back in the summer of 2012, the doctor was amazed to see that I had gained back almost 20 percent of my total bone density. His X-ray technician told me such results were unheard of in one year, so the doctor wanted to know what else I had been doing to make such gains.

When I told him about making myself two or three pots full of bone broth each week, he smiled and said, “My wife is Korean, and she makes a couple pots of traditional Asian chicken feet soup each week for our family. My boys love it.” I then said, “But how is it you give all your patients advice on how to eat and have even written a cookbook, but nowhere have you mentioned bone broth?” “Well,” he replied, ”it’s unusual for most Americans. I figure it’s enough if I can get them to eat whole foods and stay away from the processed stuff.” I answered, “You really need to incorporate bone broth into your recommendations, Doctor. After all, I’ve lost twenty-one pounds, improved my digestion, my mood, my bone density, and my skin texture, and healed several inflamed lymph glands just by adding bone broth to a diet that already consisted of whole foods.” So now I’m sharing my secret to being smart, thin, and happy—eat bone broth on a regular basis!

—Kathleen R., Winter Haven, Florida ”

Far better to enjoy your life and food, concluded David Weeks, MD, a neuropsychologist who in the late 1970s began an eighteen-year study investigating the traits of “superyoung” people who look, act, think, and feel years—and sometimes decades—younger than their chronological ages. In Secrets of the Superyoung, Dr. Weeks reported these fortunate individuals enjoyed a variety of foods, did not fuss over their weight, and did not adopt dietary fads. And unlike the cranky rats, they tended to be outgoing, social, and accepting of others. This accords so well with common sense that it’s reasonable to conclude that some of the healing power of broth comes from its being a “slow food” that appears on the tables of families who cook, eat, and stay together, and friends who like to get together. The act of making broth alone represents a significant lifestyle choice, a slowing down that can slow the aging process. In short, broth can help us get a grip on the stress that reduces the quality and quantity of modern lives.

Broth can also have a positive effect on longevity by detoxification. The glycine abundant in broth contributes to the liver’s manufacture of glutathione, the master antioxidant needed by the liver to detoxify mercury, aluminum, and other toxic metals, as well as formaldehyde and other chemicals, environmental estrogens, and pharmaceutical drug residues that are prevalent in our modern world. Unless eliminated, these toxins will perturb every metabolic pathway in the body, contributing to premature aging and disease.

Anti-Aging Effect of Broth on Skin

The anti-aging effect of broth reported most often is the improvement in skin, nails, and hair. Although media attention focuses on collagen products used cosmetically as topicals and injectables, beautiful skin is never just “skin deep.” Broth feeds the epidermis, dermis, and underlying connective tissue layers of the skin from the inside out with the collagen, elastin, and other nutrients it needs to plump out. Broth not only smooths little fret lines that furrow the face but also soothes the wounded skin of acne, eczema, psoriasis, and other skin diseases. As discussed in chapters 11 and 12, Dr. John F. Prudden found that cartilage had a remarkable effect on the healing of scleroderma and psoriasis. As part of the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet, it has helped heal many cases of childhood eczema.

Some of Dr. Prudden’s least known research involved the topical use of cartilage cream on the dry, flaky skin of stewardesses, the cystic acne of teenagers, itchy rashes from poison ivy, and the raw, irritated hides that come from harsh wrinkle-obliterating peels and “resurfacing” techniques used by skin doctors. Dermatologists typically treat “peel sensitivity” with topical corticosteroids, but the Journal of Dermatological Treatment reported cartilage cream to be “the first topical anti-inflammatory agent of a nonsteroidal nature that is both safe and effective.”

Figure 7: Young, healthy skin is blessed with an abundance of collagen fibers and vascular tissue. Older or unhealthy skin shows reduced quantities of fiber and tissue as well as a more disorganized structure.

“ Beauty

I swear by bone broth because I have found such success in healing my dysbiosis and intestinal permeability. A clean diet rich in grass-fed animal proteins and fats, minimal grains, and plenty of organic vegetables and fruits proved helpful, but it wasn’t until I incorporated bone broths on a daily basis that I saw exponential success in healing my intestinal walls. As a positive side effect, my creaky knees no longer hurt after long hikes and my skin looks radiant. I have been asked several times, “What are you using on your skin? You are absolutely glowing!”

Since my own personal success, I have recommended this broth to all of my clients, including endurance athletes, post-surgery patients, seniors losing their strength, and a young mother-to-be. All have reported dramatic improvements in energy, hormonal balance, strength, skin and hair beauty, and most notably arthritis pain relief. Upon introducing bone broth to clients, they were initially skeptical because of the word bone, so I renamed the bone broth Liquid Beauty in a Jar and Rejuvenating Broth. One ingredient that I encourage everyone to try adding is homemade fermented sauerkraut to each cup of broth at each meal for a little saltiness and texture.

