Guides

I have spent the better part of two decades studying bone broth. I have written books about it, formulated entire product lines around it, and I have walked thousands of patients through using it as a daily practice. And yet the question I still hear most often is the simplest one: is bone broth actually good for you, or is it overhyped? I want to answer that honestly. This is the complete guide to bone broth as a food, as a daily ritual, and as a nourishment practice with real science behind it. I will walk you through what bone broth actually is, what is in it, what the research shows, who should drink it, how much, when, and how to use it. By the end you will have a clear, evidence-based picture, not marketing. What Bone Broth Actually Is Bone broth is what you get when you slowly simmer animal bones, connective tissue, and sometimes vegetables and herbs for many hours, usually somewhere between 12 and 24. The long, slow simmer is the entire point. What ordinary stock or broth cannot do in an hour, bone broth does over the course of a day. The collagen breaks down into gelatin. The amino acids dissolve into the liquid. The minerals leach out of the bones and into the broth. The result is something fundamentally different from the carton of chicken broth most people grew up with. Let me clear something up that confuses a lot of people. Bone broth is not the same as regular stock or broth. Stock is made primarily from bones simmered for a few hours and is used as a cooking base. Regular broth is made from meat simmered for a shorter time and is typically thinner. Bone broth is its own thing. The extended simmer time creates a richer concentration of collagen, gelatin, amino acids, and minerals than you can get from either stock or broth. I have written more on this in a piece specifically on how bone broth is not just stock or broth if you want to go deeper, and I have a full piece on bone broth vs. chicken broth that addresses the most common comparison question. Traditional cultures all over the world have made some version of bone broth for thousands of years. Italian brodo. French bouillon. Vietnamese pho. Jewish chicken soup, the one your grandmother called the cure for everything. Korean seolleongtang. These are not coincidences. Cultures separated by oceans and centuries independently discovered the same thing: that simmering bones for a long time produces something deeply nourishing. What we have done in modern wellness is rediscover something traditional cultures already knew, and now we have the laboratory tools to actually measure what is in bone broth and what it does in the body. That is what this guide is about. What Is Actually in Bone Broth When you simmer bones for hours, what dissolves into the liquid is a specific nutritional profile that you do not get from most other foods. Here is what is actually in a good cup of bone broth. Collagen and gelatin Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It is what makes up your skin, your hair, your nails, your joints, your gut lining, and the connective tissue that holds your body together. When you simmer animal bones, the collagen in those bones breaks down into gelatin, which is what gives bone broth its characteristic body, that gel-like texture you see when good broth cools in the fridge. A 2025 review of bone broth nutrients published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences by researchers at the Mayo Clinic documented the specific amino acid composition that comes from this collagen breakdown, and how those amino acids relate to gut barrier integrity1. Glycine Glycine is the most abundant amino acid in collagen, which makes bone broth one of the richest dietary sources of glycine you can find. A 2024 systematic review in GeroScience examined the documented effects of glycine across eleven physiological systems in human adults and found benefits ranging from sleep quality to inflammation regulation to cytoprotection2. The body uses glycine for sleep, for collagen synthesis, for detoxification pathways, for neurotransmitter regulation. Most modern diets are surprisingly low in glycine because we have moved away from eating the connective tissue and bone-derived foods our ancestors ate. Bone broth is one of the most efficient ways to add it back in. Proline and hydroxyproline These two amino acids are the other major components of collagen, and they are bone broth signatures. Proline and hydroxyproline are the building blocks the body uses to make and repair its own collagen. They support skin, joints, blood vessels, and the gut lining. The body can synthesize proline on its own, but only in limited amounts, which is why dietary sources matter. Glutamine Bone broth contains glutamine, the primary fuel source for the cells that line the small intestine. Glutamine is conditionally essential, meaning the body usually makes enough of it, but during stress, illness, intense training, or recovery, glutamine demand increases. This is part of why bone broth has a long traditional reputation as a recovery food. Minerals When bones are simmered with an acidic component like vinegar or lemon juice, minerals leach out of the bone matrix and into the liquid. Bone broth provides modest but meaningful amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and trace minerals. The amounts vary widely depending on the quality of the bones, the simmer time, and the acidity of the broth, so I would not call bone broth a primary mineral source. But these minerals come with the amino acid matrix in a way that supports absorption. Other compounds Bone broth also contains chondroitin and glucosamine, which are connective tissue compounds that have long been studied for joint support. It contains hyaluronic acid in small amounts. And it provides a usable form of protein, though the protein profile is different from a complete protein like a chicken breast. I have written more about this in bone broth protein vs. whey for anyone who wants to compare it to other protein sources. The Research on Bone Broth Benefits I want to be careful here. The research on bone broth as a specific food is still relatively young. Most of what we know comes from research on the individual amino acids, on gelatin and hydrolyzed collagen, and on collagen-rich foods in general. The mechanism evidence is strong. The clinical trials on bone broth itself are fewer in number but growing. Let me walk you through what the current evidence actually shows. Gut barrier integrity The most robust mechanism evidence for bone broth is around its support of the gut barrier. A 2025 review from Mayo Clinic specifically examined how bone broth nutrients fortify the gut barrier in health and disease1. The intestinal barrier is a single-cell-thick layer that decides what passes from your digestive tract into your bloodstream. When that barrier is compromised, what the research community calls intestinal hyperpermeability, a cascade of inflammation and immune activation can follow. A 2024 review in Clinical and Experimental Medicine by researchers at Jagiellonian University documents the mechanisms by which the gut barrier becomes damaged and the dietary strategies that may support its repair4. Glycine, glutamine, and gelatin, all abundant in bone broth, are central to the supportive strategies described in the literature. Skin and connective tissue Hydrolyzed collagen has been studied extensively for its effects on skin. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Cureus examined the impact of oral hydrolyzed collagen supplementation on skin rejuvenation and documented benefits for skin hydration, elasticity, and the appearance of fine lines6. The collagen in bone broth is hydrolyzed by the long simmer process, breaking it down into the same kinds of bioavailable amino acids and peptides that supplement studies use. Many of my customers tell me their skin starts looking better after two to three weeks of daily bone broth. The research supports the mechanism. Sleep and inflammation The glycine in bone broth has been shown to support sleep quality in human studies, particularly when consumed in the evening2. Glycine appears to work partly by lowering core body temperature, which is part of the body’s natural transition into sleep. The same systematic review documented glycine’s anti-inflammatory effects across multiple physiological systems. None of this means a cup of bone broth is going to fix insomnia, but it is one reason that an evening cup is a daily habit I recommend to a lot of patients. Weight management and satiety The 2025 clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet, published in Clinical Nutrition Open Science, documented an average weight loss of approximately 15 pounds over 8 weeks with fat loss and muscle preservation, plus significant reductions in hunger and cravings during the program3. The trial was funded by Veyl Ventures, the parent company of the Dr. Kellyann brand, and conducted by KGK Science, an independent Canadian clinical research organization. The bone broth itself contributed to satiety and provided amino acid support during the fasting windows. Independent research on protein intake during weight loss confirms the broader principle. A 2024 meta-analysis in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN found that adults who increased protein intake during weight loss preserved significantly more muscle mass than those who did not5. Joint comfort Bone broth contains chondroitin and glucosamine, the same compounds used in many joint supplements. The research on these compounds for joint comfort is mixed but generally supportive. Bone broth is not a treatment for joint disease and should not be positioned as one. But many customers report less stiffness and better joint comfort when they make daily bone broth part of their routine. Across all of these areas, the honest position is the same. Bone broth is a nourishing traditional food with documented amino acid and mineral content, real mechanisms of action, and growing clinical research. It is not a miracle. It is a daily nourishment practice that supports the body in specific, measurable ways. Bone Broth and Gut Health This deserves its own section because it is the area where I think bone broth has the most powerful and underappreciated benefit. The gut is the foundation of nearly everything. Immune function, mood regulation, hormone balance, skin health, energy. They all trace back to the integrity of the gut barrier and the health of the microbiome. And bone broth is one of the most useful daily foods you can add to support both. The mechanism is straightforward. The amino acids in bone broth, particularly glycine and glutamine, are the raw materials the body uses to maintain and repair the intestinal lining1. Glutamine is the primary fuel source for the cells lining the small intestine. Glycine has documented anti-inflammatory properties and supports the mucosal layer that protects the gut wall. When the gut lining is well-nourished, it does its job. When it is depleted, all kinds of downstream problems show up. Modern life is hard on the gut. Stress, ultra-processed foods, antibiotics, alcohol, NSAIDs, lack of sleep, and chronic low-grade inflammation all compromise gut barrier function over time. Research documents the specific factors that disrupt the intestinal barrier and the dietary strategies that may support repair4. Adding bone broth to your daily routine is one of the simplest things you can do to provide your gut with the building blocks it needs. I have written specifically on bone broth and gut health if you want to go deeper on the mechanism. The short version is this: if your gut is the foundation of your health, bone broth is one of the most efficient daily inputs you can give it. Bone Broth in the Morning vs. Throughout the Day I get asked all the time when to drink bone broth. The short answer is: whenever you will actually drink it. Consistency matters more than timing. But there are real differences in how bone broth supports the body depending on when you have it, and here is how I would think about it. Morning bone broth Drinking bone broth first thing in the morning is one of my favorite practices, and one of the most popular for my customers. A cup of warm broth gives you a savory, satisfying start to the day without spiking blood sugar the way a sweet breakfast does. It provides amino acids that support the body coming out of an overnight fast. It is hydrating and warming and grounding, especially in the colder months. I have written more on the benefits of drinking bone broth for breakfast and it remains one of my most-read pieces because so many people are looking for a real breakfast alternative. Midday bone broth A mug of bone broth as a midday pick-me-up is a wonderful alternative to a coffee or a snack. It bridges you to your next meal without breaking your appetite. If you struggle with afternoon energy crashes, try a savory cup of bone broth around 3 p.m. and see how you feel. Many people find it more sustaining than caffeine. Evening bone broth An evening cup of bone broth, particularly an hour or so before bed, takes advantage of the sleep-supporting properties of glycine2. Many people find a small mug of bone broth in the evening a calming wind-down ritual, the kind of thing that signals to the body it is time to rest. Skip the spicy flavors for evening. Lean into the soothing classics or the herbal varieties. During intermittent fasting Bone broth is uniquely suited to support intermittent fasting because it provides amino acids and minerals during the fasting window without significantly breaking the metabolic fasted state. I have a full piece on intermittent fasting with bone broth for anyone using the two together. How Much Bone Broth Per Day There is no magic number. There is a range based on what you are trying to achieve and how you are using bone broth in your daily routine. For general wellness and daily nourishment, one cup per day is a sustainable, meaningful daily practice. Most of my customers settle into this rhythm. For more targeted gut support, joint support, or skin support, two cups per day is where many people see noticeable changes within a few weeks. During the 21-day Bone Broth Diet program, the protocol calls for at least one cup daily on feeding days and three to six cups on the mini-fasting days. During illness, recovery, or acute stress, more bone broth is helpful. Two to four cups daily is a reasonable range, supporting the body when it has elevated amino acid demand. Can you have too much? In practical terms, no. Bone broth is a food, not a supplement, and the amounts most people drink are well within normal dietary parameters. The honest practical limit is what fits into your life and how you feel. I have written more specifically on how much bone broth per day if you want a deeper breakdown by goal. Chicken vs. Beef vs. Other Bone Broths The type of bone you simmer matters. Different bones produce different broths with somewhat different profiles. Here is how I would think about the major options. Chicken bone broth. The most popular, the most versatile, and the one I recommend to almost everyone starting out. Chicken broth tends to be lighter, easier to drink as is, and pairs well with almost any meal. The amino acid profile is excellent and the flavor is gentle. My Classic Chicken Bone Broth is the best-selling product in my entire line for exactly this reason. Beef bone broth. Richer, deeper, and more robust in flavor. Beef broth tends to be higher in collagen because beef bones, particularly knuckle bones and oxtail, are denser. Many people find beef broth more satisfying as a meal replacement or a winter mug. My Classic Beef Bone Broth is the beef counterpart to the Classic Chicken and is particularly popular among people doing the Bone Broth Diet. Turkey, duck, and fish bone broths. These exist and are wonderful in their own right. Turkey is closer to chicken in flavor but slightly richer. Duck is highly flavorful and traditional in many Asian cuisines. Fish bone broth simmers in much less time, typically just a few hours, and produces a lighter, mineral-rich broth often used in seafood traditions. None of these are part of my core product line, but they are valid options if you are making your own. The bottom line is, there is no single "best" bone broth. Chicken is the easy entry point. Beef is the deeper, more substantial option. Variety is what keeps the daily habit alive. My bone broth bundles collection lets you mix and match. Homemade vs. Store-Bought I get this question all the time, and my honest answer is: both. Most of my customers do both. The decision is not about which is better. It is about what fits into your life and where you are willing to spend your time and energy. Homemade bone broth Making your own bone broth is wonderful when you have the time. You control the ingredients, the simmer time, and the quality of the bones. You can use leftover bones from a roast chicken, which is economical and reduces waste. The flavor is something you can adjust to your preference. I have written about how to make chicken bone broth for anyone who wants to get started. The two main approaches are stovetop, which takes 12 to 24 hours, and Instant Pot, which delivers a fine broth in 2 to 3 hours. Store-bought bone broth Quality store-bought bone broth gives you consistency, convenience, and quality control you might not be able to replicate at home. The questions to ask are: what bones are used, where do they come from, how long was the broth simmered, what is the amino acid and collagen content, and is the product third-party tested. I formulated my own bone broth product line specifically because I wanted these answers. My bone broth collection is what I serve my own family. I have also written about bone broth powder vs. liquid for anyone weighing the format question. Practical reality Most of my customers, including the ones who love making their own, also keep good store-bought broth on hand for busy days. The daily habit is what matters. Whichever path keeps you drinking bone broth consistently is the right one. And if you are wondering about practical questions like how long bone broth lasts in the fridge or whether you can freeze it, I have answered those too. Who Should and Shouldn’t Drink Bone Broth Bone broth is a food, and for most people it is a perfectly safe addition to a daily routine. But I want to be honest about who should approach it more thoughtfully or skip it entirely. Who benefits most Anyone wanting to support gut health, including people with digestive sensitivities, recent antibiotic use, or chronic low-grade inflammation. People in midlife and beyond who are losing collagen as part of natural aging. Anyone recovering from illness, surgery, or injury. Bone broth is a traditional convalescence food for good reason. Athletes and active people whose connective tissue, joints, and gut are under regular stress. People who skip breakfast or practice intermittent fasting and want something sustaining during fasting windows. Anyone trying to reduce ultra-processed foods and add more traditional, nutrient-dense whole foods back into the daily routine. Who should be cautious People with histamine intolerance. Bone broth, especially long-simmered broth, can be high in histamine and may trigger symptoms in sensitive individuals. Start with smaller amounts. People with kidney disease or specific medical conditions that require restricted protein intake. Talk to your healthcare provider first. People on a strictly vegan or vegetarian diet. Bone broth is by definition an animal product. The vegan and vegetarian alternative is a vegetable broth made with mineral-rich vegetables, sea vegetables, and mushrooms. My own  Vegetarians and vegans can use my Vegan Garden Vegetable Broth as an alternative. It