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We are a 100%-owned family farm, so you can rest assured that everything that bears our name is produced on our farm with the greatest attention to every detail.
You see, we truly care about the health of our family, and we care about yours too.
Our mission is to provide families with truly healthy meat.
Farm Blog
Posted by: Trevor
March 29, 2025
We all know the feeling of having elevated stress hormones. Rapid breathing, elevated heart rate, skin flushing. These physical responses are caused by adrenaline and cortisol --- the fight-or-flight hormones.
Adrenaline can stay elevated for only a short time, but cortisol can stay elevated chronically. Prolonged, elevated cortisol levels are widespread in our population, and are one reason for the obesity epidemic (Abraham, Rubino, et al. Cortisol, obesity and the metabolic syndrome. Obesity, Silver Spring. 2013).
Chronically high cortisol levels lead to insulin-resistance, and insulin-resistance is another major cause of obesity (Geer, Islam, and Buettner. Mechanisms of Glucocorticoid-Induced Insulin Resistance. Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America. 2015).
Bone broth is high in gelatin, which in turn is high in the amino acids glycine, proline, alanine, and hydroxyproline. These play an important role in building muscle and reducing cortisol. This is why bone broth is both anabolic (tissue building) and anti-catabolic (tissue sparing).
The reason bone broth is high in gelatin is because the bones and connective tissue (such as ligaments and tendons) which are used to make the broth are high in collagen. Collagen, when cooked, turns into gelatin. If the bone broth is not made with adequate quantities of bones and connective tissue, the collagen (gelatin) content is reduced.
Store-bought bone broth (either in liquid or powder form) can be deceptive because the manufacturers can save money by using synthetic beef-bouillon for flavoring, and industrially-produced collagen sourced from chemically-reduced slaughterhouse by-products. The result can taste good and seem to gel, misleading consumers into thinking they are getting a quality product, when in reality they are getting a denatured product composed of repurposed waste.
Historically, populations obtained gelatin from cooking meat with the bone-in, and also stewing collagen-rich meat. But as our societies became more affluent, our preference for eating boneless meat increased, and so gelatin consumption dropped.
Beef and pork contain much more collagen than chicken. While chicken bone broth tastes wonderful, it takes a proportionately very high amount of chicken-carcass bones to get the broth to gel. I love all of the bone broths (beef, pork, chicken), but beef and pork broths are the highest in gelatin.
Of the four major amino acids I mentioned above (glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and alanine), glycine is the most abundant in bone broth. While glycine is a non-essential amino acid (meaning your body is capable of synthesizing it on its own) the problem is that we don’t make enough of it. It is conditionally-essential.
As we age, or are subject to any prolonged ailment (including obesity), we suffer from chronic inflammation (Li, Li, Zhang, et al. Inflammation and aging: signaling pathways and intervention therapies. Nature. 2023). Ageing, disease, and obesity are stressors. Inflammation and stress interfere with our ability to synthesize protein and utilize leucine, an amino acid which assists in building and maintaining muscle (Dalle, Rossmeislova, and Koppo. The Role of Inflammation in Age-Related Sarcopenia. Frontiers in Physiology. 2017). As a result, we experience sarcopenia (muscle-wasting). The less muscle we have, the lower our resting metabolic rate, leading to further levels of obesity.
But researchers have found that when glycine is administered to animals, the cycle is mitigated (Ham, Caldow, et al. Glycine restores the anabolic response to leucine… American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2016), restoring the anabolic state (muscle building) and preventing further catabolism (muscle wasting).
Another mechanism through which glycine has pro-metabolic effects is by supporting thyroid function. Researchers found that glycine results in lower TRH-stimulated TSH secretions. TRH is a hormone released in response to stress, which results in elevated TSH levels. Elevated TSH levels are used to diagnose hypothyroidism (Mannisto, Mattila, et al. Effects of some putative amino acid neurotransmitters… Hormone Research in Paediatrics. 1983). This is relevant considering the prevalence of hypothyroidism, according to the research of the late Broda Barnes, MD. Dr. Barnes was an expert in optimal thyroid function, and his work has helped thousands of people overcome a low-metabolic state.
Obesity and insulin-resistance are linked, and insulin-resistance is associated with lower than normal glycine levels (Tan, Hsu, et al. De novo glycine synthesis is reduced in adults with morbid obesity…. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2022). A study found that, amongst people who are insulin-resistant, supplementing glycine significantly reduced their fasting glucose levels as well as decreased other markers associated with low insulin-sensitivity (Johnson and Cuellar. Glycine and aging: Evidence and mechanisms. Ageing Research Reviews. 2023).
Why has insulin-resistance become so pervasive? Overconsumption of starches may be one reason. Another reason may be the presence of glyphosate in everything from food products to rain water (Vogel, Majewski, and Capel. Pesticides in rain in four agricultural watersheds in the United States. Journal of Environmental Quality. 2008). Glyphosate is used extensively in conventional agriculture production as an herbicide. It rapidly kills all plant life, making seed-bed preparation relatively easy. It is distressing to drive by conventional farms and see them spraying glyphosate on their fields, sending clouds of toxic chemicals into the wind to neighboring communities.
Glyphosate is chemically similar to glycine, except instead of giving life it brings death. It displaces glycine. Environmental contamination is now so common that glyphosate traces routinely show up in urine samples from the general population (Gillezeau, van Gerwen, et al. The evidence of human exposure to glyphosate: a review. Environmental Health. 2019).
We need glycine in our diets, in abundance, but most of us are not getting nearly what our bodies could readily use. And it isn’t just glycine that produces so many extraordinary benefits. It’s also the other amino acids I mentioned --- proline, hydroxyproline, and alanine. They work together synergistically and, combined with the many other nutrients in bone broth, provide a functional whole food that holistically supports our healthy-weight objectives.
But one word of caution. If you are making your own bone broth, use only the cleanest and most nutrient-dense ingredients available. Ideally, certified-organic. Good bone broth is expensive and time-consuming to make, but well worth it. Think of it as medicine, because that is truly what it is.
Foods are natural medicines, and when consumed whole are often greater than the sum of their parts. If we can see foods as therapeutic substances, we will increasingly view them as potent and effective solutions to our health needs.
In summary, properly-made bone broth can be a powerful tool in our body-composition objectives. By lowering cortisol, improving insulin-sensitivity, replenishing deficient glycine levels, encouraging muscle growth, reducing catabolism, and supporting optimal thyroid function, we can enjoy substantial benefits, and improve our health.
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