On the keto diet, collagen can come from many sources. We discussed recently the differences between keto collagen pills and powders. Today, we want to add bone broth to the mix. To get your daily supply of collagen on keto, are you better off taking a collagen powder or bone broth?
Bone broth, while it does contain connective tissue, might not have as much collagen per serving despite being bogged down with 95 to 200 milligrams of sodium. Our Authentic Keto chocolate keto collagen powder boasts 10.75 grams of collagen in every scoop and only 90 milligrams of sodium, making it the healthier, better option.
If you want to learn more about keto collagen and bone broth so you can make up your mind, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll explain both sources of collagen in-depth, including the pros and cons of each. Then we’ll tell you which is the better collagen source to take on keto!
What Is Keto Collagen?
Let’s take this from the top. Collagen is an extracellular matrix protein that keeps our bones healthy, our skin supple and youthful-looking, our hair and nails strong, and our muscles, ligaments, and tendons healthy. Many keto dieters take collagen, but they need to limit the carbs in the collagen source they select to remain in ketosis.
That brings us to keto collagen.
This collagen source is high in protein and fat while limiting carbs. When you take keto collagen, you can ensure you’re making a healthful choice for your body but continue the fat-burning you’re undergoing through your dietary choices.
The collagen in keto collagen includes fish carcasses, chicken cartilage, or bovine hide. In this post, we highlighted the differences between bovine and marine collagen. As a recap, bovine collagen from yak, antelope, bison, water buffalo, and/or cows is taken mostly from their hooves but also their bones and horns.
Bovine collagen contains Type I collagen for healthier teeth, bones, and skin. This keto collagen is also rich in Type III collagen, which builds the reticular fiber to support your spleen and liver.
Marine collagen comes from fish, some that are wild-caught and others that grow in an aquaculture environment. Fish collagen is a substantial source of Type I collagen but not Type III. Instead, marine collagen contains Type II collagen, a cartilage protein that prevents joint pain.
The two most common forms of keto collagen are pills and powder. If you’re in a rush, taking a flavorless keto pill is convenient, as you don’t have to have eaten before swallowing the pill. However, the size of keto pills can be large depending on the brand and you must take at least two pills a day.
Keto collagen powder is the more popular of the two products. You can stir collagen powder into any beverage warm or hot. You can also mix collagen powder into foods such as oatmeal and yogurt. Available in flavors like vanilla and chocolate, taking keto collagen powder can be something you look forward to, as it almost feels like a cheat meal.
Keto Collagen Pros and Cons
Now that you’re a little clearer on what keto collagen is, let’s delve into the pros and cons of this source of collagen.
Keto Collagen Pros
Great for Your Health
Keto collagen has many proven health benefits. Type IV collagen might be able to lower the rate of oxidation and degeneration in the brain to ward off Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The glycine in keto collagen could alleviate the symptoms associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.
Taking keto collagen can help with alcohol-induced liver damage thanks to the amino acid glycine. Another amino acid called proline also keeps your liver in healthy shape. Your heart could be healthier too if your diet is rich in keto collagen. Type I collagen especially can reinforce your arteries for better blood flow to and from the heart.
Your vision can benefit from keto collagen as well. Your eyes already contain collagen, especially the sclera, cornea, and retina. By supplementing with keto collagen, you can prevent vision deficiencies.
On top of all that, you can even restore gut health through keto collagen due to the collagen peptides in your supplement. The amino acids in collagen peptides protect your intestinal barrier to prevent nasty gut issues like diarrhea, leaky gut, and inflammation.
Made for Keto Dieters
Although anyone can and should take collagen, for keto dieters, the perks are definitely more pronounced. If you swallow a few scoops of keto collagen powder ahead of your workout, you’ll notice that you have far more energy than usual. Some keto dieters have found they lose weight by supplementing with keto collagen before they exercise.
That’s due to the inclusion of medium-chain triglycerides or MCT oil in keto collagen, which can promote weight loss. MCT also takes fatty acids and converts them into ketones, an energy source your body can burn while you’re in ketosis.