does not contain the collagen amino acids of true bone broth but it does provide the soothing, mineral-rich savoriness of a daily broth practice. Choosing Your Bone Broth: Formats, Flavors, and What I Recommend Once you have decided to add bone broth to your daily routine, the question becomes which one. I have built out a fairly extensive product line because I wanted there to be a bone broth that fits every lifestyle, every flavor preference, and every situation. Here is how I would think about it. Start by choosing your format Concentrates and frozen broths. Closest to homemade. Warm in a mug or use as a soup base. The foundation of the line: my Classic Chicken Bone Broth and Classic Beef Bone Broth. Ready-to-drink liquid broths. Shelf-stable, no prep, on-the-go life. Options include Classic Beef Low-Sodium Liquid, French Onion Liquid, and Thai Lemongrass Liquid. Powders and capsules. For travel, smoothies, and quick daily use. The Bone Broth Protein powders stir into nut milk in seconds. The Bone Broth Capsules keep the habit going when you cannot drink a mug. Then choose your flavors The savory foundation. Classic Chicken and Classic Beef. Clean, versatile, the most popular. The elevated flavors. Roasted Rosemary Chicken (herbal, warming), French Onion (bistro-soup flavor), Greek Lemon Chicken (bright and citrusy), Homestyle Mushroom (earthy and umami-rich). The bolder flavors. Thai Lemongrass (aromatic with heat), Sriracha Chicken (real kick), Ramen Beef (deep ramen-shop flavor at home). The protein powders. Vanilla, Chocolate, and Salted Caramel for shakes, smoothies, and dessert-style applications. What I recommend based on where you are If you are new to bone broth, start with Classic Chicken for two weeks. If you are doing the full Bone Broth Diet, the 21-Day Bone Broth Diet Bundle has everything mapped out. If you travel often, the Bone Broth Protein powders or the Bone Broth Capsules will keep your habit alive. And if you want variety, the bone broth bundles collection lets you build your own mix. Frequently Asked Questions Is bone broth good for you? Yes. Bone broth is a nourishing traditional food with documented amino acid content, real mechanisms of action for gut barrier support, sleep quality, and skin and joint nourishment, and a growing body of clinical research1 2. It is not a miracle cure, but it is a daily nourishment practice that many people find supportive of overall well-being. How much bone broth should I drink per day? One cup per day is a sustainable baseline for general wellness. Two cups per day is where many people see noticeable changes in gut health, skin, and joint comfort within a few weeks. During the 21-day Bone Broth Diet, the protocol calls for at least one cup on feeding days and three to six cups on mini-fasting days3. Is bone broth a complete protein? Bone broth contains all nine essential amino acids but in proportions that are different from a complete protein source like a chicken breast or eggs. It is particularly rich in glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, the building blocks of collagen. It is best thought of as a complementary protein, not a primary protein source. Aim to get most of your daily protein from animal protein, fish, or eggs and use bone broth as a daily collagen and amino acid supplement. Does bone broth have collagen? Yes. The long simmer time breaks down the collagen in animal bones and connective tissue into bioavailable gelatin and amino acids. This is what gives bone broth its characteristic body when chilled, that gel-like texture, and it is the source of the glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline that bone broth is known for. Research on hydrolyzed collagen, the same general form found in bone broth, documents benefits for skin6. Is bone broth good for gut health? Yes. The amino acids in bone broth, particularly glycine and glutamine, are key building blocks the body uses to maintain and repair the intestinal lining1. A 2024 review of intestinal permeability documents the mechanisms by which gut barrier function is supported by dietary amino acids and the broader nutritional strategies that may help4. Can I drink bone broth in the morning on an empty stomach? Yes, and many people find this is the best way to use bone broth. Morning bone broth on an empty stomach delivers amino acids and minerals when your body is coming out of an overnight fast, with no blood sugar spike. It is hydrating, savory, and grounding. This is one of the most popular daily practices in my customer community. Does bone broth break a fast? Bone broth is technically a food and does contain a small number of calories and protein. Whether it "breaks" a fast depends on how strictly you define fasting. For metabolic fasting, where the goal is to remain in a fat-burning state, bone broth is generally considered acceptable because it does not significantly raise insulin or blood sugar. For strict water-only fasting, it does count as eating. The Bone Broth Diet structure uses bone broth during mini-fasting days deliberately for this reason. Bone broth vs. collagen supplements, which is better? They serve overlapping but slightly different purposes. Collagen supplements deliver a concentrated, measurable dose of hydrolyzed collagen peptides in a powder you can stir into anything. Bone broth delivers collagen-derived amino acids in their natural food matrix, along with minerals, gelatin, glutamine, and a savory food experience. Many people use both. Collagen powder in the morning smoothie, bone broth in the afternoon or evening. They are not in competition. What does bone broth taste like? Plain chicken bone broth tastes like a deeply savory, slightly richer version of clear chicken soup, with a rounder mouthfeel. Beef bone broth is deeper, more robust, almost meaty. The flavored varieties (French Onion, Thai Lemongrass, Roasted Rosemary, and the rest) taste like the cuisine they are inspired by. If you are new to bone broth, the flavored varieties are often easier to drink as is. Can vegetarians drink bone broth? Bone broth is by definition an animal product, so a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet does not include it. The closest equivalent is a mineral-rich vegetable broth made with sea vegetables, mushrooms, and root vegetables, which provides a similar warming, savory daily ritual without the collagen amino acids. My Vegan Garden Vegetable Broth is the alternative I recommend. Where to Start Today If you take one thing from this guide, let it be this. Bone broth is real food with real evidence behind it. The amino acid content is documented. The mechanisms for gut support, skin and joint nourishment, and sleep quality are real. The 2025 clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet3 adds to a growing body of evidence on what bone broth can do as part of a structured daily practice. Start simple. One cup of Classic Chicken or Classic Beef a day for two weeks. See how you feel. Note your energy, your sleep, your digestion, your skin. The data point that matters most is your own. And if you decide you want to do more, the Bone Broth Diet is the deeper protocol that takes everything in this article and turns it into a 21-day transformation. References 1. Matar A, Abdelnaem N, Camilleri M. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease. Dig Dis Sci. 2025;70(6):1951-1961. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40180691/ 2. Soh J, Raventhiran S, Lee JH, Lim ZX, Goh J, Kennedy BK, Maier AB. The effect of glycine administration on the characteristics of physiological systems in human adults: A systematic review. GeroScience. 2024;46(1):219-239. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10828290/ 3. Doma KM, Moulin M, Al-Wahsh H, Guthrie N, Crowley DC, Lewis ED. An open-label clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of a bone broth diet on weight loss in adults with obesity. Clin Nutr Open Sci. 2025;61:231-240. (Funded by Veyl Ventures LLC; conducted by KGK Science Inc., an independent clinical research organization; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05740670.) Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667268525000488 4. Macura B, Kiecka A, Szczepanik M. Intestinal permeability disturbances: causes, diseases and therapy. Clin Exp Med. 2024;24(1):232. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11438725/ 5. Kokura Y, Ueshima J, Saino Y, Maeda K. Enhanced protein intake on maintaining muscle mass, strength, and physical function in adults with overweight/obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2024;63:417-426. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457724001761 6. Dewi RK, Perdiyana A, Arkania N, Nadhira F, Wiliantari NM. Exploring the Impact of Hydrolyzed Collagen Oral Supplementation on Skin Rejuvenation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cureus. 2023;15(12):e50231. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10773595/ These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Kellyann products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results may vary. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any new dietary program, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.  

Intermittent fasting has gone from a fringe practice to one of the most widely discussed nutrition strategies in the world, and for good reason. The research has grown, the clinical evidence has matured, and millions of people have integrated some form of fasting into their daily lives. But I get a lot of questions from women who are not sure whether it is right for them, how to do it safely, whether it affects hormones, and how to make it sustainable over time. This is the guide I wish I could hand to every woman asking me about intermittent fasting. I am going to walk you through what the research actually shows, the different fasting approaches, what is realistic, what works particularly well for women, and how I have used intermittent fasting in my own practice for over a decade. What Intermittent Fasting Actually Is Intermittent fasting is not a diet in the traditional sense. It does not tell you what to eat. It tells you when to eat. The premise is that the timing of your meals matters as much as the content of them, and that giving your body extended windows without food triggers metabolic shifts that support fat burning, blood sugar regulation, cellular repair, and a number of other downstream benefits. There are several different fasting approaches, but they all share the same core idea: structured periods of eating alternating with structured periods of not eating. What separates intermittent fasting from disordered restriction is the structure. Intermittent fasting is planned, time-bound, and supported by adequate nutrition during eating windows. It is not skipping meals because you forgot to eat. It is not eating less in general. It is creating predictable rhythms that the body can adapt to and benefit from. Humans evolved with intermittent fasting built into daily life. Our ancestors did not eat from 6 a.m. to midnight. They ate when food was available, which often meant long gaps between meals and overnight fasting that stretched 12 to 16 hours. Modern eating patterns, with constant grazing and late-night snacking, are the historical anomaly. Returning to a more traditional eating rhythm is the foundation of every intermittent fasting approach. The Main Types of Intermittent Fasting There is no single intermittent fasting protocol. There are several, and they suit different lifestyles and different goals. The most important thing is to find one that you can actually follow consistently. The best fast is the one you will sustain. Time-restricted eating (the 16:8 method) The most popular and the gentlest entry point. You eat all your daily food within an 8-hour window and fast for the remaining 16 hours. For most people, this looks like skipping breakfast, eating lunch around noon, and finishing dinner by 8 p.m. Some women do better with an earlier window, eating from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., which research suggests may be slightly more effective for metabolic outcomes. This approach requires almost no change to your weekly schedule and most people find it surprisingly easy to maintain. 5:2 fasting Five days of regular eating per week and two non-consecutive days of significantly reduced intake, typically around 500 to 600 calories. The 5:2 structure is the framework I built the Bone Broth Diet around, where the two "fasting" days are anchored by bone broth and a few small protein-based meals. A 2025 systematic review and network meta-analysis published in the BMJ analyzed 99 randomized clinical trials with 6,582 adults and found that whole-day fasting approaches like 5:2 produced significant weight loss and cardiometabolic improvements, particularly in trials lasting 24 weeks or more1. Alternate-day fasting You alternate between regular eating days and significantly restricted days (usually 500 calories or less). More aggressive than 5:2. Effective for weight loss in the short term but harder to sustain for most people in the long term. I rarely recommend this as a starting point. The reduced eating days can be hard on women, particularly women in the second half of life, and the on-off pattern can feel disruptive. OMAD (one meal a day) One large meal per day, no other intake. Some people thrive on this. Most do not. OMAD is the most extreme of the commonly discussed approaches and I would not recommend it for women without specific guidance from a healthcare provider, particularly women who are still cycling, women with thyroid concerns, or women in perimenopause. Extended fasting Fasts lasting 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, or longer. Extended fasting has specific therapeutic uses, particularly in research contexts around autophagy and metabolic reset, but it is not what most women asking about intermittent fasting are looking for. Extended fasts should only be done with medical supervision. What the Research Actually Shows The research on intermittent fasting has come a long way in the last decade. We now have hundreds of randomized clinical trials, multiple systematic reviews, and a clearer picture of what fasting actually does in the body. Here is what the most rigorous evidence currently shows. Weight loss and body composition The 2025 BMJ network meta-analysis is currently the most comprehensive synthesis of intermittent fasting research1. It analyzed 99 randomized clinical trials with 6,582 adults of varying health conditions. The findings: intermittent fasting strategies produced weight loss and cardiometabolic benefits broadly comparable to continuous calorie restriction. Whole-day fasting (the 5:2 framework) showed particular promise for trials lasting 24 weeks or more. Alternate-day fasting showed additional advantages for triglycerides and blood pressure. The bottom line: intermittent fasting works for weight loss, and it appears to work at least as well as traditional calorie restriction with the added benefit of a simpler structure that is easier for many people to follow. Cardiometabolic markers Intermittent fasting has been documented to improve fasting glucose, fasting insulin, triglycerides, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers across multiple meta-analyses1. The 2025 clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet, which uses a 5:2 intermittent fasting structure, documented significant reductions in fasting glucose, a 0.43 mmol/L decrease in triglycerides, and improvements in quality-of-life measures across multiple domains3. These cardiometabolic benefits are often what motivates clinicians to recommend intermittent fasting alongside or instead of traditional calorie restriction. Muscle preservation when done correctly One of the concerns women raise about intermittent fasting is muscle loss. The research is clear: when intermittent fasting is paired with adequate protein intake, muscle mass is preserved. A 2024 meta-analysis in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN found that protein intakes of at least 1.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day significantly preserved muscle mass during weight loss5. Additional research from the University of Pittsburgh published in 2024 documents how fasting interacts with protein metabolism at the level of bone remodeling and muscle preservation4. The takeaway: prioritize protein during your eating windows and muscle preservation is achievable. Cellular and metabolic effects During extended fasting windows, the body shifts from primarily burning glucose for fuel to burning stored fat, which is what produces the metabolic benefits associated with intermittent fasting. This metabolic switch typically begins around 12 hours of fasting and deepens over the next 12 to 24 hours. The body also activates autophagy, a cellular cleanup process where damaged cellular components are recycled. The research on autophagy in humans is still being clarified, but the mechanism is well-established in animal studies. Intermittent Fasting and Women’s Hormones This is the question I get asked most often, and it deserves a careful, honest answer. The concern is real. The conclusion is more nuanced than either side of the debate suggests. The most rigorous review of intermittent fasting and reproductive hormones in women was published in 2022 in Nutrients by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the same group that has published much of the leading IF research2. The review examined the effects of various intermittent fasting protocols on female reproductive hormones in human trials. The findings: intermittent fasting did not affect estrogen, gonadotropin, or prolactin levels in cycling women. It did appear to decrease androgen markers like testosterone and the free androgen index, particularly in premenopausal women with obesity, and to increase sex hormone-binding globulin, which is generally a positive cardiometabolic signal. The takeaway: in healthy adult women, the documented evidence on intermittent fasting does not show significant disruption of estrogen, menstrual cycles, or core reproductive hormones. The widespread concern about fasting harming female hormones comes primarily from a single rat study in which young rats were fasted for 24 hours every other day for 12 weeks. Rat physiology is not human physiology. Human studies do not show the same effects. That said, here is who I would have go more slowly Women trying to conceive. If pregnancy is the goal, this is not the time for any restrictive eating pattern. Adequate caloric intake and nutritional density are the priorities. