So you just built a baby, from scratch, bones and all.
Since your baby’s bones are made of calcium, and that calcium came from your body, you can imagine how important calcium is during postpartum. And, if you’re breastfeeding, guess where all the calcium in the milk comes from? You guessed it – you again!
Many postpartum moms reach for a calcium supplement, which makes sense on the surface. But before you shake one out of the bottle, let's unpack what you're actually taking, and whether it's even in the same ballpark as Mother Nature’s calcium supplement, bone broth.
Quick Answer: Bone Broth vs. Calcium Supplements
Bone broth contains calcium hydroxyapatite — the same complex mineral structure found in actual bones, delivered with phosphorus already attached, in the perfect ratio your body expects. Most calcium supplements contain isolated calcium carbonate or citrate which lack phosphorus, an essential component for bone building.
What's Actually Inside a Calcium Supplement
Calcium supplements come in two forms: calcium carbonate and calcium citrate
Calcium carbonate is made from crushed limestone or marine shells. The chemical makeup is one calcium atom, one carbon, three oxygen atoms — just like chalk, limestone, or Tums (don't get Holly started on her past struggle with slow digestion and how antacids made it worse).
Calcium citrate is calcium bonded to citric acid through a controlled chemical reaction. We have two issues with this one:
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We refuse to put anything in our meals that contains citric acid. We spend huge sums of time and money finding and buying crushed tomatoes that don't use it. Why? Like I ask our kids, "have you ever seen a citric acid tree?"
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Calcium citrate is still an isolated, crystalline salt. There's no phosphorus or organic matrix around it. You'll see why this matters.
What's Actually Inside Bone Broth
The calcium in animal bones doesn't exist as a simple carbonate or citrate. It exists as Calcium Hydroxyapatite — a complex, highly structured crystalline mineral built from calcium, phosphate, and hydroxyl groups locked together in a lattice.
What is Calcium Hydroxyapatite? It's the primary mineral compound found in human and animal bones, made up of calcium, phosphate, and hydroxyl groups — the same structure your body uses to build and maintain bone mass.
When we simmer regenerative beef bones for 24–48 hours, we're not just pulling out calcium atoms — we're dissolving microscopic fragments of that entire hydroxyapatite matrix. The whole structure. With its partners intact.
That's a fundamentally different thing.
Why the Difference Actually Matters
Here's where it gets interesting:
Calcium needs phosphorus to build bone. Hydroxyapatite delivers them together in the exact ratio your body expects. Calcium carbonate supplements? Zero phosphorus. You're getting one half of the team.
Calcium carbonate needs a lot of stomach acid to break down. During postpartum, digestion slows. Bone broth has already done the hard work — hours of heat and water break it down long before it ever hits your gut.
And what about postpartum constipation? There's a lot of information out there suggesting calcium supplements, particularly carbonate ones, can contribute to constipation. Buyer beware.
So Are We Comparing Apples to Oranges?
Kind of, yeah.
At Restorative Roots, we don't start with the science and work forward. We go backwards. What did our ancestors do? What worked before anyone had a supplement aisle? What got humanity, and all its bones, to actually thrive?
That's why we don't use preservatives, why everything we source is organic and regenerative, why we use organ meat, and why we spend an enormous amount of time and money making bone broth the right way.
Mother Nature already figured this out.
Our Regenerative Bone Broth can be found in these meals:
Primal Chili
Hearty Sausage Stew
Creamy Chicken and Rice
Mediterranean Lamb Stew
Lentil Stew
Yellow Chicken Curry
Venison Porridge
Frequently Asked Questions
Is bone broth better than calcium supplements for postpartum recovery? Bone broth delivers calcium as hydroxyapatite — with phosphorus already attached and the structure your body recognizes. Most supplements deliver isolated calcium that your body has to work harder to use. They're not really the same thing.
What form of calcium is most absorbable postpartum? Calcium hydroxyapatite, the form found in bone broth, is considered highly bioavailable because it arrives with its natural cofactors intact, including phosphorus. Postpartum digestion also tends to slow, making the pre-broken-down calcium in bone broth easier on your system.
Does bone broth have enough calcium to make a difference? Bone broth isn't a megadose supplement, it's food. But it delivers calcium in a form your body actually knows what to do with, alongside collagen, amino acids, and minerals that work together. That matters more than chasing a number on a label.
Can calcium supplements cause constipation postpartum? Calcium carbonate supplements in particular have been associated with constipation. Bone broth, by contrast, supports digestion rather than working against it.
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