Although the verdict is still out on whether collagen builds muscle mass, in supporting muscle health, your metabolism often goes up. That makes it even easier to lose weight.
Fantastic Variety
If you’re more of a pill person, then you can swallow your keto collagen pills and then head to work or the gym. For those who spend time on meal prep since starting keto, it’s not such a big deal to take a few extra minutes to stir your keto collagen powder into a smoothie, juice, coffee, water, or just about any beverage you want to drink.
The flavor variety of keto collagen is another standout. You can always buy flavorless collagen powder if you’d rather keep it simple, but you can also make lattes and yogurts taste that much more luxurious with chocolate or vanilla keto collagen flavors.
Keeps You in Ketosis
Keto collagen powder is keto-friendly. When you swallow a pill or add a few scoops of powder to your beverage, you don’t have to worry about counting macros. Many keto collagen products are very low-carb so you can stay within your carb requirements for the day.
Fine to Take Anytime
If you’d rather wake up and take your keto collagen first thing in the morning, you can. You can also save the powder or pill until lunchtime, dinnertime, or in the evening. Whatever works for you, keto collagen is very accommodating. You can take it on an empty stomach and without food.
Keto Collagen Cons
We have to talk about the following downsides of keto collagen too.
No One Likes Taking Pills
Ugh, another pill? Although keto collagen pills might sound good on paper, once you start incorporating two pills into your daily routine, keeping up with them can be annoying. It’s also hard to remember to take your collagen pills if you’re on other medications.
Lacks Electrolytes
One serving of bone broth contains 130 milligrams of sodium, 56 milligrams of phosphorus, 115 milligrams of chloride, and 400 milligrams of potassium. These electrolytes maintain your blood pressure and acidity, provide hydration, and keep your muscles and nerves functioning. Keto collagen–be that pills or powder–contains zero electrolytes.
May Not be Ethically Sourced
If you’re someone who cares about your impact on the environment, you might want to rethink taking keto collagen. The fish that go into marine collagen is kept in fisheries, and bovine collagen might come from factory farms. You can’t guarantee the collagen doesn’t contain foreign sources and GMOs either.
The Best Keto Collagen Shake
Do you want to make a healthy morning or afternoon shake that will give you energy for hours? Then you need our Authentic Keto chocolate keto collagen powder. Our delicious keto collagen includes MCT oil for energy and weight loss. This collagen supplement uses grass-fed bovine collagen that’s dairy-free. The chocolate flavor is sinful!
To make a great shake, grab a scoop of Authentic Keto collagen powder and mix it with half a cup of heavy whipping cream or half-and-half. Add a cup of almond milk, a tablespoon of peanut butter, and some ice and water. Voila! You have a delicious keto shake that will provide lasting satiety.
What Is Bone Broth?
Let’s switch gears now and talk about bone broth, which is also referred to as bouillon. This simmered, savory fluid includes animal connective tissue and bone. Which animals, you ask? Any creatures from fish to chicken, buffalo, bison, turkey, and cows are used. Outside of their bones, their fins, gizzards, beaks, hooves, and feet can all go into bone broth.
You can purchase bone broth at any grocery store or you can make it yourself. You would need animal bones though, which lots of people might feel uncomfortable about keeping in their homes. Still, the option is there. One benefit of homemade bone broth is that you can control the flavor by adding seasoning such as salt in just the right quantities.
Commercial bone broth is usually quite salty, as we will discuss a little later.
Some people will drink bone broth straight up while others pour it into tomato sauce or soup. The flavor of bone broth is described as meaty and a little bland.
You don’t really taste the bones since bones themselves don’t have a flavor, but there’s definitely a distinctness to ingesting bone broth.
Bone Broth Pros and Cons
As we did with keto collagen, let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating bone broth into your keto diet.
Bone Broth Pros
Bone Broth Is Quite Healthy
Bone broth contains glycine much like keto collagen. Thus, the benefits of this amino acid in bone broth could theoretically apply to collagen supplements as well. That said, by sipping a cup of bone broth before you go to bed, you might be able to sleep better, notes this 2015 report from the journal Neuropsychopharmacology. The study found that participants who consumed glycine didn’t wake up as much, stayed in a deep sleep, and fell asleep quickly.