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Avoid intermittent fasting during these phases. Women with a history of disordered eating. Intermittent fasting can become a trigger for anyone with this history. Women with thyroid issues, particularly hypothyroidism. Aggressive fasting can sometimes affect thyroid function. Go gently and work with your physician. Women who are highly underweight or athletes with low energy availability. More restriction is not what your body needs. Women with adrenal dysfunction or chronic stress. Adding the metabolic stress of fasting on top of an already taxed system is not always the right move. For most women, here is what works Start with the gentlest approach. A 12 to 14 hour overnight fast is something most women adapt to easily and that delivers metabolic benefits without significant stress. Move to 16:8 only if 12 to 14 hours feels comfortable and you have been doing it for a few weeks. Move to 5:2 only if 16:8 is working well. Building up gradually is more sustainable and gentler on the body than jumping straight to aggressive protocols. During perimenopause and menopause, intermittent fasting can actually be particularly helpful for the metabolic shifts that come with hormonal change. Insulin sensitivity tends to decrease in midlife, and intermittent fasting is one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical strategies for improving it. The 5:2 framework I built into the Bone Broth Diet was designed specifically with women in midlife in mind. What to Drink and Eat While Intermittent Fasting During the fasting window Strict fasting allows only water. But there is a wider window of options that most practitioners agree are acceptable for the metabolic and weight-loss goals most people are after. Water. Plain, sparkling, with a squeeze of lemon. The most important fluid during a fast. Black coffee. No cream, no milk, no sweetener. A small amount of caffeine does not break a fast and may actually support fat oxidation. Plain tea. Black, green, herbal. The same rules as coffee. Mineral salt or a pinch of sea salt in water. Particularly useful if you are doing longer fasts and want to support electrolyte balance. Bone broth. This is the one that gets debated and the answer depends on your fasting goals. For metabolic fasting, where the goal is to stay in a fat-burning state, bone broth is generally considered acceptable because it does not significantly raise insulin or blood sugar. It also provides amino acids that support the body during the fasting window. For strict water-only fasting, bone broth does technically count as eating. I have written more on whether you can drink bone broth while fasting for a deeper answer. Coffee questions in particular come up a lot. I have a dedicated piece on whether you can drink coffee while intermittent fasting that walks through what counts and what does not. During the eating window This is where intermittent fasting either succeeds or fails. The eating window is not a free-for-all. If you eat ultra-processed food, sugar, and refined carbohydrates during your eating window, intermittent fasting will not deliver the results you are hoping for. The structure of your meals matters as much as the timing. Prioritize protein. At least 25 to 35 grams per meal is the rough target for muscle preservation and satiety. Build your plate around non-starchy vegetables. Leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, peppers, zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms. Include healthy fats. Avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, coconut oil. Be intentional with carbohydrates. If you are working out hard, you need them. If you are sedentary, you need fewer of them. Choose unrefined sources. Stay hydrated, including during your eating window. Many people confuse thirst for hunger. I have written specifically on what to eat during intermittent fasting for a fuller meal-plan approach. How to Start Intermittent Fasting Successfully The first two weeks are the hardest. After that, most people find intermittent fasting becomes effortless. Here is how I would walk a new patient through starting. Pick your approach. For most women, I recommend starting with 12 to 14 hour overnight fasting. So if your last meal is at 8 p.m., your first meal the next day is at 8 to 10 a.m. This is gentle and almost effortless. Settle in for two weeks. Do not change anything else. Just establish the rhythm. Move to 16:8 only if you want to and only if 12 to 14 hours feels easy. The transition from 14 to 16 hours is usually the harder part. Use bone broth in the morning to soften the transition. Track how you feel, not just the scale. Energy, sleep, mood, digestion. The scale lags. Adjust if your body is unhappy. Female physiology is not linear. If your sleep gets worse, your cycle becomes irregular, or you feel persistently exhausted, scale back. Intermittent fasting is supposed to make you feel better, not depleted. I have a separate piece on how to start intermittent fasting that walks through this more practically, and 6 ways to make intermittent fasting a breeze for the strategies that have helped my patients the most. The Bone Broth Connection I want to be transparent about why I am such a strong proponent of pairing intermittent fasting with bone broth. It is not coincidental that the Bone Broth Diet uses an intermittent fasting structure. Bone broth and intermittent fasting work together in a specific, complementary way. When you are fasting, your body is using stored fat for fuel, which is the metabolic state you want. But fasting also produces amino acid demand, because the body still needs raw materials for the dozens of biochemical processes that do not stop just because you are not eating. Plain water fasting provides none of those raw materials. Bone broth provides them. The amino acid profile of bone broth, particularly glycine, supports the body during the fasting window in measurable ways6. The minerals support electrolyte balance. The warm savory broth softens the experience of fasting and makes longer fasting windows easier to sustain. And crucially, bone broth does not significantly raise blood sugar or insulin, so the metabolic fasted state is largely preserved. This is why I built the 5:2 structure of the Bone Broth Diet around bone broth as the daily anchor. The 2025 clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet documented an average weight loss of approximately 15 pounds over 8 weeks with fat loss and muscle preservation, significant reductions in hunger and cravings, and improvements in quality of life3. If you want to combine intermittent fasting with bone broth as a structured program, the Bone Broth Diet is what I would point you to. If you want a more flexible approach, my piece on intermittent fasting with bone broth walks through the integration. Common Mistakes to Avoid I have seen the same mistakes derail intermittent fasting attempts over and over. Here are the ones to be aware of. Overeating during the eating window. The most common reason intermittent fasting does not work for someone is that they compensate during the eating window by eating dramatically more, often poorly. The eating window is not unlimited. Under-eating protein. Insufficient protein during the eating window leads to muscle loss, persistent hunger, and metabolic slowdown. Doing too much, too fast. Jumping straight to OMAD or aggressive protocols is a setup for failure. Build up. Ignoring sleep. Intermittent fasting and poor sleep do not mix well. If you are short on sleep, you will be hungry. Address sleep first. Combining with very high-intensity exercise. If you train hard and fast hard, something has to give. Pair intermittent fasting with moderate exercise, especially when starting out. Not adjusting for your cycle. Some women find that fasting is harder during certain phases of their menstrual cycle, particularly the week before a period. Lean into a shorter fasting window during the days when your body is asking for more support. Treating it as punishment. Intermittent fasting should never feel like deprivation as a moral act. It is a structural choice to support your health. Tools to Support Your Fasting Practice You do not need anything to do intermittent fasting except a clock and a willingness to commit. But there are tools that make the practice smoother, more sustainable, and more effective. Bone broth as the daily anchor. A warm mug of Classic Chicken or Classic Beef bone broth is what gets most of my patients through their first few weeks of fasting. It is satisfying, soothing, and supportive without significantly disrupting the fasted metabolic state. Capsules for travel and busy days. When you cannot drink a mug, the Bone Broth Capsules provide the same amino acid profile in a portable format. A protein source for breaking the fast well. My Bone Broth Protein powder makes a fast breakfast or post-workout shake that supports muscle preservation without the bloat or crash that can come with whey. A structured program if you want one. The Bone Broth Diet takes the principles in this article and turns them into a 21-day protocol with day-by-day meal plans. The 21-Day Bone Broth Diet Bundle has everything you need to begin. Frequently Asked Questions Is intermittent fasting safe for women? Yes, for most healthy adult women. A 2022 review of intermittent fasting and reproductive hormones in humans found that intermittent fasting did not significantly affect estrogen, gonadotropins, or prolactin in cycling women, though it did appear to decrease androgen markers and increase sex hormone-binding globulin, generally positive cardiometabolic effects2. Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to conceive, have a history of disordered eating, have thyroid issues, or are highly underweight should be cautious or avoid intermittent fasting. What is the best intermittent fasting window for weight loss? The research suggests that whole-day fasting approaches like the 5:2 framework and time-restricted eating windows of 14 to 18 hours produce the most consistent weight loss results in trials of 24 weeks or more1. For most women, starting with a 14 to 16 hour overnight fast is the most sustainable entry point. I have a separate piece on the best intermittent fasting window for belly fat for more on the specifics. Will intermittent fasting cause muscle loss? Not if you eat adequate protein during your eating window. A 2024 meta-analysis found that protein intakes of at least 1.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day preserved muscle mass during weight loss5. The Bone Broth Diet clinical trial specifically documented fat loss with muscle preservation3. Prioritize protein during your eating windows and muscle preservation is achievable. Can I drink coffee while intermittent fasting? Yes, black coffee with no cream, milk, or sweetener does not break a metabolic fast and may actually support fat oxidation during the fasting window. Adding cream, milk, or sweeteners technically breaks the fast. The same rules apply to tea. How long does it take to see results from intermittent fasting? Most people notice changes in energy, sleep quality, and bloating within the first two weeks. Visible body composition changes typically become clear by weeks 4 to 6. The 2025 BMJ network meta-analysis found that the most significant outcomes appear in trials of 24 weeks or more, suggesting that intermittent fasting is best thought of as a sustained practice rather than a short-term intervention1. Is intermittent fasting good for perimenopause and menopause? It can be particularly helpful in midlife because insulin sensitivity tends to decrease during perimenopause and menopause, and intermittent fasting is one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical strategies for improving it. The 5:2 structure I built into the Bone Broth Diet was designed with women in midlife in mind. Go gently, prioritize protein, and listen to your body. If something is not working, modify it. Can I exercise while intermittent fasting? Yes, and many people find that fasted exercise, particularly walking or light resistance training, actually feels good. Moderate exercise during the fasting window is generally well tolerated. Very high-intensity training is harder to do fasted, particularly for women. If you train hard, schedule your hardest sessions inside your eating window or break your fast 30 to 60 minutes before training. Will intermittent fasting affect my menstrual cycle? In most healthy women, the documented evidence does not show significant disruption of menstrual cycles from moderate intermittent fasting2. However, every woman is different. If you notice cycle irregularity, shorter cycles, or changes in menstrual flow after starting intermittent fasting, that is a signal to scale back. Listen to your body. Female physiology is sensitive, and you do not have to do this if it is not serving you. Can I do intermittent fasting every day or do I need to take breaks? Most people do best with daily time-restricted eating (16:8 or similar) as their baseline, with occasional breaks. Some women feel better cycling their fasting practice, fasting more aggressively for a few weeks and then easing off. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The best practice is the one you can sustain. Should I do intermittent fasting or follow a regular diet? The 2025 BMJ network meta-analysis found that intermittent fasting and continuous calorie restriction produce broadly comparable weight loss results1. The advantage of intermittent fasting for many people is simplicity. You do not have to count calories or track macros if the eating window itself naturally moderates intake. Whichever approach you can actually follow consistently is the right one for you. Where to Start Today Intermittent fasting is one of the most flexible, sustainable, and well-researched approaches to eating in modern nutrition. It is not magic, and it is not for everyone, but for most healthy adult women it offers real metabolic benefits with relatively little disruption to daily life. Start gently. Build slowly. Use bone broth as a daily anchor during your fasting windows. Prioritize protein during your eating windows. Listen to your body and adjust. The goal is not perfection. The goal is a sustainable rhythm that supports your health for years, not weeks. If you want a structured way to begin, the Bone Broth Diet combines intermittent fasting with bone broth in a 21-day program that has been clinically tested. If you want to ease in more gently, start with a 14 to 16 hour overnight fast, add a daily cup of bone broth, and see how you feel after two weeks. References 1. Semnani-Azad Z, Khan TA, Chiavaroli L, et al. Intermittent fasting strategies and their effects on body weight and other cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ. 2025;389:e082007. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12175170/ 2. Cienfuegos S, Corapi S, Gabel K, Ezpeleta M, Kalam F, Lin S, Pavlou V, Varady KA. Effect of Intermittent Fasting on Reproductive Hormone Levels in Females and Males: A Review of Human Trials. Nutrients. 2022;14(11):2343. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9182756/ 3. Doma KM, Moulin M, Al-Wahsh H, Guthrie N, Crowley DC, Lewis ED. An open-label clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of a bone broth diet on weight loss in adults with obesity. Clin Nutr Open Sci. 2025;61:231-240. (Funded by Veyl Ventures LLC; conducted by KGK Science Inc., an independent clinical research organization; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05740670.) Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667268525000488 4. Amorim T, Kumar NGV, David NL, et al. Methionine as a regulator of bone remodeling with fasting. JCI Insight. 2024;9(11):e177997. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11383369/ 5. Kokura Y, Ueshima J, Saino Y, Maeda K. Enhanced protein intake on maintaining muscle mass, strength, and physical function in adults with overweight/obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2024;63:417-426. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457724001761 6. Soh J, Raventhiran S, Lee JH, Lim ZX, Goh J, Kennedy BK, Maier AB. The effect of glycine administration on the characteristics of physiological systems in human adults: A systematic review. GeroScience. 2024;46(1):219-239. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10828290/ These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Kellyann products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Intermittent fasting is not appropriate for everyone. Results may vary. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any new dietary or fasting program, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, trying to conceive, taking medication, or have a medical condition including diabetes, thyroid disease, or a history of disordered eating.  

I have been asked one question more than any other in the last decade of my practice: does the Bone Broth Diet actually work? It is a fair question. The wellness industry is full of programs that promise transformation and deliver disappointment. So when patients ask me to walk them through what the Bone Broth Diet actually is, how it works, what to realistically expect, and whether there is real research behind it, I am happy to take the time. This guide is that conversation. I am going to walk you through the program in plain language, share the published clinical research, and tell you honestly what to expect and who this is not for. What the Bone Broth Diet Actually Is The Bone Broth Diet is a 21-day program I developed and detailed in my New York Times bestselling book of the same name. The structure is straightforward. You follow a 5:2 pattern. Five days a week you eat portion-controlled meals built around high-quality protein, non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and bone broth. Two non-consecutive days a week you keep things simple with bone broth and protein-based mini-meals. You repeat this pattern for three weeks. The premise is rooted in how the body actually responds to food and fasting at a metabolic level. When you give your body adequate protein, lower the inflammatory load by removing grains and sugars, and create predictable windows of metabolic rest, real change happens. The bone broth is not a gimmick. It is doing specific work in this program. The amino acids in bone broth, particularly glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, support the gut lining, help moderate hunger between meals, and provide the kind of slow-burning nourishment the body wants during a fasting window. Let me be clear about what this is not. The Bone Broth Diet is not a bone broth fast. You are not living on broth alone for 21 days. It is not a juice cleanse. It is not keto, although it shares some structural similarities with low-carb approaches. It is not water-only fasting, which I do not recommend for most women. The Bone Broth Diet is a structured 21-day program with real food, designed to be followed for a defined period of time. If you want to follow the full protocol with day-by-day meal plans and shopping lists, the official Bone Broth Diet program is where I have laid all of that out. This guide is the educational version. By the end of it, you will know what the program is, what the research shows, what to eat, what to expect, whether it is safe for you, and how it compares to other approaches. I will be honest about the limitations and equally honest about the results. The Science: What a 2025 Clinical Trial Showed Most popular diets have lots of indirect evidence and no published clinical trial on the actual program. The Bone Broth Diet is in a small minority of consumer wellness programs that have been tested in a peer-reviewed clinical setting and had the results published in a medical journal. I think that matters, and I want to walk you through exactly what was done and what was found. In 2025, an 8-week clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet was published in the journal Clinical Nutrition Open Science, which is published by Elsevier on behalf of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism1. I want to be transparent about how the study was structured because this honesty matters. The trial was funded by Veyl Ventures, which is the parent company of the Dr. Kellyann brand. The trial itself was conducted by KGK Science, an independent Canadian clinical research organization, and the authors of the published paper are KGK Science scientists, not employees of my brand. The study was prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov under the identifier NCT05740670, followed CONSORT reporting guidelines for clinical trials, and received ethics approval from the Advarra Institutional Review Board. That methodological rigor is what allows a study to be published in a peer-reviewed journal in the first place. What the trial measured The