By Alexandra Thompson Senior Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 13:00 GMT, 16 January 2019 | Updated: 13:49 GMT, 16 January 2019
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Drinking bone broth is a health craze that advocates claim helps fight inflammation, ease indigestion and make skin glow.
The 'brew' is backed by Hollywood's resident 'health guru' Gwyneth Paltrow and the famous chefs the Hemsley sisters, who allege simmering animal bones releases health-boosting collagen.
And a new study supports these celebrity claims, with research showing cooking pig bones for as little as 20 minutes releases proteins that can lower blood pressure, and could even protect against heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Shakespeare in Love actress and Hollywood's resident 'health guru' Gwyneth Paltrow has long been a fan of bone broth and recently shared her recipe for a chicken version on her website Goop. She is pictured at the Guggenheim International Gala in New York last November 15
Celebrity chefs the Hemsley sisters are long-time fans of bone broth, which they add to their recipes for soups, stews and risottos. They are pictured on This Morning on May 23 2016
The research was carried out by the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology in Valencia, Spain, and led by food scientist Dr Leticia Mora.
Drinking bone broth dates back to the Stone Age, with the 'liquid gold' often being added to soups and stews in cuisines all over the world to add a rich flavour.
It is high in amino acids - the building blocks of proteins - that lower blood pressure, protect against clots and prevent diabetes, the authors wrote in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
These amino acids survive the stomach's acid and are not broken down by enzymes in the digestive tract.
High blood pressure affects 16million people in the UK, Blood Pressure UK statistics reveal. And 103million in the US have the condition, according to the American Heart Association.
Hypertension raises the risk of heart disease or stroke by three times, with 62,000 people in the UK alone dying every year from poorly-controlled blood pressure.
To better understand the effects of broth on hypertension, bones were taken from white-breed pigs culled to make Spanish dry-cured ham.
These bones were prepared by 'simulating Mediterranean household cooking', which involved samples being cooked at 100°C (212°F) for 20 minutes or an hour, while others remained 'raw' and acted as controls.
Sequences of amino acids - known as peptides - were then extracted from the collagen released by the bones
