What are the Health Benefits of Eating Bone Marrow?
Last updated on January 30th, 2023 at 12:06 pm
5 minutes read.
Animal Bones are usually tossed after eating up the meat. But not many know that these bones are packed with a very nutritious good fat like sponge known as bone marrow, which is naturally rich with many nutrients we can’t easily get even from a balanced diet.
Bone marrow has amazing health benefits including blood sugar control, stem cell formation, skin health, joint health, and immune enhancement.
As they say “nothing good comes easy” Bone marrow is difficult to get that is because nature hides peculiar powerful nutrients that help to provide life for the animal even in a diet restriction situation or starvation.
I wrote this article to help you understand the nutritional values of bone marrow and why you should start incorporating it into your diet if you haven’t been doing that. Feel free to skip ahead.
What’s Bone Marrow?
Bone marrow is the rigid organ that constitutes part of the endoskeleton of all vertebrates.
It is a flexible fatty tissue found in the center of animal bones.
They support and protect the various organs of the body, produce red blood cells and white blood cells, and store minerals.
In simple term bone marrow is a safe heavenly house for animals.
Sources of bone marrow
Bone marrow can be found in almost any bone that holds cancellous (spongy) tissue.
It is mostly found in the hip, femur, thigh, and spine bones of any vertebrate.
One of the types of tissue that makes up bone marrow is the mineralized osseous tissue called bone tissue
In newborns, all such bones are filled exclusively with red marrow but as the child ages, it’s mostly replaced with yellow marrow or fatty marrow.
On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans.
Nutrition Facts
Bone marrow contains high levels of fat and calories. For an instant, for caribou, ram, and bull per 100g;
Nutrient Daily value (%)
Total fat: 93 to 97 percent
Cholesterol: 1, 2 percent
Trans fat: no trace
Protein: 6.7 g, 13 percent (caribous)
Carbohydrate: virtually zero
Dietary fiber : no trace
Iron: 4.5 mg, 25 percent
Phosphorus: 107mg, 9 percent
Vitamins Recommended Daily Intake(%)
Riboflavin: 6 percent
Vitamin E: 2 percent
Thiamine: 1 percent
Vitamin B12: 7 percent
Vitamin A: 1 percent
According to one analytical chemistry research, the fat content of bone marrow of Ram and Bull per 100 grams of food are as follows:
Fatty acid Ram (%) Bull (%)
Total MUFA: 42.8 38.83
Total PUFA: 6.81 14.09
Total Omega-3: 20.5 0.14
Total SFA: 23.9 40.54
Total fatty acid: 94.0 93.6
Total cholesterol: 2 1
Total Calories: 3576 3557
No significant trans fats fat was found in both.
The study then concluded that both ram and bull bone marrow had negligible levels of phospholipids and sterols said “they are both good sources of healthy dietary fat but the ram bone marrow appeared better in many parameters”
Abbreviations:
MUFA = Monounsaturated Fatty Acid
PUFA = Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid
SFA = Saturated Fatty Acid
Health Benefits
Here are the health reasons you should eat bone marrow:
1. Lower Risk of Weight-related Diseases
A University of Michigan-led study shows that the fat tissue in bone marrow is a significant source of the hormone adiponectin, which helps maintain insulin sensitivity and break down fat, and has been linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular (heart) disease, diabetes, and obesity-associated cancers.
2. Bone Marrow Protects and Optimizes Immunological Memory during Dietary Restriction
Research had shown a significant increase of adipose tissue (fat-laden cells) in bone marrow during dietary restriction. There was an accumulation of memory T cells in the bone marrow also.
Memory T cells are necessary for protective immunity against invading pathogens (disease-causing bacterial), especially under conditions of immunosuppression
The study concluded that understanding the nature of the factors within the bone marrow milieu that potentially optimizes immunological memory during dietary restriction could be utilized to improve and protect fundamental arms of the immune system in the context of disease.