study enrolled 100 adults between the ages of 35 and 65 with a body mass index between 30 and 39.9, meaning the participants were in the obesity range but were otherwise generally healthy. Participants completed two 3-week phases of the Bone Broth Diet with one-week maintenance phases between, for a total of 8 weeks. The researchers measured changes in body weight, BMI, body composition, waist circumference, blood markers including glucose and lipids, hunger and craving ratings, and quality of life across multiple dimensions. What the trial found Participants lost an average of approximately 15 pounds, or about 6.8 kilograms, over the 8-week study period1. Waist circumference decreased by 6.3 centimeters, which is about two and a half inches. Sagittal abdominal diameter, which is a measure of belly depth and a strong predictor of cardiometabolic risk, decreased by 2.6 centimeters across the full study period. Importantly, the weight loss came from fat mass while muscle mass was preserved1. This is the difference between a program that helps you lose body fat and a program that just makes the scale move at the expense of the muscle you need for long-term metabolic health. The metabolic markers improved as well. Fasting blood glucose decreased significantly. Triglycerides decreased by 0.43 mmol/L across the full study period, a statistically significant finding (P < 0.001)1. Participants reported significant decreases in hunger and cravings during the program, and yet they also reported no reduction in satisfaction after eating. That last finding is meaningful. People did not feel deprived, even on the mini-fasting days. Quality of life improved across physical functioning, energy, pain, emotional well-being, and general health1. And the program was found to be safe and well-tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported during the study. Honest limitations The authors are transparent about the study limitations, and so am I. This was an open-label, single-arm trial, which means there was no placebo control group. Participants knew they were on the Bone Broth Diet. The trial population was specifically adults in the obesity range. The duration was 8 weeks, not a year. The authors themselves note in their published conclusions that "future randomized controlled trials of longer duration are recommended to verify and understand the sustainability of results"1. I share that caveat in good faith. The trial is meaningful clinical evidence, and it is one step in a research conversation that should continue. How the Diet Works: The 5:2 Framework Most people who hear "intermittent fasting" think of the time-restricted eating windows that have become popular, like fasting from 8 p.m. to noon the next day. The Bone Broth Diet uses a different fasting structure called 5:2. Five days a week, you eat normally according to the food list. Two non-consecutive days a week, you do what I call mini-fasting, which means most of your daily intake comes from bone broth with optional protein-based snacks if you need them. The reason I chose 5:2 over daily time-restricted eating is that it is more flexible, easier to sustain, and the metabolic effects are well documented. Most women I work with find it easier to fully focus on two structured fasting days per week than to maintain a daily eating window every single day. And the research backs this up. A 2025 systematic review and network meta-analysis published in the BMJ analyzed 99 randomized clinical trials with 6,582 adults to compare different intermittent fasting strategies3. The review found that intermittent fasting approaches produced weight loss and cardiometabolic benefits comparable to continuous calorie restriction, with some strategies showing additional advantages for triglycerides, blood pressure, and cholesterol. The Bone Broth Diet falls into a category the researchers call whole-day fasting, which they found particularly effective for body weight outcomes in trials of 24 weeks or more. So what is actually happening on the mini-fasting days? Your body shifts from primarily burning glucose to burning stored fat for fuel. Insulin levels drop. Inflammation markers tend to decrease. The body gets a window of metabolic rest from the constant work of digesting and processing food. And on the feeding days, the higher protein intake supports muscle preservation while you are losing fat. The bone broth is doing specific work here that plain water fasting would not do. The amino acids in bone broth, especially glycine, provide the body with raw materials for collagen synthesis, gut lining repair, and detoxification pathways during the fasting window. A 2024 systematic review in GeroScience examined the effects of glycine administration across 11 physiological systems in human adults and found documented benefits for sleep, inflammation, and cellular protection6. Bone broth is one of the richest dietary sources of glycine you can get. Research from the University of Pittsburgh published in 2024 also documents how fasting interacts with protein metabolism at the level of bone remodeling, with methionine acting as a regulator of how the body adapts to fasting periods4. The mechanisms are real, and they are why this 5:2 plus bone broth structure works differently than just cutting calories. If you want to go deeper on the fasting-plus-bone-broth combination, I have written more about it in intermittent fasting with bone broth and I have also discussed it with Dr. Oz in this conversation about intermittent fasting for weight loss. What You Eat: The Food List I get asked all the time for the food list, so let me give it to you in plain terms. On feeding days, you are building plates around protein, non-starchy vegetables, and healthy fats, with bone broth as a daily anchor. On mini-fasting days, bone broth does most of the work. Foods you will be enjoying Protein. Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised poultry, wild-caught fish, eggs, and bison are the foundation. Aim for a palm-sized portion at each main meal. Non-starchy vegetables. Leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, asparagus, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes. Generous portions. Aim for at least half your plate. Healthy fats. Avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, ghee, and small amounts of nuts and seeds. Fat is not the enemy on this program. It supports satiety and hormone production. Bone broth. At least one cup daily, ideally more. This is the daily anchor. You can sip it warm in a mug, use it as a base for soups, or drink a cup as part of your breakfast routine. Low-glycemic fruits in moderation. Berries, apples, citrus. Save these for once or twice a day, not all-day grazing. Foods you will be skipping for 21 days Grains. This includes wheat, rice, oats, corn, and gluten-free grains. The 21-day window is not forever. You may add some grains back during the maintenance phase. Legumes. Beans, lentils, peanuts. Same logic as grains. Dairy. With the exception of ghee, which is clarified butter and tolerated by most people. Dairy comes back as an option during reintroduction. Refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. The fewer hidden sugars in your day, the more responsive your metabolism will be. Processed seed oils. Soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil. These are pro-inflammatory and undermine the work you are doing. Alcohol. For the 21 days, alcohol is off the menu. It interferes with fat metabolism and disrupts sleep, both of which matter for your results. On the mini-fasting days, your day looks simple. Three to six cups of bone broth, optionally with a small protein-based snack like a hard-boiled egg, a few slices of deli meat with no added sugar, or a couple of tablespoons of nuts if you genuinely need it. The simplicity is part of the point. You are giving your digestive system a break and letting the bone broth do its work. If you want a starting point for sourcing high-quality bone broth, the Dr. Kellyann bone broth collection has options for every preference. My Classic Chicken Bone Broth is the most popular and the easiest to weave into daily life. You can absolutely make your own bone broth, and I have shared my Instant Pot recipe for anyone who wants to do that. Most of the women in my practice end up doing both — making their own when they have time and stocking high-quality store-bought options for everything else. What to Expect: Results, Timeline, and What Is Realistic I want to give you the honest picture, not the marketing version. Here is what the published clinical research showed, and here is what I see in my practice. The clinical trial found that participants lost an average of about 15 pounds over 8 weeks, with a 6.3 cm reduction in waist circumference and 2.6 cm reduction in sagittal abdominal diameter1. In my practice, the most successful people on the 21-day Bone Broth Diet have lost up to 15 pounds and 4 inches from their waist in just 21 days. Results vary based on your starting point, how closely you follow the program, your age, your hormonal stage, and a dozen other factors. People with more to lose typically lose more in absolute terms. People who are already lean tend to see results in measurements and energy rather than dramatic scale changes. A general week-by-week framework Week one is adaptation. The first two to three days are when most people experience the most adjustment. You may notice some hunger, occasional headache, or fatigue as your body shifts from running on quick-burning carbs to burning fat. This is normal and short-lived. By the end of week one, most people report better energy, less bloating, and improved sleep. Week two is momentum. Your body has adapted. Waist circumference is usually the first place people notice visible change. The scale starts moving more consistently. Mini-fasting days feel manageable instead of difficult. Cravings have usually decreased significantly by this point. Week three is consolidation. This is where the real metabolic and aesthetic changes show up. Many of my patients tell me their skin looks better. Their clothes fit differently. Their energy is more even throughout the day. The scale may show a slowdown in week three, but body composition is often still shifting in your favor. Why muscle preservation matters Most weight-loss approaches cause you to lose muscle along with fat. That is a problem. Muscle is what keeps your metabolism running, supports your bones, and protects you against the gradual decline most people experience as they age. The clinical trial of the Bone Broth Diet specifically documented fat loss with muscle preservation1. This matters for long-term success. The independent research on protein intake during weight loss confirms this pattern. A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN found that adults with overweight or obesity who increased their protein intake during weight loss were significantly better at preserving muscle mass than those who did not5. The minimum protein intake associated with muscle preservation was 1.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, which is exactly the territory the Bone Broth Diet falls into on feeding days. Energy and skin Many customers report energy improvements within the first week of the program. The bloating that comes from grains, dairy, and processed foods often resolves quickly once those foods are removed. Skin improvements typically take 14 to 21 days to become visible, since skin turnover is a slower process. Research suggests that the amino acid profile of bone broth, particularly glycine, may support skin and connective tissue. Many customers report glowing skin by the end of the 21 days, though I would not promise it. If you want to see what real customer journeys on the Bone Broth Diet look like, Brock’s story and Ben’s 22-pound transformation are honest accounts of what changed for them. Is the Bone Broth Diet Safe? The published clinical trial found that the Bone Broth Diet was safe and well-tolerated in healthy adults with obesity, with no serious adverse events reported during the 8-week study1. That is the most rigorous evidence we have on safety, and it is consistent with what I have seen in clinical practice for over a decade. Common transient side effects I want to be honest about what some people experience during the first few days, because being prepared for it makes it easier to push through. Mild hunger during the first two to three days. This is normal as your body adjusts to the 5:2 structure. It typically resolves by the end of week one. Occasional headache during the adaptation period. Often related to changes in sodium and electrolytes. Bone broth itself helps with this since it provides natural sodium and minerals. Some fatigue in the first few days as your body shifts to burning fat for fuel. This usually transitions into improved, more stable energy by mid-week one. Mild digestive shifts as the gut adjusts to a higher-protein, higher-vegetable, lower-carbohydrate intake. None of these are serious, and they all typically resolve within the first week. But if you experience anything that feels significant or persistent, talk to your healthcare provider. Who should not do the Bone Broth Diet I am a naturopathic physician, and I am also a realist. This program is not for everyone, and there are specific people I would ask to talk to their healthcare provider before considering it. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. This is not the right time for a structured weight-loss program. Your body needs steady, abundant nourishment. People with active eating disorders or a history of disordered eating. Any structured eating program can be a trigger. The right step here is working with a mental health professional first. People on medications that require precise food timing, especially diabetes medications and blood thinners. The mini-fasting days change food timing, and medication dosing may need adjustment by your prescribing physician. People with chronic kidney disease. The higher protein intake on feeding days needs medical guidance in this population. Anyone with a serious medical condition. Talk to your doctor first. The Bone Broth Diet is a tool, not a substitute for medical care. On the bone broth quality question Some critics raise concerns about heavy metals or contaminants in bone broth, particularly broth made from unknown sources. The most authoritative recent review of bone broth from Mayo Clinic published in 2025 in Digestive Diseases and Sciences looked at the nutritional profile and clinical applications of bone broth in depth and found that the amino acid and mineral content support a meaningful role in supporting gut barrier integrity2. The practical reality is that the quality of your bone broth matters. Commercial bone broth that is properly sourced and tested is safer than home-made broth from unknown bones. I formulated my own bone broth line for exactly this reason. Quality of source, simmer time, and testing all matter. And to be clear, this is a 21-day structured program, not an extreme fast. It is not a juice cleanse. It is not water-only fasting. It is not unsupervised long-term restriction. You are eating real food on five days a week, and the two mini-fasting days are anchored by bone broth, which is itself nourishing food. This is one of the safer structured weight-loss approaches available. Bone Broth Diet vs. Other Approaches I get this question all the time. Should I do the Bone Broth Diet or keto? Should I do this or my regular intermittent fasting? Let me walk through how the Bone Broth Diet compares to the most common alternatives my patients ask about. Bone Broth Diet vs. keto Both approaches are lower in carbohydrates than a standard American diet. The Bone Broth Diet is not strictly ketogenic. It includes more vegetables and low-glycemic fruits than a true ketogenic diet typically does, and the 5:2 fasting structure is what drives much of the metabolic effect. Keto has no fasting structure built in. The Bone Broth Diet uses bone broth as a daily anchor for amino acid intake and gut support, which keto does not specifically prioritize. For most women in midlife, I find the Bone Broth Diet structure is more sustainable than long-term strict ketosis. Bone Broth Diet vs. traditional intermittent fasting Same 5:2 backbone, very different experience. Traditional intermittent fasting on a fasting day usually means water, coffee, and sometimes a small amount of food. The Bone Broth Diet replaces that empty-calorie window with bone broth, which provides amino acids, minerals, and electrolytes during the fasting window. People often find the Bone Broth Diet much more sustainable than water-only fasting precisely because the bone broth softens the experience of the fasting days. Bone Broth Diet vs. the 5-Day Cleanse and Reset. My 5-Day Cleanse and Reset is a shorter, lower-commitment program focused on gut health and inflammation. It is designed as a fast win. The Bone Broth Diet is a deeper 21-day transformation that includes weight loss as a primary outcome. Many women use the Cleanse and Reset as an entry point and then move to the Bone Broth Diet if they want a fuller transformation. Bone Broth Diet vs. the 10-Day Belly Slimdown. The 10-Day Belly Slimdown is gut and bloat-focused, with a shorter 10-day commitment. The Bone Broth Diet is longer and deeper, designed for more significant body composition change. Both share the bone broth foundation. Bone Broth Diet vs. a bone broth cleanse There is some confusion in search results around "bone broth cleanse" terminology. A bone broth cleanse usually implies a fully liquid program with bone broth as the only intake for a stretch of days. The Bone Broth Diet is not that. It is a structured program with real food on feeding days. If you have seen "bone broth cleanse" content elsewhere and thought it sounded extreme, that is because much of it is. The Bone Broth Diet is the sustainable, evidence-based alternative. Common Questions Before You Start Before the full FAQ section below, let me address a handful of the questions I hear most often when someone is making the decision to start. Can I do this if I am vegetarian? The Bone Broth Diet is built around animal protein and bone broth, so a strictly vegan version is not possible. But many vegetarians do an adapted version successfully. I have written specifically about how to adapt the Bone Broth Diet if you are vegetarian, and the short version is yes, with thoughtful protein substitutions and a vegetable-based broth as an alternative. Can I exercise while doing this? Yes, and gentle to moderate movement is encouraged. Walking, yoga, light strength training, and stretching all work well. I would not recommend pushing into very intense training during week one when your body is still adapting. Listen to your body. If you feel strong, train. If you feel tired, rest. Can I drink coffee? Yes, in moderation. One to two cups per day is fine, ideally with breakfast or before noon to support your natural cortisol rhythm. Avoid loading it up with cream and sugar. Black coffee, or coffee with a small splash of unsweetened nut milk, is the move. How is this different from the book? The Bone Broth Diet was first published as a book and has been refined and updated as I have worked with thousands of patients and customers. The current program reflects everything I have learned. The book is still a wonderful resource and gives you the philosophy behind the program. The program itself, with the most current meal plans, recipes, and bone broth pairing, lives on my site. How to Start If you have read this far, you are clearly considering doing this. Here is how I would start if I were sitting across from you in my office. Pick a start date. Choose a Monday or Tuesday so the first three days of adaptation