Chicken bones

I remember asking this question a long time ago but not getting any clear replies that I can recall.

I have developed a habit of eating the ends of the chicken bones and part of the marrow as it looked healthy.

Anyone know anything more?

Thanks

Alex

Alex,

My first, knee-jerk reaction is that my cats do this, and I have to keep them from doing this so they don't choke :-) On a more serious note, when you say you have developed a habit, is this a habit or a compulsion? It might speak to a nutritional deficiency that even the supplements you are taking aren't addressing?

People eat the strangest things (chicken bones are the least of them). We have all heard of pregnant women eating mud and kids eating matches. Most of these people needed some nutrient found in those items.

It's amazing what we learn if we just listen to what our bodies are telling us.

lisa

If you are taking Warfarin or any other anti-coagulant what you are doing could be life-threatening. Normally a small tear would be taken care of while healing I believe; with Warfarin the internal bleeding would simply continue and the tear may or may not heal on its own.

There is a new program on TV about people that eat the strangest things and while I know a number of folks that eat the cartiledge off the ends of their chicken legs and wings as a matter of habit and enjoy it immensely, I would not recomment it especially if on an anticoagulant.

The program trailer (ad) shows a woman who loves to eat, of all things, toilet paper. Anyone else see the trailers for this new program, on the same channel as "Dog The Bounty Hunter" and "Intervention" and "The First 48 Hours". Real Life TV or so they say.

Makes one wonder how many rolls she can get down before feeling full.

When people crave and eat non-food items, it's called pica. Not uncommon in pregnancy and is typically a sign of a mineral deficiency - often iron.

As for eating collagen, that's an old-time remedy for helping with arthritis symptoms. I don't see the harm in it if you can stand to eat it.

Jackie

I am not on any medications. I just chew the bulgy end of the bones so its no risk.

It is not a compulsion. If someone showed it was bad for me I would stop instantly. I am not aware of any messages my body is giving me and it has got a certain ecological efficiency quality.

Dogs rather like them and the ends have got a nice chewy taste. My partner uses them in soups because of the gelatine and other hopefully nutrients.

Any nutritional information?

Thanks

Alex

Alex - I mentioned the craving/compulsion of non-food items as a matter of interest only...... the gristle and collagen are definitely forms of food.

Jackie

There is definitely nothing the tiniest bit unnatural - rather it would be certainly beneficial, and much more "natural" than modern diet. Until recently, even Westerners ate significant amounts of bone - pigs trotters, chicken bone ends etc. And even now we eat the bones in sardines, salmon etc, and the approved method to eat a quail is bones and all. Ditto for the French bird that Pres Mitterrand had as his last delicacy before deceasing! The Romans favoured whole dormouse, and all this sort of thing is still extremely widespread beyond affluent countries, with minimum wastage of any part. When the heavy bones are not eaten, they are invariably boiled to death (and were in your grandmothers' soups) to extract every morsel of nutrient (including much calcium).

But my favourite evidence of all this, is an account I read in one of the books of early interaction with Aust Aborigines: catching a medium-sized lizard of a type we call a "stumpy" - one with exceptionally thick, tough, knobbly, skin, did the hunter pick out just the muscley bits? Or did he remove the bones after skinning? No.

To avoid wastage of the tiniest speck of nutrition, he placed the whole lizard on a flat rock, and proceeded to grind the whole animal, skin and all, with another rock, carefully retrieving any squished-out bits back into the main mass, until it was one smooth paste, then downed it with relish! Very tasty I imagine. (Can't remember if he even removed the gut contents).

Smaller lizards, Aborigines still routinely down whole as a morsel - lots of footage.

Ian,

That makes perfect sense. There was a time that the "eternal" stewpot was the norm. When calories/general nutrition were in short supply the stewpot was the best way to get the most out of any addition to the communal food. Roasting the food is not very efficient.

Lizards don't sound very appetizing, but if I was starving, I'm not sure if I would rather have them pulverized or stewed.

As to the footage, I would imagine there are four for every critter ;-)

lisa