—Megan R. Ulrichs, Bozeman, Montana ”

Cartilage cream and suppositories have also healed areas where the sun doesn’t shine. Dr. Prudden found cartilage cleared pruritis ani (a chronic condition in which the skin around the anus itches); anal fissure (a laceration of the skin of the anus); and internal and external hemorrhoids (varicose veins of the rectum and anus). Unfortunately, Dr. Prudden performed no studies with bovine tracheal cartilage pills, although he noted “striking improvements” in skin while curing patients with cancer, arthritis, autoimmune, and other diseases. No studies prove that broth will help painful skin conditions, but limited anecdotal evidence suggests it can.

Broth for Libido

Last but not least, broth is a libido booster that can help men and women maintain love and lust into great old age. All over the world, it’s considered an aphrodisiac when cooked up with the “naughty bits” of fish, fowl, or mammals in recipes such as rooster testicle soup, cod sperm soup, and cow uterus soup. In the twelfth century, Moses Maimonides recommended dining often on testicles of any species because of their “warming and moistening” libidinous effect. He also believed that ordinary chicken soup could increase sexual potential. In 1692, Lo Scalco alla Moderna, a famous cookbook published in Naples, recommended that lovers and others enjoy a rich stew comprised of pieces of pigeon, breast of veal, stuffed chicken neck, and cock’s comb and testicles.

Testicle festivals celebrated by the ancients as fertility festivals are today a bit of a joke, events attended by rowdy good ol’ boys. The more upscale aphrodisiac is velvet deer antler, a cartilage-rich product recommended by Chinese doctors for thousands of years to treat sexual impotence and infertility and to help men keep their harems happy. Traditionally valued as a special soup, velvet deer antler today is carefully harvested, cold processed, and sold as an expensive anti-aging, energizing, libido-enhancing elixir. It’s also sold to Olympic athletes and aspiring immortalists as an all-natural source of youth-enhancing, muscle-building growth hormone. What does the trick is the antlers of deer, elk, caribou, reindeer, or moose, not the horns of cattle, water buffalo, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bison, and antelope. Antlers are mostly young moist cartilage, while horns are old decrepit keratin. Unlike rhino horn, tiger penis, and many other traditional aphrodisiacs, velvet antler grows and is shed annually and can apparently be harvested humanely.

While anti-aging, cure-all supplements are always tempting, the myths and marketing tend to be more alluring than reality. In any event, we need not depend upon expensive products to stay juicy for life. Science certainly supports some life-enhancing effects, but ancestral wisdom suggests we can age gracefully and extend our life spans with the lifestyle choice of a “slow foods” diet rich in broth.

Broth for Cellulite

No one knows for sure how many women have cellulite, but best guesstimates are from 85 to 98 percent. It’s a problem of fat deposition, and not just found on overweight women. Indeed, lean women often have it, including Hollywood stars who are regularly shamed for their dimpled thighs with unflattering close-ups in the pages of supermarket tabloids. Clearly, the cellulite problem is not solved by being young, lean, and fit. Being male does help, however, as only about 10 percent of men have cellulite.

Many people assume that cellulite comes with fatness. But studies show cellulite sufferers do not have larger fat lobes or even more of them. The problem only arises when those cottage cheese–like lobes poke through. What prevents that is healthy connective tissue that is strong, flexible, and able to hold things in. Men have an advantage in cellulite-prone parts of the body because their connective tissue has a crisscrossing structure unlike women’s, which is more linear. Think a cross-linked fence compared to a picket fence and its greater ability to tightly contain things in your yard. That said, women without cellulite have stronger and more resilient “picket fences” with some crosslinking.

Women are also more prone to cellulite than men because they have three subcutaneous fat layers, not just one, and because they have nine times more alpha estrogen receptors (which produce fat) than beta receptors (which break down fat).

Although some health experts blame pesticides, preservatives, fluoride, and other environmental toxins stored in the fat tissue of our bodies, old photographs and paintings show that the dimpling and lumpiness of cellulite is not a modern phenomenon.

Most attempts to reduce cellulite naturally focus on reducing fat and attaining lean body mass through diet and exercise. Exercise definitely helps, because it increases blood flow to the connective tissue and strengthens the muscles that support our skin. But exercise alone won’t do the trick unless the diet also includes plenty of foods that nourish our collagen and cartilage. American women currently spend $62 million a year on cellulite treatments ranging from creams to massage to liposuction that offer partial and temporary solutions at best, leading Scientific American to conclude that a “ ‘miracle cellulite assassin’ has yet to be uncovered.” We disagree. That miracle is bone broth.

Figure 8: In the illustration at left, healthy connective tissue contains the fat cells. In the illustration at right, weaker connective tissue allows the fat cells to poke through, producing the dimpled appearance of cellulite.