happen during the work week. Avoid starting right before a major social event or a vacation. Clear your kitchen of obvious obstacles. Foods you know are going to call your name during the first few days, get them out of sight or out of the house. You will thank yourself. Stock up on the basics. Protein for the week, plenty of vegetables, healthy fats, a good supply of bone broth, and a few low-glycemic fruits. Plan to grocery shop twice during the 21 days. Pick up your bone broth. You can make it yourself or buy quality, well-sourced broth. Either works. Plan for at least 5 to 7 cups per week. Track how you feel, not just the scale. Keep a notebook or a simple app where you note energy, sleep, digestion, mood, waist measurement, and how your clothes fit. The scale is only one signal. Commit to 21 days. Not 21 days minus the weekend at the cabin. Not 21 days unless something comes up. Twenty-one days, fully. That is where the transformation lives. If you want the full program with the day-by-day meal plan, the complete recipe library, the shopping lists, and everything mapped out so you do not have to think about it, the Bone Broth Diet program has all of that built in. The 21-Day Bone Broth Diet Bundle includes everything you need to begin. And if you want a smaller starting point, my 7-day bone broth lifestyle meal plan is a lower-commitment way to test the waters first. Choosing Your Bone Broth: Formats, Flavors, and What I Recommend I get asked all the time which of my bone broths to start with, and the honest answer is that it depends on how you want to use them. Some women want a savory mug they can sip while making dinner. Others want a quick concentrate they can stir into hot water on a busy morning. Some are doing the full 21-day Bone Broth Diet and want a variety pack so they do not get bored. Let me walk you through how the product line is structured and what I would recommend based on how you want to weave bone broth into your life. Start by choosing your format My bone broth comes in three main formats, and each fits a different lifestyle. There is no wrong choice. Pick the one you will actually use. Concentrates and frozen broths. These are the closest thing to a homemade simmered broth. You warm them up, sip from a mug, or use them as a base for soups and pan sauces. My Classic Chicken Bone Broth and Classic Beef Bone Broth are the foundation of the line. If you are doing the 21-day program, these will be the workhorses in your fridge. Ready-to-drink liquid broths. Shelf-stable, no preparation, perfect for on-the-go life. Pour into a mug, microwave, sip. The Classic Beef Low-Sodium Liquid Broth, French Onion Liquid Broth, and Thai Lemongrass Liquid Broth are designed for the busy person who wants the benefits of bone broth without thinking about it. These are also the easiest option to keep at your desk or in your bag. Powders and capsules. For travel, for skipping breakfast, for adding into smoothies and shakes. My Bone Broth Protein in Vanilla is the cleanest collagen-rich protein source you can stir into a glass of nut milk in ten seconds. The Bone Broth Capsules are the simplest possible way to keep the daily habit going when you are traveling or have a packed week. Different format, same amino acid profile. Then choose your flavors I created the flavor range because I wanted bone broth to fit into real life, not just sit in the back of the fridge. Variety is what keeps people drinking bone broth daily for years. Here is how the flavor profiles break down. The savory foundation. Classic Chicken and Classic Beef are clean, traditional, and the most versatile. These are what I would start a new customer on. Drink them as is, use them as a soup base, cook your vegetables in them. The elevated flavors. Roasted Rosemary Chicken is herbal and warming. French Onion tastes like a bistro soup in a mug. Greek Lemon Chicken is bright and citrusy, my answer for when you want bone broth but you are tired of the deeper savory profiles. Homestyle Mushroom is earthy and umami-rich, particularly satisfying on the mini-fasting days when you want depth without heaviness. The bolder, more adventurous flavors. Thai Lemongrass is bright and aromatic with a hint of heat. Sriracha Chicken has real kick and is a favorite among people who want something more lively in the afternoon. Ramen Beef delivers that deep, rich ramen-shop flavor at home. These are the ones to reach for when your taste buds are bored. The plant-based option. My Vegan Garden Vegetable Broth is for vegetarian and vegan customers, and also for anyone who wants a lighter, plant-forward broth option on certain days. It does not contain the collagen amino acids that bone broth does, but it is a nourishing, clean broth that fits the same routine. The protein powders. My bone broth protein powders are designed for shakes, smoothies, and dessert-style applications. Vanilla is the most versatile and pairs with almost anything. Chocolate is the customer favorite for chocolate shakes and bone broth hot chocolate. Salted Caramel is the one for when you want dessert without the dessert. All three deliver the same collagen-rich amino acid profile as my savory broths, just in a sweet format. What I would recommend based on where you are If you are new to bone broth. Start with Classic Chicken or Classic Beef. Drink one cup daily for two weeks. See how you feel. Most people notice better digestion, more even energy, and improved sleep within that window. If you are doing the full 21-day Bone Broth Diet. The 21-Day Bone Broth Diet Bundle includes everything you need to begin, and the 21-Day Assorted Bundle gives you five flavors so you do not get bored. Variety is what carries you through three weeks. Boredom is the silent killer of any structured program. If you travel often or skip breakfast. The Bone Broth Protein powders or the Bone Broth Capsules will keep your daily habit alive when life gets in the way. The powders also double as a fast breakfast when blended into a smoothie. If you want the full range. The bone broth bundles collection is where I have grouped my most popular pairings. Building your own bundle of two classic flavors and two elevated flavors is what I recommend to my customers who want their daily bone broth practice to feel like something to look forward to, not a chore. Frequently Asked Questions What is the Bone Broth Diet in simple terms? The Bone Broth Diet is a 21-day program that pairs five-day-a-week portion-controlled meals built around protein, vegetables, and healthy fats with two non-consecutive mini-fasting days each week. Bone broth is the daily anchor across the entire program. The diet was tested in a peer-reviewed clinical trial published in 20251. How quickly will I see results on the Bone Broth Diet? Most people notice changes within the first week, particularly in bloating, energy, and how their clothes fit. Visible body composition changes typically become clear by the end of week two. The published clinical trial documented an average weight loss of about 15 pounds and 6.3 cm waist circumference reduction over 8 weeks1. Many customers see similar results within the 21-day program. Results vary based on starting point and adherence. Is the Bone Broth Diet safe for older adults? The clinical trial included adults up to age 65 and found the program was safe and well-tolerated1. For adults over 65, the program can still be appropriate but I always recommend a conversation with your healthcare provider first, especially if you take medications or have any chronic health conditions. Adequate protein intake, which the Bone Broth Diet supports, is particularly important for muscle preservation in older adults5. Can I do the Bone Broth Diet while taking medication? It depends entirely on the medication. The mini-fasting days change your food timing, which can affect how some medications are absorbed or how their dosing should be adjusted. Diabetes medications, blood thinners, blood pressure medications, and thyroid medications are the most important ones to discuss with your prescribing physician before starting. Never adjust your medication on your own. Talk to your doctor first. How much bone broth do I need to drink on the Bone Broth Diet? On feeding days, aim for at least one to two cups of bone broth daily. On mini-fasting days, plan for three to six cups distributed throughout the day. The bone broth is doing real work in this program, providing amino acids and minerals that support the fasting window6. Will I lose muscle on the Bone Broth Diet? The clinical trial specifically documented fat loss with muscle preservation across the 8-week study period1. The high-protein feeding days are designed to protect muscle mass during weight loss, and the independent research on protein intake during weight loss supports this approach. The 2024 meta-analysis in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN found that protein intakes of at least 1.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day significantly preserved muscle mass during weight loss5. What happens after the 21 days on the Bone Broth Diet? Reintroduction is the key phase that follows the 21 days. You gradually add back foods you eliminated, one category at a time, paying close attention to how each food makes you feel. Many people discover sensitivities they never knew they had. I have written specifically about reintroducing foods after the 21-day Bone Broth Diet to walk through this phase. Many people also continue with bone broth as a daily habit indefinitely. Can I do the Bone Broth Diet during perimenopause or menopause? Yes, and many women find the Bone Broth Diet especially helpful during perimenopause and menopause because the high-protein structure supports muscle preservation at exactly the life stage when muscle loss is accelerated. The 5:2 structure can be modified if needed to honor your energy levels and hormonal rhythms. If you are deep in perimenopausal symptoms, going more gradually or starting with the 5-Day Cleanse and Reset first may serve you better. Is the Bone Broth Diet the same as a bone broth fast? No. A bone broth fast usually means consuming only bone broth for an extended period of days, which is a much more restrictive approach. The Bone Broth Diet is a structured 21-day program with real food on five days each week and bone broth as the anchor across all 21 days. The Bone Broth Diet is sustainable and supported by clinical research1. An extended bone broth fast is not something I would recommend for most people. Can I drink alcohol on the Bone Broth Diet? I ask people to skip alcohol for the full 21 days of the Bone Broth Diet. Alcohol interferes with fat metabolism, disrupts sleep, increases inflammation, and undermines almost every benefit you are working toward. It is only 21 days. Most people find that by the end of the program they have a different relationship with alcohol anyway, and many choose to keep it minimal or skip it entirely going forward. Where to Start Today If you take one thing from this guide, let it be this. The Bone Broth Diet is not a fad and it is not magic. It is a structured 21-day program with real food, a fasting framework that respects how the body actually works, and a daily bone broth practice that supports the gut, the metabolism, and the body’s nutritional needs during a transformation window. It has been tested in a peer-reviewed clinical trial, and the published results are meaningful. The trial documented an average of about 15 pounds of weight loss with fat reduction, muscle preservation, improved metabolic markers, and a positive safety profile, all over 8 weeks. Twenty-one days is the right length for a transformation to take root. Pick your start date, plan your food, get your bone broth supply ready, and commit. If you want the full program with the meal plan, recipes, and step-by-step guidance, the Bone Broth Diet program is right here. If you want a shorter starting point, the 5-Day Cleanse and Reset is a wonderful on-ramp. Either way, you have the science behind you and a real protocol to follow. Start there. References 1. Doma KM, Moulin M, Al-Wahsh H, Guthrie N, Crowley DC, Lewis ED. An open-label clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of a bone broth diet on weight loss in adults with obesity. Clin Nutr Open Sci. 2025;61:231-240. (Funded by Veyl Ventures LLC; conducted by KGK Science Inc., an independent clinical research organization; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05740670.) Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667268525000488 2. Matar A, Abdelnaem N, Camilleri M. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease. Dig Dis Sci. 2025;70(6):1951-1961. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40180691/ 3. Semnani-Azad Z, Khan TA, Chiavaroli L, et al. Intermittent fasting strategies and their effects on body weight and other cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ. 2025;389:e082007. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12175170/ 4. Amorim T, Kumar NGV, David NL, et al. Methionine as a regulator of bone remodeling with fasting. JCI Insight. 2024;9(11):e177997. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11383369/ 5. Kokura Y, Ueshima J, Saino Y, Maeda K. Enhanced protein intake on maintaining muscle mass, strength, and physical function in adults with overweight/obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clin Nutr ESPEN. 2024;63:417-426. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457724001761 6. Soh J, Raventhiran S, Lee JH, Lim ZX, Goh J, Kennedy BK, Maier AB. The effect of glycine administration on the characteristics of physiological systems in human adults: A systematic review. GeroScience. 2024;46(1):219-239. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10828290/ These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Kellyann products and programs are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Results may vary. Many customers report results consistent with those described in this article, and individual experiences differ based on starting point, adherence, age, hormonal status, and other factors. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any new dietary program, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.  

After two decades of practice, here is what I can tell you with certainty. The gut is not just where digestion happens. It is the foundation underneath most of the other things people come to me for. Energy. Skin. Mood. Hormones. Weight. Immunity. Sleep. When the gut is well, most of the rest of the body has the support it needs to function. When the gut is struggling, almost nothing else works the way it should. This guide is about what gut health actually is, why it matters so much more than most people realize, what science tells us about supporting it, and the practical daily habits that make the biggest difference. By the end you will have a clear, evidence-based understanding and a real action plan, not buzzwords. What Gut Health Actually Means "Gut health" gets used as a buzzword, so let me define what we are actually talking about. Gut health refers to the integrated function of the entire digestive system, from the mouth through the small and large intestines. It includes the integrity of the intestinal barrier, the composition and diversity of the microbiome, the efficiency of digestion and nutrient absorption, the gut’s immune function, and the gut-brain communication that influences mood and cognition. When all of these functions are working well, digestion is easy and predictable, you absorb the nutrients from your food, your immune system is calm and responsive, your mood is steady, your skin is clear, your energy is even, and the dozens of other downstream functions the gut influences are running smoothly. When any of these gut functions break down, the downstream effects show up in places that often do not feel like they are related to the gut at all. The Three Pillars of Gut Health When I talk about gut health with patients, I find it helpful to break it down into three pillars. These are not separate systems. They influence and depend on each other. But understanding them separately makes the path forward clearer. Pillar one: the intestinal barrier The intestinal barrier is a single-cell-thick lining that runs through your entire digestive tract. It is the most important and most underappreciated structure in your body. This thin layer of cells, held together by tight junctions, decides what passes from your digestive tract into your bloodstream. Nutrients pass through. Bacteria, toxins, undigested food particles, and inflammatory triggers do not. When the barrier is working well, you are protected. When the barrier becomes compromised, what the research community calls intestinal hyperpermeability, the cascade of problems begins. A 2024 review in Clinical and Experimental Medicine published by researchers at Jagiellonian University Medical College in Poland walks through the specific mechanisms by which the intestinal barrier becomes damaged and the dietary and lifestyle strategies that may support its repair2. Pillar two: the microbiome Your gut contains trillions of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and viruses, collectively called the microbiome. The microbiome is genuinely a separate ecosystem, with more genetic material than your own human cells. It manufactures vitamins, breaks down fiber into short-chain fatty acids that nourish the gut lining, regulates the immune system, communicates with the brain through the vagus nerve and the chemicals it produces, and shapes how you absorb and respond to food. A diverse, well-fed, balanced microbiome is one of the strongest predictors of overall health that we can currently measure. I have written more on the microbiome specifically in why you need to protect your microbiome and making your gut bugs happy. Pillar three: the gut-brain axis The gut and the brain are in constant communication through the vagus nerve, the immune system, and the chemicals that the microbiome produces. About 90 percent of your serotonin, the neurotransmitter most associated with mood regulation, is actually produced in the gut. The gut-brain axis is why people with chronic gut symptoms often also experience anxiety, low mood, brain fog, and sleep disruption. And it is why when you fix the gut, those other symptoms often improve too. I have written more on the gut-brain connection for anyone who wants to explore that further. What Damages Gut Health The same modern conveniences that make life easier are surprisingly hard on the gut. None of this is meant to make anyone feel guilty. It is just the truth about what is happening when the gut struggles, and being honest about it is the first step in fixing it. A 2024 review published in Clinical and Experimental Medicine documents the most significant factors that compromise the intestinal barrier and disrupt the microbiome2. They include the following. Ultra-processed foods and the additives and emulsifiers they contain. The food itself is the most consistent driver of gut dysfunction in the modern diet. Chronic stress. The gut is exquisitely sensitive to stress hormones. Long-term stress disrupts microbiome composition and damages the intestinal barrier. Alcohol, particularly in regular or heavy use. Alcohol directly damages the intestinal lining and disrupts the microbiome. Antibiotics. Necessary when truly indicated, but each course of antibiotics reduces microbiome diversity, sometimes significantly. Recovery takes weeks to months. NSAIDs and certain other medications. Frequent use of ibuprofen and similar drugs damages the intestinal lining over time. Poor sleep. The microbiome has its own circadian rhythm. Disrupted sleep disrupts gut health. A diet low in fiber and plant diversity. The microbiome eats