weight-loss 8 min read

Is Bovril good for weight loss?

Alex

Head Coach, No Time Muscle

Bovril could help you lose weight.

How, you ask?

It’s salty and flavourful. And you can drink it warm, out of a mug.

Sounds small, but when you’re dieting, small things matter.

When you’re trying to lose weight, it can be hard to feel hungry. And there are three different types (or flavours) of hunger you’ll do battle with:

Cravings
That “empty belly” feeling
Low energy (or, if it’s bad enough, full-on fatigue)

*Bovril might help with weight loss by staving off cravings and acting as a low-calorie stopgap between meals to keep you feeling full.*

Bovril might help with both the second and the first of these. Warm drinks just feel more substantial when they hit your stomach. And Bovril’s salt content might curb your cravings for a late night salty snack.

It might even help with low energy as well. Salt has an energizing effect if your sodium reserves are running low.

When you’re dieting and (hopefully) eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and very little processed food, it’s possible that a small, salty shot could help.

But might there be other, more scientific ways in which Bovril could help with weight loss?

Does Bovril help with weight loss?

Here’s the truth: There is no food that will help you lose weight faster.

All food contains calories, and it’s an absence of calories relative to the body’s needs that makes you lose weight.

There are only foods that can make the act of dieting more sustainable. They’ll make it easier for you to hit your goal weight.

These choices support you on your weight loss journey. They keep you feeling fuller for longer. They keep cravings at bay. They’re high in nutrients, but low in calories.

*If you're looking to get strong, fit, and lean, you need to eat foods that will support your goals. Is Bovril one of them?*

So, might Bovril fall into any of these camps?

We’ve already discussed how it might help fight cravings, but what about the rest?

Will Bovril keep you feeling fuller for longer?

Bovril is a beefy paste. It contains some protein, but no fibre. So its ability to keep you feeling full won’t be any greater than any other five gram serving of protein.

It’s also an extract, meaning it’s processed.

The more processed a food is, the less good it tends to be as a weight-loss friendly option.

That’s because processed foods tend to do some of the work for you that your body would otherwise have to do. For example, breaking down cooked chicken. First in your mouth, then in your stomach.

These processes take time, and the amount of time they take, and the amount of work your body has to perform, directly play into how full you'll feel.

*Want to feel full, even while losing weight? Make your body do the work by eating unprocessed foods.*

If your body doesn’t have to do the processing (because it has been done in a factory), you’re taking away that food’s ability to make you feel full.

What does this mean for you, if you’re trying to lose weight?

It means you’ll feel hungrier sooner.

And you’ll put yourself at a higher risk of eating more than you otherwise would.

Bovril nutritional information

Per serving, Bovril provides these macronutrients:

Calories	30kcal
Protein	4.6g
Carbohydrates	2.8g
Fat	<0.5g

And per 100g of Bovril, you’ll get:

Calories	252kcal
Protein	38g
Carbohydrates	23g
Fat	0.8g

Is Bovril good for you?

Pros of eating Bovril

Bovril is packed with protein. It’s also chock-full of B vitamins…

Right?

Wrong.

As we’ll examine later on, Bovril’s protein content is high at first glance. But it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

As for the B vitamins?

Nope. You’re getting confused with Marmite. Marmite is high in B vitamins because it’s fortified with them.

*Marmite is fortified with various vitamins, while Bovril is not.*

In just the same way as your All Bran breakfast cereal or daily multivitamin are “fortified” with synthetic versions of the vitamins we’re (probably) better off getting in their naturally occurring forms. (Through our diet).

So… No pros of eating Bovril?

Not quite. It’s incredibly versatile. You can:

Drink Bovril as a warm beverage.
Add it to meals for thicker, more flavourful sauces.
Spread it on toast or bread.

And, while the idea of drinking warm beef stock out of a mug might initially gross you out… It’s actually pretty tasty!

Cons of eating Bovril

If there’s a downside to eating Bovril (especially in high amounts)? It’s this:

Bovril is high in sodium.

In fact, it’s full of salt.

Like pretty much any stock cube, gel, or other concentrated flavour concoction, a single serving of Bovril contains almost a quarter (23%, or 1.4g) of your daily salt intake.

