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I just made me some bone broth and ate about 200 grams worth of very soft lamb bones, they were so good I couldn't stop eating, almost like little crackers. I am still craving them right now. Anyways I was wondering if anyone knew how much calcium there is bone or bone broth, to get a better idea of how much I am consuming.

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What bones were they exactly, and how did they get so soft? I've slow cooked lots of meat with bones in and never have seen them get soft enough to eat. – Mark Feb 19 2011 at 4:46
They were small lamb soup bones from slankers. I left them in the slow cooker on high for 10 hours and then left them on low for about 16 hours.They came out really soft and tasted like crackers to me. – rob Feb 19 2011 at 14:41
That sounds really good! – Ambimorph Feb 19 2011 at 15:42
Yes, as per PortlandAllan below, be sure to tell us how it comes out... – Mark Feb 19 2011 at 17:06
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 Welcome to the world of bone eating. Soooo tasty! And good question. I've been doing this for a while now, and get mine in a similar was as you. Slow cooking. And mostly lamb for me. – sean Mar 19 2011 at 8:50
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Bones contain more minerals than just calcium, they also contain silica, magnesium, boron, phosphorus...plus probably other minerals that I can't bring to mind right now...so don't assume it's the calcium that is making them taste so good to you. At any rate, I would think that you can trust your body on this, but make sure you chew them very well.

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Really!?! You ate almost a half pound of bones? You might want to have yourself checked out. Geophagy and pica are usually indicative of a pathological condition.

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....am in trouble? Please elaborate!! For the record, this is the first time I have done this. Do you think my body is missing calcium because I just couldn't stop eating them. – rob Feb 19 2011 at 4:24
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 I'm not sure that eating bones qualifies as geophagy or pica. My sardines, kippered herring, and canned salmon all have bones in them. Granted, not 200g of bones, but still. – Mark Feb 19 2011 at 4:44
I was being facetious. I had hoped you were too. Be sure to tell us how it comes out. – PortlandAllan Feb 19 2011 at 5:11
It comes out fine. I do it all the time. – sean Mar 19 2011 at 8:51
Yup, I eat bones after I've made stock (pressure cooker with some lemon juice) and they're really delicious! TI'd say they taste more like pastry than crackers, but good either way. These are normally lamb legs or shoulders, so big bones. It may well be that they taste so good because of some underlying deficiency, but I don't think it's particularly worrying. Also they're great for digestion (so long as they're not eaten alongside a big meal, since all the calcium will neutralise stomach acid). – David Moss Apr 2 2011 at 8:58
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Calcium does not neutralize stomach acid. It is the "carbonate" part of calcium carbonate that neutralizes stomach acid, found in some antacids. Calcium, in it's ionized form, is actually a stimulus for stomach acid because the proton pumps are calcium-gated. The proton pumps have a receptor that ionized calcium (Ca++) sits on, causing the proton pumps to secrete positively charged hydrogen ions, ie, acid (H+). That is the irony of taking calcium based antacids.

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