fiber. Without enough variety, microbial diversity declines. Excessive sugar intake. Feeds the wrong bacteria and disrupts the balance. Environmental toxins, pesticides, and certain food preservatives. If any of this is sounding familiar, you are not alone. Most adults in modern life have a few of these factors operating at any given time. The point of identifying them is not blame. It is to understand that gut health is largely modifiable, often dramatically so. For more on the most common gut-damaging foods, I have a piece on common foods that cause digestive distress that walks through the practical food side. What Leaky Gut Actually Is "Leaky gut" is one of those terms that has moved from clinical literature into popular wellness, and along the way it has picked up some confusion. Let me give you the straight clinical answer. Leaky gut, more accurately called intestinal hyperpermeability or increased intestinal permeability, refers to a measurable condition in which the tight junctions between the cells lining your gut become loose. When this happens, substances that should be kept inside the digestive tract, including bacterial fragments, undigested proteins, and inflammatory compounds, can pass into the bloodstream where they trigger immune and inflammatory responses. This is a documented phenomenon that is measured in clinical research using validated probe molecules and other diagnostic methods2. The research community accepts that intestinal hyperpermeability exists and is associated with a range of conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, certain autoimmune conditions, and possibly some metabolic and neurological conditions. What is still being clarified is the precise role intestinal permeability plays as a cause versus a consequence in different conditions, and the most effective interventions for restoring barrier function. Common symptoms people describe when their gut barrier is compromised include bloating, gas, food sensitivities that seem to come out of nowhere, fatigue, brain fog, skin issues, joint stiffness, and unexplained inflammation. None of these are diagnostic by themselves. But when several of them appear together, particularly after a known gut-disrupting event like a course of antibiotics or a period of high stress, the gut barrier is worth supporting. I have a deeper piece on understanding leaky gut syndrome for anyone wanting to go further. The Foundational Habits That Support Gut Health Before anything else, before any supplements or specialty products, the foundational habits are what move the needle most. These are not glamorous. They are also the most powerful. If you do nothing else from this article, do these. Eat real food The single biggest thing you can do for your gut is to shift the bulk of your diet toward minimally processed real food. Whole vegetables, quality protein, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans if you tolerate them, fermented foods, and bone broth. The fewer ultra-processed foods in your week, the better your gut will function. You do not have to be perfect. You just have to be moving consistently in the right direction. Diversify your plants The microbiome eats fiber, and different microbes prefer different kinds of fiber. The single best dietary marker for microbiome diversity is the number of different plant foods you eat in a week. The current research suggests that 30 different plant species per week is a strong target. Plants count: vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, beans, whole grains if you tolerate them. A handful of different colors of bell peppers, a variety of leafy greens, a few different berries, herbs in your cooking. Diversity is the key. Add fermented foods Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, and miso deliver live beneficial bacteria along with the metabolites those bacteria produce. Daily small amounts of fermented food are one of the most consistently helpful additions in my practice. I have a piece on adding fermented foods for gut health that goes deeper into the practical side. Include bone broth daily I will say more about this in the next section, but a daily cup of bone broth is one of the simplest gut-supportive habits. The amino acids in bone broth, especially glycine and glutamine, are the building blocks the body uses to maintain and repair the intestinal lining1. Sleep Sleep is gut health. Aim for 7 to 9 hours per night with a consistent schedule. Poor sleep disrupts the microbiome’s own circadian rhythm and damages the intestinal barrier. If your sleep is bad, that is the first thing to address, not a probiotic. Manage stress The gut-brain axis means stress shows up in the gut almost immediately. Walking, breath work, meditation, time outside, anything that reliably brings your nervous system down. This is not optional. Chronic stress will undo every other gut-supportive habit if you do not address it. Move your body daily Regular moderate movement improves microbiome diversity, supports gut motility, and reduces stress. A daily walk is one of the most underrated gut interventions there is. I have a longer piece on 8 tips to reset your gut and how to improve gut health that walk through the same foundations in more practical detail. Why Bone Broth Is Central to Gut Healing There is a reason bone broth has been associated with healing and recovery in nearly every traditional culture in the world. The science is now catching up with what traditional wisdom has known for a long time. Bone broth provides the specific nutritional building blocks the gut needs to maintain and repair itself. A 2025 review published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences by researchers at the Mayo Clinic specifically examined how bone broth nutrients support the gut barrier in health and disease1. The mechanism is clear. The amino acids in bone broth, particularly glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and glutamine, are directly involved in maintaining and repairing the intestinal lining. Glycine has documented anti-inflammatory properties and supports the mucosal layer that protects the gut wall. A 2024 systematic review in GeroScience examined the effects of glycine administration on multiple physiological systems and confirmed its supportive role in inflammation regulation, cellular protection, and sleep3. Glutamine is the primary fuel source for the cells lining the small intestine. When the gut lining is depleted or damaged, glutamine demand increases. Bone broth provides both of these amino acids in their natural food matrix. In practical terms, adding a daily cup of bone broth to your routine is one of the most efficient gut-supportive habits you can adopt. It pairs naturally with fermented foods and a fiber-rich, plant-diverse diet to form the foundation of daily gut nourishment. Many of my patients report noticeable improvements in digestion, bloating, and food tolerance within two to three weeks of daily bone broth. I have written more specifically on bone broth and gut health for anyone wanting to go deeper. Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics You will hear these three terms a lot in any conversation about gut health. They are not interchangeable. Here is what each actually does. Probiotics Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria that may add to or temporarily support the microbial communities in your gut. They come from fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and miso, and from supplements. The honest truth about probiotic supplements is that the research is mixed. Some strains have documented benefits for specific conditions. Many products on the market have unclear or unproven strain-level effects. If you are going to take a probiotic supplement, choose one with researched strains and trust the food forms of probiotics first. Fermented foods are usually the better path. Prebiotics Prebiotics are the fibers and compounds that the beneficial bacteria in your gut eat. The microbiome is only as healthy as what you feed it. Prebiotics come from a wide variety of plant foods: onions, garlic, leeks, asparagus, artichokes, oats, apples, bananas, flax seeds. A diverse plant-rich diet is naturally rich in prebiotics. Most people would benefit more from increasing their prebiotic intake from food than from taking a probiotic supplement. Postbiotics Postbiotics are the compounds that the gut microbes produce when they ferment fiber. Short-chain fatty acids like butyrate are the most important examples. Butyrate is the primary fuel for the cells lining the colon and has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. You do not eat postbiotics directly. You support them by feeding the microbes that produce them, which means eating enough fiber and a diverse range of plants. I have a piece on prebiotics and probiotics for a healthy gut microbiome that walks through the practical application in more detail. Gut Health, Skin, Energy, and Mood I want to spend a moment on why the downstream effects of gut health matter so much, because this is where the foundation of the whole article comes together. Gut and skin What shows up on the skin is often what is happening in the gut. The gut-skin axis is a real phenomenon. When the gut is inflamed, the skin is often inflamed. When the gut barrier is compromised, skin conditions like acne, rosacea, and eczema can flare. When the gut heals, the skin often clears. I have a dedicated piece on gut health and skin for anyone whose primary concern is the skin side of this equation. Gut and energy Your energy depends on how well you absorb nutrients from your food, on the systemic inflammatory load your body is carrying, and on the gut-brain communication that regulates mitochondrial function. All three of these are downstream of gut health. When my patients describe persistent low energy that is not explained by sleep or thyroid issues, gut health is the next place I look. Gut and mood About 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. The microbiome produces neurotransmitter precursors. The vagus nerve carries gut signals directly to the brain. When the gut is struggling, mood often struggles. When the gut is supported, mood often follows. This is not a substitute for proper mental health care when that is needed. But the gut piece of mood regulation is real and underappreciated. Gut and hormones The gut microbiome contains specific bacteria that metabolize estrogen, sometimes called the estrobolome. Disruption of the estrobolome contributes to the hormonal imbalances many women experience in perimenopause and beyond. Supporting gut health is part of supporting hormonal balance. Programs and Tools That Reset the Gut For some people, daily habits are enough. For others, especially those coming off a long period of poor habits, illness, antibiotics, or chronic stress, a more structured reset is helpful. Here are the approaches I use in my own practice. The 5-Day Cleanse and Reset A short, focused 5-day reset designed to give the digestive system a break, reduce inflammation, and reset eating patterns. The 5-Day Cleanse and Reset is the entry point I most often recommend for someone who wants to feel a quick improvement and reset their baseline. This is not a juice cleanse or an extreme restriction. It is a structured short-term program with real food. The 10-Day Belly Slimdown A 10-day gut-and-bloat focused program. The 10-Day Belly Slimdown is for the person whose main symptom is bloating and digestive discomfort, and who wants a slightly longer commitment than the 5-day reset. The 21-Day Bone Broth Diet A 21-day program that combines intermittent fasting with daily bone broth and a real-food eating plan. The Bone Broth Diet is the deeper transformation. The 2025 clinical trial of the program documented significant improvements in waist circumference, glucose, triglycerides, and quality of life4, and the 5:2 intermittent fasting structure gives the digestive system regular periods of metabolic rest. A 2025 BMJ network meta-analysis confirms that fasting strategies like the 5:2 framework produce significant cardiometabolic benefits in trials of 24 weeks or more5. Daily bone broth as the anchor Whether or not you do a structured program, daily bone broth is the simplest and most consistent gut-supportive habit you can adopt. My bone broth collection is what I recommend, with Classic Chicken as the easiest starting point. For travel or busy days, the Bone Broth Capsules keep the habit going. And for a morning shake or smoothie, the Bone Broth Protein powder delivers the same amino acid profile in a convenient form. Frequently Asked Questions How long does it take to heal the gut? It depends on the starting point. For most people with mild gut symptoms, noticeable improvements happen within 2 to 4 weeks of consistent gut-supportive habits. More significant gut damage from long-term antibiotic use, chronic stress, or established dysbiosis can take 3 to 6 months or longer to fully address. The intestinal lining itself replaces its cells about every 5 to 7 days, which is why dietary changes can produce noticeable shifts quickly. What are the signs of an unhealthy gut? Common signs include frequent bloating, gas, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea, unexplained fatigue, brain fog, skin issues, recurrent infections, food sensitivities that come on suddenly, irregular sleep, low mood, and joint stiffness. Any one of these alone is not diagnostic, but when several appear together, particularly after a known gut-disrupting event like antibiotics or a period of high stress, it is worth giving the gut focused attention. Can leaky gut be reversed? Yes, in most cases. The intestinal lining replaces itself rapidly, so providing the right nutritional building blocks and removing the triggers that are damaging the barrier allows healing to happen. A 2024 review documents the dietary and lifestyle strategies most supported by current research2. The amino acids in bone broth, particularly glycine and glutamine, are central to this restorative process1. Is bone broth good for gut health? Yes. A 2025 Mayo Clinic review specifically documented how bone broth nutrients support the gut barrier1. The amino acids glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and glutamine, all abundant in bone broth, are directly involved in maintaining and repairing the intestinal lining. Do I need a probiotic supplement? Not necessarily. Most people benefit more from regular consumption of fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and yogurt than from probiotic supplements. Probiotic supplements have a place after antibiotic use, during travel, or for specific conditions where research supports particular strains. But they are not a replacement for the foundational habits of fiber-rich eating, fermented foods, and bone broth. How many different plants should I eat each week? The current research suggests that 30 different plant species per week is a strong target for microbiome diversity. This sounds like a lot but it adds up quickly when you count herbs, spices, different colors of vegetables, varieties of fruit, nuts, seeds, beans, and grains if you tolerate them. Keeping a list for a week can be eye-opening. Can stress really damage my gut? Yes, and quickly. Chronic stress disrupts microbiome composition, compromises intestinal barrier function, slows gut motility, and changes how the body produces and uses neurotransmitters in the gut2. Stress management is not optional in gut health. It is foundational. What is the gut-brain connection? The gut and brain are in constant two-way communication through the vagus nerve, the immune system, and the chemicals the microbiome produces. About 90 percent of the body’s serotonin is produced in the gut. This is why gut health influences mood, anxiety, and cognitive function, and why those things in turn influence gut function. Does intermittent fasting help gut health? Yes, in most people. Giving the digestive system regular extended periods without food appears to support microbiome diversity, allow the migrating motor complex to clear residual food and bacteria from the small intestine, and reduce inflammatory load. A 2025 BMJ network meta-analysis documents the broader cardiometabolic benefits of intermittent fasting strategies5. The 5:2 framework I use in the Bone Broth Diet is particularly gentle on the gut. Can I do a gut reset while pregnant or breastfeeding? Restrictive reset programs are generally not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding. However, the foundational habits of eating real food, adding fermented foods, eating a diverse range of plants, drinking bone broth, managing stress, and prioritizing sleep are appropriate and beneficial during these phases. Talk to your healthcare provider about anything more structured. Where to Start Today Gut health is not a quick fix and it is not a single supplement. It is a daily practice built on foundational habits: eating real food, diversifying your plants, adding fermented foods, drinking bone broth, sleeping well, managing stress, and moving your body. Most of my patients see meaningful improvement in their gut symptoms within two to four weeks of consistent habits. The gut lining itself replaces its cells about every five to seven days, which is why this works as quickly as it does. Pick one habit to start with this week. A daily cup of Classic Chicken Bone Broth is what I would recommend. Add a fermented food daily next. Then start counting your plant species. If you want a structured starting point, the 5-Day Cleanse and Reset is the fastest way to feel a noticeable shift, and the Bone Broth Diet is the deeper 21-day transformation. Either one gives you a framework. But it is the daily habits, sustained over time, that change the foundation. References 1. Matar A, Abdelnaem N, Camilleri M. Bone Broth Benefits: How Its Nutrients Fortify Gut Barrier in Health and Disease. Dig Dis Sci. 2025;70(6):1951-1961. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40180691/ 2. Macura B, Kiecka A, Szczepanik M. Intestinal permeability disturbances: causes, diseases and therapy. Clin Exp Med. 2024;24(1):232. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11438725/ 3. Soh J, Raventhiran S, Lee JH, Lim ZX, Goh J, Kennedy BK, Maier AB. The effect of glycine administration on the characteristics of physiological systems in human adults: A systematic review. GeroScience. 2024;46(1):219-239. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10828290/ 4. Doma KM, Moulin M, Al-Wahsh H, Guthrie N, Crowley DC, Lewis ED. An open-label clinical trial to investigate the safety and efficacy of a bone broth diet on weight loss in adults with obesity. Clin Nutr Open Sci. 2025;61:231-240. (Funded by Veyl Ventures LLC; conducted by KGK Science Inc., an independent clinical research organization; ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05740670.) Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667268525000488 5. Semnani-Azad Z, Khan TA, Chiavaroli L, et al. Intermittent fasting strategies and their effects on body weight and other cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials. BMJ. 2025;389:e082007. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12175170/ These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Kellyann products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Persistent or significant digestive symptoms should be evaluated by a qualified healthcare provider, as they may indicate a treatable medical condition. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any new dietary program, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.  

What research suggests actually helps during perimenopause and menopause: the supplements, vitamins, and foods Dr. Kellyann recommends for hormonal shifts and vitality.

