Is meat broth really nutritious?

[PainterGuy]

Hi,

Could you please help me with the queries below?

Q1:
It's said that meat broth is really nutritious. Does the boiling process extract the nutrients from the meat? If it does, I'd say that the boiling process cannot still extract all the nutrients from the meat.

Q2:
Assuming the answer to my query above is 'yes'. I've seen many people boil vegetables, beans, etc., before properly preparing them using oil. If the boiling process can really extract the nutrients then boiling the vegetables etc., before cooking them in oil is a really bad idea. What do you say on this?

 

[Drakkith]

It's said that meat broth is really nutritious. Does the boiling process extract the nutrients from the meat?

Cooking food of any type tends to break down some portion of the nutrients in it. But it also helps sanitize the food and to make it easier to chew and digest along with improving taste and making it so that different types of food can be combined together and come out tasty.

If it does, I'd say that the boiling process cannot still extract all the nutrients from the meat.

No, proper preparation of food typically leaves plenty of nutrients intact.

If the boiling process can really extract the nutrients then boiling the vegetables etc., before cooking them in oil is a really bad idea. What do you say on this?

I'd say not to worry about it. If you're healthy, the small loss of nutrients from cooking is not harmful as long as you're eating a balanced diet.

 

[PainterGuy]

Thank you!

I think that I didn't state it clearly.

I wanted to say that if you stew/boil meat and then drink that liquid (without any meat), is that liquid going to contain as many nutrients as there are in 'solid' meat? Personally, I don't think so.

 

[Drakkith]

I wanted to say that if you stew/boil meat and then drink that liquid (without any meat), is that liquid going to contain as many nutrients as there are in 'solid' meat? Personally, I don't think so.

I don't think so either.

 

[256bits]

Thank you!

I think that I didn't state it clearly.

I wanted to say that if you stew/boil meat and then drink that liquid (without any meat), is that liquid going to contain as many nutrients as there are in 'solid' meat? Personally, I don't think so.

Opinions are opinions.

You should be asking "What is it that could be transferred from the meat to the liquid when stewing or boiling?"
You would end up with a qualitative answer.

Next would be to ask " How much of each constituent is in the water?"

And how does this relate to the amount in the meat - you would have to base that upon some measurable system - ie per mass, per volume, per serving, per calorie consumed, per price/cost, ...

 

[Rive]

It's said that meat broth is really nutritious.

As far as I know, it is not.

It's often used/recommended as soft/starting meal after surgery, serious sickness, gut upset or such and it's recommended due being 'nutritious': but in fact what matters is that it's easy to digest, rehydrating due the high water content and it's kind of naturally isotonic (well: close enough).

But if you need nutrients for a whole day physical activity, workout or such, you should pick a stew in which you can stick a spoon straight. That is nutritious

I've seen many people boil vegetables, beans, etc., before properly preparing them using oil. If the boiling process can really extract the nutrients then boiling the vegetables etc., before cooking them in oil is a really bad idea. What do you say on this?

Making a decent meat broth takes hours. A few minute/second boiling won't affect nutrient content too much: it's about the texture of the food.

 

[pinball1970]

As far as I know, it is not.

It's often used/recommended as soft/starting meal after surgery, serious sickness, gut upset or such and it's recommended due being 'nutritious': but in fact what matters is that it's easy to digest, rehydrating due the high water content and it's kind of naturally isotonic (well: close enough).

But if you need nutrients for a whole day physical activity, workout or such, you should pick a stew in which you can stick a spoon straight. That is nutritious

View attachment 317585Making a decent meat broth takes hours. A few minute/second boiling won't affect nutrient content too much: it's about the texture of the food.

That looks great

Its 13.24pm here and I have not had lunch yet…

 

[pinball1970]

I tried the spoon test with a tin kindly donated by one of my colleagues. The brand is high end. It does not look as chunky in the bowl as the image on the tin.

I added spinach and pepper, increase viscosity, confidence high.

Close enough.

 

[PainterGuy]

Opinions are opinions.

You should be asking "What is it that could be transferred from the meat to the liquid when stewing or boiling?"
You would end up with a qualitative answer.

Next would be to ask " How much of each constituent is in the water?"

And how does this relate to the amount in the meat - you would have to base that upon some measurable system - ie per mass, per volume, per serving, per calorie consumed, per price/cost, ...