A cup of bone broth contains 86 calories, so it’s a low-cal snack or meal. When augmented by the ketogenic diet, you could lose weight. You can also support bone health with bone broth. Outside of the amino acids glycine and proline, the broth has chondroitin and glucosamine as well. These are cartilage compounds.
Arginine, another amino acid in bone broth, has been known to reduce inflammation, including in the immune system, says a 2015 report from Nutrients. Besides all its amino acids, bone broth is also rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, selenium, manganese, boron, iron, zinc, vitamin K2, and vitamin A. If it’s mostly fish bones in your broth, these bones have iodine. Animal bones contain phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
Can Keep You in Ketosis
Bone broth contains about 3 grams of carbs per cup. Although this isn’t as paltry a few carbs as are in some keto collagen powders, you don’t have to worry about exceeding your carb load for the day by enjoying a cup of bone broth. Even if you’re sticking to a very tight carb restriction of no more than 20 grams, you can still sip on bone broth without worry.
Widely Available
Any grocery store should have bone broth if you know where to look for it, as it’s the main ingredient in sauces, gravies, and soups, as we mentioned. You can’t walk into your favorite grocer and expect to find keto collagen though. You’d have to shop at a health supply store or buy online.
Bone Broth Cons
We have to talk as well about the downsides of choosing bone broth as your main collagen source on keto.
Has Less Collagen
Keto collagen products are pure collagen, the same of which cannot be said for bone broth. The meat may still be attached to the bone at the time of boiling. On top of that, bone is not entirely collagen, but calcium as well. When comparing keto collagen supplements versus bone broth, the latter might contain less collagen.
Non-Appealing Taste
We also have to discuss the flavor of bone broth. Sure, some people might not mind it, but for others, the taste makes taking collagen pills seem attractive. If you could have a chocolate or vanilla-flavored supplement each day or one that tastes like salt and meat, we think the choice is pretty clear.
Very Salty
Speaking of salt, bone broth has a lot of it, anywhere from 95 to 200 milligrams depending on the brand and serving size. Consuming large quantities of salt can increase your water retention, making you look and feel bloated while increasing your number on the scale.
The Top 3 Bone Broth Products
If you’d like to try keto collagen supplements and bone broth to see which you like better, here are 3 of our preferred bone broth products. These are considered premium broths with a higher price tag than average, just so you know.
EPIC Beef Jalapeno Sea Salt Bone Broth
This keto-friendly bone broth from EPIC is made with thyme, lactic acid, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, garlic, jalapeno pepper, mushrooms, carrots, celery, water, and grass-fed beef bones. Per serving, you’re getting 11 grams of protein and zero grams of carbs. The unique blend of ingredients means this is one bone broth you might not mind eating on its own.
Pacific Foods Organic Bone Broth
Here’s another keto-friendly bone broth, this time from Pacific Foods. Their broth is manufactured right here in the United States and has no dairy. It’s also soy-free, grain-free, and gluten-free. The ingredients include organic rosemary extract as an antioxidant, organic cider vinegar, organic spices, organic celery, organic carrots, organic onions, organic chicken, and water.
Kitchen Basics Original Chicken Bone Broth
Our third recommended bone broth is Kitchen Basics. Each container has 8.25 fluid ounces of broth with a mix of herbs and organic mirepoix. The other available flavor is ginger chicken with turmeric. One serving of broth includes 10 grams of protein and 50 calories. The full ingredients are thyme, bay leaf, black pepper, sea salt, organic celery, organic carrots, organic onion, and chicken broth.
Conclusion: Which Should I Take on the Ketogenic Diet?
If you’re still debating at this point between keto collagen and bone broth, we hope the information throughout this guide has made it clear that keto collagen is the purer, more delicious, keto-friendlier way of incorporating collagen into your diet. Our Authentic Keto chocolate collagen powder especially tastes so good that you’ll almost forget you’re benefiting your body by getting your daily dose of collagen!