If you have ever stood in front of the supplement aisle looking at a wall of collagen products, or scrolled through an endless list online, you have probably had the same thought every patient of mine has had at some point. There are so many kinds. Powders, liquids, gummies, coffee, creamer, shakes, bars. Some say peptides. Some say hydrolyzed. Some say marine, some bovine, some advertise five different types of collagen on the label. Which one actually works, and which one is right for you? Here is the truth I tell every patient who asks. The single most important factor in whether a collagen supplement works for you is not the format, the brand, or even the exact dose. It is whether you actually take it every day for at least eight to twelve weeks. Results from collagen are built through the accumulation of consistent daily use, not through any one magic serving. That means the right collagen supplement is the one you will genuinely use, day after day, without it feeling like a chore. That said, the format absolutely matters for compliance, and the quality absolutely matters for results. Some collagen supplements are excellent. Some are essentially expensive sugar with a sprinkle of low-grade protein. Knowing how to tell the difference, and knowing which format fits your real daily life, is what makes the difference between a supplement that sits in your cabinet and one that quietly transforms your skin, hair, joints, and gut over the course of a year. This is the guide I wish every woman had before walking into the collagen section. Let me walk you through it. What Collagen Supplements Actually Do Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body, making up roughly thirty percent of your total protein content. It is the structural scaffolding that holds together your skin, your tendons and ligaments, the cartilage in your joints, the lining of your gut, your blood vessels, and even the matrix of your bones. When people say collagen is everywhere in the body, they are being literal. Your body produces collagen naturally throughout your life, but starting in your mid-twenties, that production begins to slow by roughly one percent each year. By the time most women reach their forties and fifties, the decline accelerates significantly, driven by hormonal shifts, oxidative stress, and the cumulative effects of sun exposure, sugar, and modern life. The visible signs (thinner skin, more visible lines, slower wound healing, joint stiffness, brittle nails, thinning hair) and the invisible ones (less resilient gut lining, less elasticity in connective tissue) are all downstream of that collagen decline. Supplementing with collagen does not magically restore your skin to its twenty-five-year-old version. What research suggests it may do is provide your body with a rich supply of the amino acids it uses to build collagen on its own. Glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline are the three most abundant amino acids in collagen, and they are exactly what your body needs to rebuild the connective tissue you are losing. The research is most consistent on skin elasticity and hydration, joint comfort, and nail strength, with growing evidence supporting hair, gut, and bone benefits as well. For my deeper dive into the research, see the benefits of collagen. The Five Biological Types of Collagen When a collagen product talks about being multi-type or featuring types I, II, III, V, and X, what it is referencing are the biologically distinct forms of collagen your body makes. There are at least twenty-eight known types, but five of them account for the vast majority of the collagen in your body and the vast majority of what gets included in supplements. Here is what each one does: Type I is the most abundant in the body, found in skin, tendons, bone, and most connective tissue. It is the type most associated with skin, hair, and nail benefits. Type II is the cartilage type, found almost exclusively in joints. If joint comfort is your primary goal, type II matters most. Type III often shows up alongside type I and is found in skin, blood vessels, and internal organs. Type V is found in skin, hair, and the surface of cells, and is particularly important for newer connective tissue formation. Type X is involved in bone and cartilage development. Here is what most marketing does not tell you. Most multi-type collagen products feature types I and III primarily (because they come from bovine and marine sources), with smaller amounts of others. A multi-type label is more of a marketing signal than a meaningful biological distinction for most users. What matters more is the source the collagen comes from and whether it has been hydrolyzed into a form your body can actually absorb. For more on the type question, see what collagen peptides are. Hydrolyzed, Peptides, and Gelatin: Decoding the Terminology If you remember nothing else from this section, remember this. The form of collagen that the research actually supports for skin, joint, and connective tissue benefits is hydrolyzed collagen, also called collagen peptides. These two terms mean the same thing. There are three terms you will see on collagen product labels: Hydrolyzed collagen / collagen peptides are the most bioavailable form, broken down into small peptides your body can absorb directly. This is what the research supports. Gelatin is partially hydrolyzed collagen, useful as a food ingredient but less bioavailable as a supplement. Undenatured type II collagen (UC-II) is a specialized joint-support form used in much smaller doses, around 40 mg per day. Hydrolyzed collagen has been broken down through a process called hydrolysis into small peptide fragments your body can absorb across the intestinal wall and into your bloodstream. Unhydrolyzed collagen, the kind in the cartilage of a chicken thigh or the connective tissue of a steak, is too large to absorb intact. Your body has to break it down through digestion, and most of the actual collagen protein never makes it into your bloodstream as collagen-specific amino acids. It just gets used as generic protein. Gelatin is partially hydrolyzed collagen, somewhere between raw collagen and fully hydrolyzed peptides. It dissolves in hot water and gels when cooled. It is what makes broth turn jiggly in the refrigerator. Gelatin is useful as a food ingredient and provides some collagen amino acids, but for supplemental purposes, hydrolyzed collagen peptides are far more bioavailable. For the full breakdown, see gelatin vs collagen and collagen vs collagen peptides. Undenatured type II collagen, sometimes labeled UC-II, is a specific type of collagen used in much smaller doses for joint support. It works through a different mechanism than hydrolyzed collagen, helping modulate the immune response in the joints. It is not a substitute for general collagen supplementation but can be a useful complement for people with significant joint concerns. Most general collagen products do not contain UC-II, and most UC-II products do not provide enough collagen for skin and hair benefits. How to Read a Collagen Supplement Label This is the section that will save you money and protect you from products that look impressive on the front of the package but disappoint on the back. The collagen market is a mix of excellent products and disappointing ones, and most consumers cannot tell the difference because they have never been taught what to look for. Here is the short version of what to check on every label: Source: bovine, marine, chicken, or eggshell, and whether it is grass-fed, pasture-raised, or wild-caught Form: confirm it says hydrolyzed collagen or collagen peptides Dose per serving: aim for 2.5 to 15 grams of actual collagen per daily serving Cofactors: vitamin C is the most important; hyaluronic acid is a useful pairing Third-party testing: look for NSF, Informed Sport, or a published testing commitment Other Ingredients line: short and clean, not a paragraph of fillers and preservatives Here is how to read a label the way I read one. Source Matters: Bovine, Marine, Chicken, or Eggshell Almost every legitimate collagen supplement comes from one of four animal sources: Bovine (from cows) provides primarily types I and III. The workhorse of the collagen world, well-studied, and a good choice for most general uses. Marine (from fish) provides primarily type I, often marketed as having smaller particle size and faster absorption. The research on marine versus bovine for actual outcomes is less clear-cut than the marketing suggests. Chicken is the primary source of type II for joint-specific products. Eggshell membrane is a smaller category that provides type V and naturally occurring hyaluronic acid and chondroitin. There is no such thing as vegan collagen because collagen is an animal protein. Products marketed as vegan collagen are typically collagen builders, which provide vitamin C, amino acids, and herbal ingredients that may support your body's own collagen production, but they are not collagen itself. They may have a place in a routine, but they are not interchangeable with actual collagen supplements. Grass-Fed, Pasture-Raised, and Wild-Caught: What These Claims Mean For bovine collagen, the gold standard sourcing is grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle. The reason is simple. The amino acid profile and the absence of accumulated contaminants in the connective tissue of cattle raised on grass tends to be superior to that of cattle raised on grain-heavy feedlot diets. Quality matters here more than for many supplements because collagen is a structural protein, and the building blocks you give your body to rebuild your own tissue should come from clean sources. For marine collagen, wild-caught is the equivalent claim. Farm-raised fish often has a different fatty acid profile and may carry more accumulated environmental compounds. For chicken collagen, look for pasture-raised. If a label says nothing about the source quality of the animal, assume conventional sourcing. That does not automatically make it a bad product, but a premium price tag without a premium sourcing claim is a yellow flag. Dose Per Serving: The 2.5 to 15 Gram Research Range This is the single biggest filter for whether a collagen product is worth your money. The clinical research that demonstrates collagen benefits for skin, hair, nails, and joints uses doses generally in the range of 2.5 to 15 grams per day, taken consistently for eight to twelve weeks or longer. Products that provide less than 2.5 grams per serving, regardless of how impressive their marketing is, are unlikely to deliver the documented benefits at a single daily serving. Many collagen gummies and beverage products fall below this threshold per serving, requiring you to take multiple servings to reach a research-backed dose. That is fine if the label is honest about it and you actually take the full daily amount. It becomes a problem when the marketing implies one serving will produce results that the science only supports at a much higher daily intake. Look at the supplement facts panel. Find the collagen amount per serving. Multiply by the serving suggestion. That is what you are actually getting daily. For my full take on dosing, see how much collagen per day. Cofactor Ingredients: Vitamin C, Hyaluronic Acid, and What to Skip Vitamin C is the most important cofactor in collagen supplementation. Your body literally cannot synthesize collagen without it. Vitamin C catalyzes the conversion of amino acids into the precise structural form collagen requires. A collagen supplement that includes vitamin C in the same serving is doing you a favor, and it is one of the reasons I built Liquid Gold the way I did, pairing five grams of grass-fed collagen peptides with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid in a single liquid serving. Hyaluronic acid is a separate compound that holds water in the skin and joints. It pairs well with collagen because the two work synergistically for skin hydration and joint comfort. Biotin sometimes appears in collagen formulas marketed for hair, though the research on supplemental biotin for non-deficient adults is more mixed than the marketing suggests. Other useful cofactors include zinc and copper, which are involved in collagen cross-linking, and silica, which supports connective tissue formation. Here is what you do not want to see in a collagen formula: Added sugars beyond minimal flavoring Artificial sweeteners like sucralose or acesulfame potassium Artificial colors Hydrogenated oils Soy lecithin in significant amounts Long lists of preservatives The cleaner the ingredient panel, the better. Third-Party Testing and Certifications Reputable collagen brands undergo third-party testing for heavy metals, contaminants, and label accuracy. Look for indicators like NSF certification, Informed Sport certification (especially relevant for athletes), or a brand-stated commitment to third-party testing. Marine collagen products especially benefit from heavy metal testing because fish can accumulate environmental contaminants. A brand that publishes its testing results is more trustworthy than one that simply claims quality on the front of the package. The Other Ingredients Line: Where Companies Hide the Disappointing Parts Always read past the supplement facts panel to the Other Ingredients line. This is where you find the binders, fillers, preservatives, and flavor agents that did not make it into the headline ingredient list. Common red flags include: Hydrogenated oils Artificial flavors and colors Sucralose, aspartame, or acesulfame potassium Carrageenan in some formulas Soybean oil Long lists of polysyllabic preservatives A clean collagen product will have a short Other Ingredients line. A questionable one will have a paragraph. Flavoring and Sweeteners: The Honest Middle Ground Some unflavored collagen powders are nearly tasteless and integrate into anything. Many flavored products use natural flavors, monk fruit, stevia, or small amounts of cane sugar or honey for palatability. There is nothing wrong with a small amount of natural sweetener if it makes you actually drink the product daily. The compliance benefit outweighs the minor sugar content. What you want to avoid is products where sugar or syrups appear early in the ingredient list (meaning they are present in large amounts) or products that rely heavily on artificial sweeteners that may disrupt your gut microbiome. Choose Your Collagen by Format: A Complete Comparison Now we get to the part most people are actually here for. What is the right format of collagen for you? I am going to walk you through every meaningful format on the market, what each does well, what each does not do well, and which kind of person each one fits best. Here are the formats I will cover: Collagen peptides powder — the foundational format Liquid collagen — pre-mixed, ready to drink Collagen coffee — your morning ritual upgraded Collagen creamer — swap your conventional creamer Collagen coolers — afternoon refreshment-style Lemon Sips — citrus-forward hydration with collagen Collagen shakes — meal-style protein with collagen built in Super smoothies — meal-replacement with collagen plus nutrients Collagen hot cocoa — the format that feels like a treat Collagen fiber bar — snack-format collagen with prebiotic fiber Collagen gummies — the compliance-first format Bone broth — the original whole-food collagen source Throughout this section I will reference the specific products I have personally formulated, because they are what I know best and what I recommend to my own patients. Whatever you choose, the principle is the same. Pick the format you will use every day. Collagen Peptides Powder: The Classic Foundational Format Powder is the original collagen supplement format and remains the most versatile. A typical scoop delivers ten to fifteen grams of hydrolyzed collagen peptides, which sits comfortably in the upper end of the research-backed dose range, all in one serving. Most quality powders are unflavored and dissolve clean into hot or cold liquids without changing the taste. My Collagen Peptides Unflavored is exactly this. Twenty grams of grass-fed bovine collagen peptides per serving, no flavor, no sweetener, mixes into coffee, smoothies, soups, oatmeal, or plain water without altering the taste of what you are drinking. Powder is the most economical format per gram of collagen, the most flexible (you can use it in cooking and baking), and the most concentrated. Its downside is that you have to mix it, which means it requires a moment of intention in your morning. For most people, this is not a real obstacle. For some, it is enough to derail the habit. Powder is the right format for: The routine-builder who wants a consistent daily anchor The home cook who can integrate it into recipes The person who already drinks coffee or makes smoothies daily Anyone who wants the maximum dose per serving at the best per-serving cost Liquid Collagen: Pre-Mixed, Fast-Absorbing, and Ready to Drink Liquid collagen comes pre-dissolved in a small ready-to-drink serving, typically one to two ounces. The collagen is already in solution, which means no mixing, no clumping, and theoretically faster gastric absorption since the dissolution step is skipped. My Liquid Gold is a liquid collagen that delivers five grams of grass-fed hydrolyzed collagen peptides per serving, paired with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid in a mango-flavored shot. The vitamin C pairing matters because, as I mentioned earlier, your body cannot synthesize collagen without it. Liquid collagen excels at compliance. There is no mixing, no powder cloud, no preparation. You drink it and you are done. Its limitations are that the dose per serving tends to be lower than powder (because liquid volume is limited), and it is more expensive per gram of collagen than powder. For more on the comparison, see liquid collagen vs powder. Liquid is the right format for: The on-the-go person and the traveler Anyone who hates mixing supplements Anyone who wants the absorption benefits of vitamin C paired in the same serving Anyone who values speed over volume Collagen Coffee: Your Morning Ritual Upgraded Collagen coffee is the most beloved format for people who already drink coffee daily. It is a powdered coffee blend that includes hydrolyzed collagen peptides, so you are getting your collagen and your coffee in the same cup, with no extra steps. My Collagen Coffee is freeze-dried real coffee blended with grass-fed collagen peptides and MCT oil, which adds a smooth, slightly creamy texture and provides the medium-chain fats that support steady energy and ketone production. Collagen coffee is the right format if coffee is already a non-negotiable part of your morning. It removes the extra step of adding anything to your existing coffee, and it integrates collagen into a habit you already have. The compliance rate on collagen coffee is among the highest of any format. It is also a particularly good option for intermittent fasters who use coffee as part of their fasting window, because the protein content is light enough not to break a fast for most fasting protocols. For more on this style of habit, see can you put collagen in coffee. Collagen Creamer: Swap Your Conventional Creamer, Build a Daily Habit If you drink coffee with creamer, your creamer is probably one of the worst things you put in your body each morning, hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, sodium caseinate. A collagen creamer replaces that nutritional disaster with something that actively nourishes you. My Vanilla Collagen Creamer is a vanilla-flavored creamer with hydrolyzed collagen peptides and MCT oil. You scoop it into your coffee just like you would any other creamer, and you get your daily collagen as part of a habit you already do. Collagen creamer fits the person whose morning coffee comes with cream, period. The switch from conventional creamer to collagen creamer is one of the highest-impact, lowest-effort changes you can make to your daily nutrition. You are not adding a new habit. You are upgrading an existing one. Collagen Coolers: Refreshment-Style Collagen for the Afternoon Most collagen products are positioned as morning supplements. Coolers solve a different problem. They give you a collagen drink for the middle of the day when you want something refreshing, cold, and flavored that is not soda or another cup of coffee. My Collagen Cooler line comes in three flavors: Mango Collagen Cooler, Orange Creamsicle Collagen Cooler, and Tropical Pina Colada Collagen Cooler. Each is a powdered drink mix that delivers collagen peptides in a tropical-inspired cold drink, mixed with cold water over ice. Coolers are the right format for: The afternoon-slump person Anyone who wants more than one collagen serving per day Anyone who craves variety in flavors Anyone who wants a clean alternative to flavored beverages They also work beautifully as a poolside or summertime collagen ritual, the kind of thing that feels like a treat rather than a chore. Lemon Sips: Citrus-Forward Collagen Hydration Lemon Sips occupies its own category. It is a citrus-flavored powdered drink mix that delivers collagen peptides alongside vitamin C from real lemon. The vitamin C pairing is intentional and matters for collagen synthesis. The original Lemon Sips comes in classic lemon, and there are flavor variants including Strawberry Lemonade Lemon Sips, Lemon Ice Lemon Sips, and Lemon Ice Tea Lemon Sips. Mix with cold water for a hydrating, slightly tart, refreshment-focused collagen drink. Lemon Sips is the right format for: The morning-hydration person The alkaline-water and lemon-water crowd Anyone who has been doing the warm-lemon-water-on-waking habit and wants to upgrade it Anyone whose skin is the primary collagen goal (the vitamin C pairing specifically supports skin synthesis) It is also a beautiful afternoon refresher for those who prefer citrus to tropical flavors. Collagen Shakes: Meal-Style Protein With Collagen Built In Collagen shakes function as a hybrid between a protein shake and a collagen supplement. They typically deliver fifteen to twenty grams of total protein per serving, with hydrolyzed collagen peptides as a significant portion of that protein, plus additional ingredients like vitamins, minerals, and