Cow product, which treats dangerous diseases and is more expensive than gold
If someone asks what the most valuable by-product of the meat industry is, most people probably won’t say cow gallstones, but the truth is that these small hardened pieces of digestive juices are actually worth their weight in gold or even more.
For thousands of years, cow gallstones have been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various serious diseases, including high blood pressure and heart disease. With the stroke rate in China now three times higher than in the United States, the demand for cow gallstones is higher than ever, and their price has also increased.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2025, the price of cow gallstones reached $5,800 per ounce, which was double the price of gold at that time. Even if the price of cow stones remains at the same level, they are still more valuable than gold.
Sold under the name Niu Huang, these stones are mainly used in the preparation of a traditional medicine called Angong Niu Huang Wan, which is prescribed to treat severe neurological diseases such as paralysis, fainting due to fever, and loss of consciousness, etc.
The biggest problem with cow stones has always been scarcity. The risk of developing gallstones increases with age, but most slaughterhouses around the world prefer to slaughter cows at a younger age to improve agricultural efficiency. The shortage of gallstones and rising prices have created a sensation among cattle farmers in areas such as Brazil, Australia, and Texas in the United States.
Recently, there has been an increase in the smuggling and theft of cow gallstones in the rural area of Bahias, São Paulo, Brazil, where armed criminals attack cow farms and steal not the animals but the gallstones.
Smuggling of gallstones by butchers has also increased, leading to the establishment of an active black market. Just as the demand for natural diamonds led to the creation of lab-grown diamonds, Chinese researchers have developed cultured stones that partially provide the neuroprotective and hepatoprotective effects of natural stones, while also controlling their toxicity.
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