Thank you!

I agree that that would be the right way to do a scientific inquiry. When I asked the question, I was just thinking about it and needed some opinions. On the other hand, I don't think I would have been able to frame my query so nicely the way you did. Thanks!

 

[PainterGuy]

It's often used/recommended as soft/starting meal after surgery, serious sickness, gut upset or such and it's recommended due being 'nutritious'

That's exactly what I had in mind. Mostly when someone has surgery or get sick, that person is mostly given meat broth so I was under the impression that it should be really nutritious.

 

[TeethWhitener]

This is not as straightforward a question as it looks at first blush.

While food preparation often destroys or decreases the concentration of some nutrients compared to raw ingredients (e.g., vitamin C exposed to high heat), it increases the bioavailability of other nutrients (e.g., heat breaks down starches into smaller poly- and mono-saccharides, also nixtamalization greatly increases bioavailability of vitamin B3 in corn over unprocessed corn).

As for meat broth specifically, it’s certainly easier to access nutrients that have been leached from bones or gristle using boiling water than by gnawing on the bones directly. So you probably get nutrients from broth that you wouldn’t get from eating the meat directly. But if you boil meat in water and then throw out the meat, you obviously lose a large amount of proteins and fats. So the answer to your question is probably yes and no.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Let's start from the top. This is the legal and scientific US data for nutrition labels. Example: To see what happens to raw versus cooked carrots look here:
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
Or almost any other food is in here...

1. cooking vegetables changes many ,but not all, nutrients.

Example: Vitamin C (ascorbates) can be removed/reduced either by heat or boiling for more than a few minutes. Boiled kale (a leafy green) has 17.mg of Vitamin C per 100g of kale. Much less than raw kale: which is 94mg/100g

Example: Vitamin A levels in carrots (as beta carotene) is not decreased very much and bioavailability is greatly increased from cooking
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14673607/

2. cooking foods kills parasites, bacteria

3. Humans evolved to eat cooked foods,
Example: biochemistry: browning of foods:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction - humans can detect very low quantities of the output of the browning reaction. Smells very good!

4. Due to the increased digestibility of most cooked foods, the energy budget for digestion of these foods is a big win over digesting raw.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/world/earliest-evidence-of-cooking-with-fire-scn/index.html
780kya

Bottom line - nutrient values of cooked foods versus uncooked foods is not remotely simple.

 

[PainterGuy]

This is not as straightforward a question as it looks at first blush.

While food preparation often destroys or decreases the concentration of some nutrients compared to raw ingredients (e.g., vitamin C exposed to high heat), it increases the bioavailability of other nutrients (e.g., heat breaks down starches into smaller poly- and mono-saccharides, also nixtamalization greatly increases bioavailability of vitamin B3 in corn over unprocessed corn).

As for meat broth specifically, it’s certainly easier to access nutrients that have been leached from bones or gristle using boiling water than by gnawing on the bones directly. So you probably get nutrients from broth that you wouldn’t get from eating the meat directly. But if you boil meat in water and then throw out the meat, you obviously lose a large amount of proteins and fats. So the answer to your question is probably yes and no.

Thanks a lot! I find your post very helpful.

 

[PainterGuy]

Let's start from the top. This is the legal and scientific US data for nutrition labels. Example: To see what happens to raw versus cooked carrots look here:
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/
Or almost any other food is in here...

1. cooking vegetables changes many ,but not all, nutrients.

Example: Vitamin C (ascorbates) can be removed/reduced either by heat or boiling for more than a few minutes. Boiled kale (a leafy green) has 17.mg of Vitamin C per 100g of kale. Much less than raw kale: which is 94mg/100g

Example: Vitamin A levels in carrots (as beta carotene) is not decreased very much and bioavailability is greatly increased from cooking
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14673607/

2. cooking foods kills parasites, bacteria

3. Humans evolved to eat cooked foods,
Example: biochemistry: browning of foods:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction - humans can detect very low quantities of the output of the browning reaction. Smells very good!

4. Due to the increased digestibility of most cooked foods, the energy budget for digestion of these foods is a big win over digesting raw.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/world/earliest-evidence-of-cooking-with-fire-scn/index.html
780kya

Bottom line - nutrient values of cooked foods versus uncooked foods is not remotely simple.

Thank you very much! All those links and data are really helpful.