fiber. My collagen shakes come in two flavors: Chocolate Almond Collagen Shake and Vanilla Almond Collagen Shake. Each blends with water, almond milk, or oat milk into a meal-replacement-style shake that genuinely satisfies. Shakes are the right format if you want collagen and meal protein in one product, if you tend to skip breakfast or want a post-workout option, or if you want something more substantial than a powder mixed into water. They are also a useful tool for women in midlife who are working to hit their daily protein target (most women under-consume protein, especially in their forties and fifties), because they layer collagen onto a meal-style protein dose rather than asking you to take collagen separately on top of food. Super Smoothies: Meal-Replacement With Collagen Plus Nutrients Super smoothies are my most comprehensive meal-style product, designed to function as a true meal replacement or substantial meal addition. Super Chocolate Smoothie and Super Vanilla Smoothie each deliver a generous protein dose anchored in collagen, plus an extensive vitamin and mineral profile, fiber, and superfood ingredients in one blend. Mix with water or your milk of choice for a true breakfast-in-a-glass. Smoothies are the right format for: The busy professional who needs a portable breakfast The post-workout user who wants comprehensive recovery in one product The woman in midlife juggling protein, collagen, vitamin, and fiber targets simultaneously Anyone whose schedule does not reliably accommodate a sit-down breakfast Collagen Hot Cocoa: The Collagen Format That Feels Like a Treat Collagen hot cocoa is the format I built specifically for the woman who wants her collagen ritual to feel like indulgence rather than discipline. My Collagen Hot Cocoa is a real chocolate hot cocoa mix with hydrolyzed collagen peptides built in, made to be prepared with hot water or hot milk like any traditional cocoa. It is sweet, creamy, deeply chocolatey, and delivers collagen peptides in a serving that genuinely feels like dessert. Hot cocoa is the right format for: The evening collagen person (so many women want a wind-down ritual that is not wine) The chocolate lover The woman who wants her supplement routine to feel like self-care Anyone who has children at home and wants a collagen format the whole family will happily drink It is also a beautiful winter ritual when hot drinks naturally take a bigger role in daily life. Collagen Fiber Bar: Snack-Format Collagen With Prebiotic Fiber The fiber bar is a portable, chewable collagen format that pairs hydrolyzed collagen with prebiotic fiber for gut support. My Collagen Fiber Bar is a chocolate-coconut bar with collagen and added fiber, formulated to function as a clean snack or on-the-go option. Each bar provides collagen plus the fiber women in midlife are often under-consuming. Bars are the right format for: The snacker and the traveler who wants something pocketable The woman whose afternoon hunger habitually drives her toward less optimal choices Anyone who values the combined gut and collagen support a fiber-paired format provides They are not a primary collagen format for most users (the dose per bar tends to be lower than powder or liquid), but they are an excellent supplemental format alongside a primary daily serving. Collagen Gummies: The Compliance-First Format Gummies are the newest mainstream collagen format and the one with the highest growth in the supplement category, for a simple reason. Compliance. Gummies are a format almost no one struggles to take. No mixing, no measuring, no preparation, no aftertaste beyond a pleasant flavor. For people who have started and abandoned every other supplement format, gummies often turn out to be the format that finally sticks. My Bone Broth Collagen Gummies are formulated specifically for daily compliance, delivering hydrolyzed collagen peptides sourced from bone broth in a chewable gummy format. The bone broth connection matters. Bone broth is collagen's original whole-food source, naturally rich in glycine, proline, and the other amino acids your body uses to rebuild connective tissue. The gummy format makes that bone-broth-derived collagen accessible for the woman who is never going to sip warm broth every morning. Gummies are the right format for: The supplement-skeptic who has failed at every other format The busy parent who needs something her kids will happily take alongside her The traveler The texture-sensitive person who dislikes mixing powders Anyone who values consistency over per-serving dose volume The trade-off is that gummies typically deliver less collagen per serving than powder or liquid, so reaching the upper end of the research-backed dose range may require multiple gummies per day, which the label will specify. Bone Broth: The Original Whole-Food Collagen Source Bone broth is collagen's ancestral source, the original whole-food version of every collagen supplement on the market. It is made by simmering animal bones, connective tissue, and joints over many hours, which extracts collagen, gelatin, glycine, proline, hyaluronic acid, glucosamine, chondroitin, and a spectrum of minerals into the liquid. My Classic Chicken Bone Broth and Classic Beef Bone Broth are the foundational format I built my brand around, and they provide a substantially more complete nutrient profile than any isolated collagen supplement, because they include all the cofactors and connective tissue compounds that come with collagen naturally. Bone broth is the right format for: The foundational eater The gut-healing protocol follower The person who values traditional whole foods over modern supplement formulations Anyone who wants the broadest spectrum of connective-tissue nutrition in one product The trade-off is logistical. Bone broth requires warming and is typically consumed as a sipping cup rather than a portable shot, which fits some lifestyles better than others. For the full framework I built around bone broth, see my Bone Broth Diet resource page. And for the comparison between bone broth and isolated collagen supplements, see bone broth vs collagen. Which Collagen Format Is Right for You? Match by Lifestyle and Goal Format theory is helpful. What is more helpful is matching the theory to your actual life. Here is the practical translation of all of the above, based on the patterns I see in real women I work with. For the Routine-Builder Who Wants Maximum Dose at the Best Per-Serving Cost Choose unflavored collagen peptides powder. It is the most economical format per gram of collagen, the most concentrated per serving, and the most versatile across uses (coffee, smoothies, soups, oatmeal). My Collagen Peptides Unflavored is built for exactly this audience. For the Woman Who Already Drinks Coffee With Creamer Every Morning Switch your creamer to collagen creamer. This is the lowest-effort upgrade in the supplement world. You are already pouring something into your coffee. Make it something that nourishes you instead of something that does not. For the Woman Who Drinks Black Coffee or Wants to Streamline Her Morning Use a pre-blended collagen coffee. One product, one preparation, two daily goals (caffeine plus collagen) accomplished in one cup. My Collagen Coffee is the streamlined option here. For the Busy Professional or Traveler Liquid collagen shots and collagen gummies are both excellent travel formats. Liquid Gold for the woman who wants a single-serving shot with vitamin C included. Bone Broth Collagen Gummies for the woman who wants the lowest-friction format that fits in any bag. For the Woman Who Consistently Skips Breakfast Use a collagen shake or super smoothie as your breakfast-in-a-glass. You get protein, collagen, and other nutrients in one product, and you eliminate the no-time-for-breakfast problem at the same time. My Collagen Shakes and Super Smoothies are built for this audience. For the Woman Whose Afternoon Energy Slump Is Real Add a collagen cooler or Lemon Sips serving to your three-o'clock window. It gives you a flavored cold-drink ritual at the time of day when most women are reaching for less optimal choices, and it adds a second daily collagen serving on top of whatever your morning routine includes. For the Woman Who Wants Her Supplement Routine to Feel Like a Treat Collagen hot cocoa for evenings. Collagen Coolers for warm-weather afternoons. The principle is the same. Choose a format that you actively look forward to, because that is the format you will sustain. For the Foundational, Whole-Food, Gut-Healing Focus Bone broth as the daily anchor, with a collagen peptides supplement as the consistency layer on travel days or busy weeks when warm broth is not practical. The whole-food source plus the convenience layer is the most complete approach for foundational health. For the Woman Managing Perimenopause and Menopause Symptoms Hormonal shifts in midlife accelerate collagen loss, which is why this stage of life is where collagen supplementation often produces the most visible benefits. For this audience I recommend a foundational daily collagen serving (peptides, liquid, or coffee) plus an emphasis on the vitamin C and hyaluronic acid pairing that supports skin specifically. Liquid Gold is built around exactly this profile. For more on the menopausal collagen picture, see menopause and collagen loss. How Much Collagen Should You Take Per Day? The clinical research range for skin, hair, nail, and joint outcomes is generally 2.5 to 15 grams of hydrolyzed collagen peptides per day, taken consistently for at least eight to twelve weeks. Within that range, most studies use doses of five to ten grams per day, which is also what most quality collagen products target per serving. For most healthy adults, aiming for ten to twenty grams per day across one or two servings is a reasonable target. This sits comfortably in the research-supported range, allows for the natural protein context of a regular diet, and produces the documented benefits without requiring extreme intake. People with specific structural goals (significant joint concerns, accelerated skin or hair changes during menopause, recovery from injury) may benefit from the upper end of this range or slightly above, ideally in consultation with a healthcare provider. My deeper dose discussion is at how much collagen per day. When to Take Collagen: Morning, Pre-Workout, or Anytime? The honest answer is that the timing matters far less than the consistency. Hydrolyzed collagen peptides are absorbed within roughly thirty to ninety minutes of ingestion regardless of when you take them, and the amino acids enter the body's general protein pool to be used as needed. There are a few timing nuances worth knowing: Taking collagen with vitamin C in the same serving may slightly enhance the rate of collagen synthesis. Taking collagen approximately thirty to sixty minutes before exercise that loads connective tissue (resistance training, running, walking) has limited research suggesting it may enhance collagen deposition in the targeted tissue. Taking collagen at bedtime alongside a glass of tart cherry juice has been promoted as a sleep-supportive ritual because glycine, an abundant amino acid in collagen, may support sleep onset for some people. None of these timing nuances matter more than the foundational practice of taking your collagen every day. Pick the time that is easiest to remember and stick with it. Morning is the easiest for most women because it pairs with coffee, breakfast, or a morning beverage habit that already exists. How Long Until You See Results From Collagen? The visible results timeline is one of the most important things to set expectations around, because most women who give up on collagen do so before they would have seen meaningful change. Here is what the research suggests in terms of typical timelines, with the caveat that results may vary significantly from person to person: Weeks 2 to 3: Nails are often the first place to notice change. Many customers report nails feeling harder and growing faster within the first month. Weeks 4 to 8: Skin hydration and a subtle sense of skin feeling more supple often shows up here. Weeks 8 to 12: Visible improvements in skin texture, fine lines, and the overall sense of skin looking more rested typically take eight to twelve weeks of consistent daily use. Weeks 8 to 16: Joint comfort improvements, when they happen, are often gradual and become more noticeable in this window. Months 3 to 6: Hair changes, including thicker-feeling strands and reduced shedding, are typically the slowest, often requiring three to six months of consistency before becoming clearly noticeable. The point is patience. Collagen does not work overnight, and the women who get the best results are the ones who commit to a daily habit and trust the timeline. Eight to twelve weeks of consistency before evaluating is the rule I share with every patient. Common Mistakes That Sabotage Your Collagen Routine After years of recommending collagen to patients and women in the broader community, I have noticed the same handful of mistakes derail otherwise well-intentioned routines. Avoiding these accounts for a significant share of the results gap between women who see real change and women who do not. Taking the product inconsistently. A scoop every few days, with occasional weeks off, will not produce the results the research describes. Daily, every day, no exceptions, is the bar. Choosing a product based on marketing rather than dose. A beautiful bottle with three hundred milligrams of collagen per serving is essentially decorative. Expecting results faster than the biology allows. Skin and hair turnover takes weeks to months. Layering ten different beauty supplements at once and being unable to tell what is working. Run a single product for ninety days before adding anything else. Ignoring the foundational eating pattern. Collagen sits on top of whole-food protein, hydration, and the broader nutritional baseline. If those are missing, no supplement compensates fully. The eating framework I built around this is on my Bone Broth Diet resource page. Finding Your Daily Collagen Habit If you have made it this far, you now know more about collagen supplements than the vast majority of people walking into the supplement aisle. You know what to look for on a label. You know the dose range that matters. You know how the formats differ and which fits which lifestyle. You know what the realistic timeline for results looks like. The last step is the most important one. Pick the format that fits your life. Commit to it for ninety days. Pay attention to your nails and skin and how you feel, not to the daily appearance in the mirror. And then evaluate. The women who get the most out of collagen are not the ones who try the most products. They are the ones who pick one and stick with it. You can be one of them. Frequently Asked Questions About Collagen Supplements Are collagen supplements worth it? Research suggests that hydrolyzed collagen peptides taken at doses of 2.5 to 15 grams per day for at least eight to twelve weeks may support skin elasticity and hydration, joint comfort, nail strength, and hair quality. The keyword is consistency. Collagen supplements work for people who take them daily over months, not for people who try them inconsistently for a few weeks. If you are willing to commit to daily use for at least three months, the research suggests collagen supplements are likely worth the investment for most adults in their thirties and beyond. Results may vary. Which type of collagen supplement is best? Hydrolyzed collagen peptides, also called collagen peptides, are the form with the most research support for skin, hair, nail, and joint benefits. Beyond that, the right type depends on your goal. Type I collagen from bovine or marine sources is best for skin, hair, and nails. Type II collagen from chicken cartilage is best for joint-specific support. For most general users, a high-quality hydrolyzed type I and III collagen from grass-fed bovine sources is the best foundational choice. Are collagen gummies as effective as collagen powder? Both gummies and powders can deliver hydrolyzed collagen peptides effectively. The two key differences are dose per serving and compliance. Powders generally provide a higher dose per serving (often ten to twenty grams) than gummies (which typically provide one to five grams per serving), meaning gummies often require multiple gummies per day to reach a research-backed dose. However, the best collagen format is the one you will actually take daily, and many people who have failed at other formats succeed with gummies because of how easy they are to use. If gummies are what makes you consistent, gummies are the right choice. What is the difference between hydrolyzed collagen and gelatin? Hydrolyzed collagen has been broken down into small peptide fragments your body can absorb directly across the intestinal wall. Gelatin is partially hydrolyzed collagen, somewhere between raw collagen and fully hydrolyzed peptides. Gelatin dissolves in hot water and gels when cooled, which is what makes broth turn jiggly in the refrigerator. For supplemental purposes, hydrolyzed collagen peptides are more bioavailable than gelatin and are the form supported by most clinical research. Can I take collagen every day? Yes, and for the documented benefits, daily use is the recommendation. Collagen is a protein, and your body uses the amino acids it provides on an ongoing basis to rebuild connective tissue. There is no need to cycle off and no documented benefit to occasional use over consistent daily use. For most healthy adults, daily collagen at doses within the research-backed range of 2.5 to 15 grams per day is well tolerated long term. Should I take collagen on an empty stomach? Timing matters far less than consistency. Hydrolyzed collagen peptides are absorbed effectively whether taken on an empty stomach or with food. Some people find that taking collagen with vitamin C (whether from food or from a paired supplement) may slightly enhance collagen synthesis. The most important thing is to pick a time you will reliably remember every day. For most women, that is morning, paired with coffee, breakfast, or a morning beverage routine. Can vegetarians or vegans take collagen? Collagen itself is an animal protein and is not available in a true vegan form. Products marketed as vegan collagen are typically collagen builders, which provide ingredients like vitamin C, silica, amino acids, and botanicals that may support your body's own collagen production. These can have a place in a plant-based routine, but they are not interchangeable with actual hydrolyzed collagen supplements. Vegetarians who consume bovine or marine collagen products should know that collagen is sourced from animal connective tissue, hides, bones, or fish skin. Does collagen interact with medications? Collagen is a protein and is generally considered safe alongside most medications. However, if you take medications regularly, especially blood thinners, immune-modulating drugs, or medications affecting kidney function, it is worth checking with your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement. People with specific health conditions should also have this conversation. The amino acid profile of collagen is rich in glycine and proline, which are generally well tolerated, but individual situations vary. How do I know if my collagen supplement is working? The clearest early signal is usually nail strength, which often improves within the first month of consistent daily use. Skin hydration and feel typically follow at weeks four to eight, with visible texture and elasticity improvements becoming noticeable around weeks eight to twelve. Hair changes are the slowest, often taking three to six months. Track changes by photo (take a baseline photo of skin and hair when you start, and another at twelve weeks) rather than by daily observation, because the gradual nature of the change makes day-to-day comparison unreliable. Results may vary. Is more collagen better? Up to a point, more collagen is better for results, with the research-supported range topping out around fifteen to twenty grams per day. Above that range, there is limited evidence that additional collagen produces additional benefits, and the cost per gram rises sharply. For most healthy adults, ten to fifteen grams per day in one or two servings is the practical sweet spot. People with specific structural goals may benefit from the upper end of the range, ideally in consultation with a healthcare provider. References 1. Myung S-K & Park Y. Effects of Collagen Supplements on Skin Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Am J Med. 2025;138:1264-1277. Available at: https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(25)00283-9/fulltext 2. Pu S-Y, Huang Y-L, Pu C-M, et al. Effects of Oral Collagen for Skin Anti-Aging: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2023;15(9):2080. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10180699/ 3. Dewi DAR, Arimuko A, Norawati L, et al. Exploring the Impact of Hydrolyzed Collagen Oral Supplementation on Skin Rejuvenation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Cureus. 2023;15(12):e50231. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10773595/ 4. Qiu J, Xiao F, Yang J. Analgesic efficacy of collagen peptide in knee osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Orthop Surg Res. 2023;18:694. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10505327/ 5. Boo YC. Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) as a Cosmeceutical to Increase Dermal Collagen for Skin Antiaging Purposes: Emerging Combination Therapies. Antioxidants (Basel). 2022;11(9):1663. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9495646/ 6. Viscomi B, Marchese L, Cattaneo G, et al. Managing Menopausal Skin Changes: A Narrative Review of Skin Quality Changes, Their Aesthetic Impact, and the Actual Role of Hormone Replacement Therapy in Improvement. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2025;24(8):e70393. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jocd.70393 7. Efficacy of collagen peptide supplementation on bone and muscle health: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2025;12:1646090. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1646090/full