3. Reduces Risk of Inflammation-related Diseases
Glycine and conjugated linoleic acid are both abundant in bone marrow, and they’ve been shown to have strong anti-inflammatory properties.
According to a 2-week study in 23 men, taking 5.6 grams of conjugated linoleic acid per day effectively decreased levels of specific proteins involved in inflammation, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein.
Chronic inflammation is linked to serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and Alzheimer’s.
The bone marrow contains vitamin A, vitamin K2, omega-3s, and 6s, as well as several other minerals, including iron and zinc.
The connective tissue of the animal that is on the bones contains collagen which also provides glucosamine and chondroitin – which are essential for those with arthritis and joint pain.
Eating animal bone marrow can help repair body cells and growth factors. Because it has stem cells that form platelets, and white and red blood cells which play vital roles in faster wound healing and protecting you from diseases.
4. Improves Brain Health
Bone marrow is good for brain health because it contains high levels of fat-soluble vitamins A and K2.
These components help to protect our brain cells from being damaged by toxins and free radicals that cause degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
5. Helps Your Gut Health and Digestion
Bone marrow is a decent source of collagen which are rich in glycine that helps repair tissues in the intestines.
6. Boosts Immune Function
Bone marrow also contains adiponectin, a type of protein hormone that has been shown to play a central role in regulating inflammation and immune function
Animal bone marrow is full of stem cells, which have similar properties to human stem cells. These stem cells that are used to create white blood cells and red blood cells, which increase immune function and antioxidant activity.
It also contains alkylglycerols which are an important component for adipose tissue development and help your immune system to fight diseases.
7. Powerhouse of energy.
According to scientific research, the energy contribution of the bone marrow of ram and bull per 100 grams as food are 3576 and 3557 calories respectively. That’s a striking value when compared to 2500 daily recommended calories.
Then that of caribou bone marrow per 100-gram serving size contains about 786 calories.
It also contains fat-soluble vitamins such as B12. This vitamin can help improve lethargy or keto flu symptoms.
8. Supports joint function
Several compounds in the bone marrow are thought to optimize joint health.
For example, glucosamine is a compound found in cartilage that’s often used as a natural remedy for osteoarthritis due to its ability to reduce inflammation and relieve joint pain.
Collagen can support the production of joint cartilage to help maintain joint function as well.
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9. Promotes skin health
Collagen is a type of protein found throughout your body that plays an integral role in skin health.
One 8-week study in 69 women found that supplementing with 2.5–5 grams of collagen helped improve skin elasticity and hydration.
Similarly, a study in mice observed that treatment with collagen for 8 weeks increased collagen content and antioxidant activity in the skin, which could help protect against skin damage and aging.
Note that the studies used supplements containing concentrated amounts of bone components.
Presently there are limited findings on whether consuming only bone marrow can have a similar effect on skin health.
Is bone marrow fat or protein?
Obviously, bone marrow is fat since it contains 93 to 97 percent of total fats and 786 to 3557 calories.
But the truly good news is that those fats in the bone marrow are a healthy fat and that’s the only part of beef you can find healthy fat. Based on scientific findings, solid fats or fat that remains solid at room temperature is said to be saturated and often regarded as bad fat.
However, when it comes to bone marrow the reverse is the case. It contains mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids (Omega 3 and Omega 6) which are the “healthy fat” in question.
Though it contains saturated fatty acid the cholesterol amount is virtually insignificant and the amount of trans-fat found was very insignificant as well (less than 0.05). Therefore bone marrow is a good source of healthy fat.
How to prepare Bone marrow?
There are many ways to add bone marrow to your diet.
In some parts of Africa, bone marrow can be used to prepare moimoi and akara (a type of beans cake), jorrof rice, fried rice, porridge yam (ji agworo agwo), and porridge pap (agidi – made from corn).
You can add the creamy water that comes out of bone marrow after simmering or boiling, to stew, sauce, or soup.
