“Bone, after all, is not built on calcium alone. In fact bone is built on a scaffold of collagen… Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, constituting between 25 and 35 percent of the body’s total protein, and needed for building healthy bones, cartilage, skin, arteries, corneas, placentas and just about every other structure in the body. Collagen production in the body slows down age and ill health, causing skin, joints and bones to become drier, less pliant, thinner and weaker. Think sagging skin, creaky joints and the brittle bones of osteoporosis.
Proline and glycine are the keys to tensile strength, resilience and water-holding capacity of healthy collagen. Although both are considered “non essential” amino acids, most people cannot manufacture enough and benefit greatly from broth and other proline and glycine rich foods. Accordingly, many top researchers believe these amino acids should be considered “conditionally essential.”
To build good bone we need collagen above all. The basic building blocks of bone are collagen fibrils that form a latticework for deposition of calcium phosphate and other minerals. The collagen cross-links are more important for whole bone strength and fracture resistance than mineral levels and patterns. Indeed, some people have bones thick with calcium and other minerals that are weak and crack under tension like unreinforced concrete.
Diabetics, for example, may suffer from poor bones, not because of low mineral density but because their collagen is damaged by the advanced glycation end products (AGEs) created when blood sugar levels are chronically high. While this is most apparent in diabetics, anyone suffering from blood sugar problems such as hypoglycemia, insulin resistance and Metabolic Syndrome will have AGEs contributing to osteopenia and osteoporosis.” Link to full article: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/bone-broth-calcium/
Optimized Nutrition - Alison Grewal, Registered Dietitian 