This does allow you to control what goes into it and is a way to use up some parts of vegetables which might otherwise be discarded. Generally making your own broth is less expensive than commercially made broth. Broth recipes abound in vegetarian cookbooks. The Lowfat Jewish Vegetarian Cookbook and Meatless Gourmet are two books in our catalog which include broth recipes. The main component of many commercially produced broths seems to be sodium.
Broths are typically low in calories, protein, fat, fiber, and vitamins and most minerals.
The sodium content, however, is often high. Several broths had close to half the recommended level of sodium for a whole day. Excess dietary sodium can contribute to high blood pressure and affect calcium status, so it seems prudent to look for broths which are lower in sodium. The table accompanying this article ranks a number of vegetarian broth products by their sodium content. If you choose to use a saltier one in a recipe, omit any other salt.