Tip
If you’re going to prepare any food with bone marrow limit the quantity of oil you add because the bone marrow is a whole good oil on its own.
For Broths (mmiri okpukpu anu)
In some parts of the world, the traditional way to use bone marrow is in broth or soup. How thick or rich you want your liquid to be will dictate how much marrow you put in.
To make a broth you extract bone marrow by simmering the bones for 36 to 48 hours.
Soups and Stews
It can be cooked in broth, stew, or rap and roasted in the oven at a high temperature to cook it through. Simply add any bones to your stew and remove them before serving. You can scoop out the marrow once it gets cooked and soft enough.
For Sauté
You can use bone marrow as you would work with any other type of oil. Heat it up on a frying pan and let it melt. Dig the marrow out of the bone with a spoon and put it on a hot skillet with some olive oil, canola oil, ground nut oil, red palm oil, soya oil, etc.
For Sauce
A great way to use bone marrow is in a sauce, especially for meat dishes. Extract the marrow as you would for a broth and add it to your sauce
For Spread
Bone marrow can be enjoyed just like butter — spread some on bread, a cracker, or a piece of toast.
Bone marrow also comes in the form of liquid, powder, and capsule (pill) supplements which makes it easy to add bone marrow to your cuisine.
Tip
You can buy fresh bone marrow that has already been removed from the bone from a butcher.
Bone marrow is difficult to extract from the bone so politely tell the butcher to split bones for you so you can easily remove the marrow yourself when you boil or simmer it.
While in some slaughter some butchers specialize in removing the marrow from the bone and selling it.
You can tell the butcher you want to cook with bone marrow and he or she should have some good recommendations. Otherwise, you can ask them for shank bones, neck bones, knucklebones, or oxtail.
Just make sure you’re getting the bone marrow from a neat butcher who gets the animal from a quality source.
Is it good to eat bone marrow raw?
Eating raw bone marrow is good for you because of the healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. It’s popular among paleo, carnivore diet, and ancestral health proponents. You can easily eat it with a sprinkle of salt.
Is it safe to eat bone marrow?
Yes, as long as the meat reaches the required temperature, it’s perfectly safe to eat the marrow inside the bones.
Side effect/Allergy
For centuries bone marrow had been consumed and enjoyed by many people and no significant side effect or allergy has been reported so far.
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Conclusion
Animal Bone which is usually tossed after eating up the meat contains a very nutritious good fat-like sponge known as bone marrow, which is naturally rich with many nutrients we can’t easily get even from a balanced diet.
Bone marrow has amazing health benefits including blood sugar control, stem cell formation, skin health, joint health, and immune enhancement. Bone marrow is difficult to get because nature hides peculiar healthy goodies in it.
Bone marrow contains 80 percent healthy fat including omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, 100 percent calories, fat-soluble vitamins (especially B Vit), iron, and little amount of protein. 1 to 2 percent of cholesterol and no trace of trans fat. Allergy and side effect with bone marrow is very rare.
To get bone marrow, politely tell your butcher you want to cook with bone marrow or buy a quantity of bone from the neck, and spinal cord, shank the bone, and politely tell your butcher to split it for you, then you can boil it or simmer it and use the resulting creamy water to cook your favorite recipe or you can drink it like that.
If you’re going to cook with bone marrow, add little or no oil to the recipe because bone marrow is a whole good oil on its own. Begin today to incorporate bone marrow into your diet at least once a week, it will go a long way in helping you obtain all the unique nutrients packed in it.
I hope you get the value worth your time. I appreciate the time you spend with me. Leave a comment if you like this post. So tell me have you been enjoying bone marrow in any way? Do you have question as regards the consumption of bone marrow? Feel free to share with me in the comment below.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER
The content provided in living Good Blog is for informational and educational purposes only. It’s not intended to provide medical advice or take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal doctor. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Living Good Blog takes no responsibility for possible health consequences of any person(s) reading or following the information in this educational content. Viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medication, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.
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