Just. One. Serving.

💡

Now, salt intake is a complex issue. Even top scientists still can’t agree on how much is too much. Some even say eating too little is worse than eating too much.

But unless you’re a mega athlete, sweating excessively in a hot climate every day, it’s probably true that keeping your intake towards the lower end of the spectrum is better.

Is Bovril good for building muscle?

Ever looked at the nutrition label on a jar of Bovril?

It’s surprising: It has almost five grams of protein per serving.

Yep. Five grams.

That means a double serving has almost 10 grams of protein. And if you’re struggling to hit your daily protein intake, those numbers soon add up.

But hold your horses.

Don’t get to thinking Bovril is a miracle paste that’ll get you looking jacked in no time flat.

Here’s the truth: Bovril is probably not as great a source of protein as the label would have you believe. And for that reason, it’s probably not good for building muscle.

Here’s why…

Does Bovril contain high or low quality protein?

Let’s take another look at Bovril’s ingredients:

Here are the top four:

Beef broth (50%) [water, beef bones]
Yeast extract [27%]
Salt
Water

Further down the list is another interesting ingredient: “Beef powder”.

To examine whether Bovril’s surprising protein content is of rich or poor quality, we need to take a look at the ingredients that are contributing to its protein content.

First up, beef broth…

*Want to build muscle? You'll need to eat enough protein. But not all protein is created equal...*

Possible protein-rich ingredient one: Beef broth

The primary ingredient is beef broth, made by boiling beef bones in water.

Boiled beef bones release bovine collagen. And collagen is protein. But collagen protein is useless for muscle building.

There’s some evidence that collagen protein might be good for joint health and repair, but that’s all.

Why is that?

Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS)

There’s something called the DIAAS, which is a score of protein quality.

Collagen has a DIAAS score of zero, while gelatin, which is almost identical, has a DIAAS score of just 0.02. (Whole milk powder scores the highest, with a score of 143.)

*DIAAS Scores for 16 protein sources. Source: Wikipedia*

So, we know that Bovril’s most prevalent ingredient (beef broth, making up 50% of the product), can contribute zero effective protein to our diet.

Let’s look at the other ingredients.

Possible protein-rich ingredient two: Yeast extract

Ever heard of Marmite?

Of course you have. So you probably already know it’s mostly yeast extract.

Yeast extract is Bovril’s second-most prevalent ingredient. So we can get some insight into how much protein we can expect from this ingredient by having a closer look at Marmite’s nutritional information.

Let’s compare them.

*Marmite, a yeast extract product, is 34% protein by weight.*

Marmite is 34% protein by weight, according to its nutrition label. Yeast extract is its primary ingredient. In fact, it contains only four others:

Salt
Vegetable juice concentrate
Vitamins
Natural flavouring

None of these contribute to the protein content in any meaningful way.

So we know that 99% of Marmite’s protein content is coming from the yeast extract. We also know that, by weight, Marmite is probably more like 80% yeast extract. (At a bare minimum).

Bovril is 38% protein by weight (taken from its nutrition label). But we know that a large portion of this is probably useless protein. Meaning Bovril, though higher in protein in absolute quantities than Marmite, probably contains less usable protein per serving than Marmite does.

But there’s one more ingredient to check out…

Possible protein-rich ingredient three: Beef powder

The only other ingredient that might contribute to protein content is “beef powder [1%]”.

The “1%” means beef powder makes up just 1% of the product by weight.

So, even if this beef powder is 100% protein, this ingredient can only account for a maximum of one gram of protein per 100 grams of Bovril.

Not exactly mind-blowing.

TL;DR

So, when it comes to weight loss, Bovril might help as a craving killer. And, since it’s a warm drink, it’ll help you feel warm and full on cold nights when you’d otherwise be that little bit hungrier.

As for its status as a protein source?

Sadly, it’s clear: Bovril is not a reliable source of protein, so it won't help you build muscle.

If you like it, eat it. But get your protein from proper animal sources (or, at a minimum, from sensibly combined non-animal sources) if your goal is to build a lot of muscle.