Boron: An Underrated Mineral that’s Vital to Health

Boron is a naturally occurring trace mineral found in many plant foods. To date, boron has not been considered an “essential mineral” because, as of 2001, “research has not yet identified a clear biological function” for it (1, 2). A lot of research has happened since then. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider just how essential boron is.. In the meantime, we propose the idea that boron is essential for a healthy life (3).

Indeed, boron has not yet been found to have a direct structural role, like how calcium is needed to build bone or iron for carrying oxygen. Our knowledge of human metabolism and the role of micronutrients is still relatively new. Science is discovering new pathways and roles for molecules every day.

Just because we haven’t yet discovered an essential role for boron doesn’t mean it’s dispensable. In the same way that copper is required for healthy blood cell production and oxygenation, boron’s known role in the body is similar and far-reaching.

What Does Boron Do?

Have you ever attended a large concert or sporting event with thousands of other people? Imagine how chaotic these events would be without the venue staff and security directing people where they should go.

They organized everything from traffic flow, parking/valet, check-in, security clearance, and seat sectionings – who has backstage passes and who’s sitting in the nosebleede section. They also clear everyone out once the event is over. Boron’s role in the body can be thought of similarly.

It’s not the star athlete, the rockstar performing the show, or even the coaches. Still, the event could not happen without a team directing the audience to their appropriate places at the right time.

The internal mechanisms of boron are far more complex than this analogy. A more biologically accurate description of boron’s role is that it’s a metabolic regulator, enzyme modulator, and optimizer of nutrient utilization (3). Here are some examples of Boron’s essential role in health.

Boron Enhances Bone Formation, Healing, and Mineralization

Several studies have demonstrated boron’s beneficial impact on bone health (4), many of which have focused on osteoporosis. Countries with the lowest dietary intake of boron (0-1mg/d) have rates of arthritis ranging from 20% – 70%. In regions where boron intake is between 3-10mg/day, arthritis rates are 0-10% (5).

Boron supplementation reduces the amount of calcium excreted in the urine in post-menopausal women (6), and boron-restricted diets significantly increase the amount of urinary calcium loss (7). Calcium excretion is a sign of bone breakdown. In addition, boron reduces magnesium loss and enhances its absorption (3). Magnesium plays a vital role in bone mineralization.

These studies indicate that boron enables the body to improve the mineralization and maintenance of bone health by supporting calcium metabolism, improving hormone balance, enhancing matrix proteins that support bone formation, enhancing magnesium metabolism, and reducing inflammation (3, 4).

Boron Balances Hormones

Estrogen and testosterone levels in postmenopausal women doubled when supplemented with 3mg/d (6). This can greatly benefit the body after menopause. Men who took 10mg/d of boron for 1 week significantly increased free testosterone and decreased estrogen levels (8).

Boron’s influence on hormones is several-fold:

  1. It balances and may lower sex hormone binding globulin (8, 9).
  2. It aids in detaching hormones from SHBG (10).
  3. It inhibits enzymes that break down these hormones (11).
  4. It extends the half-life of estrogen (3).
  5. Likey by also reducing inflammatory markers (8).

Studies show boron can improve sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) in people with high levels (9). SHBG is a blood protein that strongly binds to androgens like DHT and testosterone and less strongly to estrogen. When hormones are attached to this protein, they are not bioavailable – the body cannot use them (9). High SHBG levels are problematic when hormone production is already low, which happens primarily due to aging, menopause, and medication use.

Another interesting theory is that boron impacts hormone receptor activation. Some women may not consider increasing/enhancing estrogen to be a good thing. Estrogen has been pegged as potentially dangerous in that it contributes to PMS symptoms, breast tenderness, and some cancer. New research reveals that this might have more to do with the estrogen receptor (ER) than the hormone itself (12).

ER-beta elicits the more beneficial actions of estrogen that support cardiovascular health, bone metabolism, and the nervous and immune system. ER-alpha is more involved in cell proliferation (growth – i.e., thickening the uterine lining or proliferating breast tissue causing tenderness, and in some cases, leading to cancer development) (12). ER-beta counterbalances the ER-alpha receptors.

Boron seems to selectively bind to ER-beta receptors to elicit a net beneficial impact of estrogen (13, 14, 15). Because estrogen is essential for bone, brain, cardiovascular health, and much more, it would not be ideal to decrease estrogen levels in cases of “estrogen dominance.” Instead, modulating receptor activity and supporting proper progesterone levels would be a more root-cause approach (16). Boron appears to provide utility here.

Boron Improves Vitamin D Levels

Boron has long been known to improve vitamin D metabolism, function, and levels in animals (17, 18) and humans (11, 19). 25-OH,D (the storage form of vitamin D) levels rose by 20% in vitamin D deficient individuals when supplemented with 6mg/d of boron (20).

Vitamin D has a unique role in that it’s a vitamin and a hormone. Low storage D and high active D levels are often seen with inflammation and are likely a result of inflammation rather than the cause (21). It’s plausible that boron’s effect on reducing inflammation in the body also improves the balance of storage/active vitamin D (8, 11, 21). Boron has also been proposed to inhibit the enzyme that breaks down the active form of vitamin D, effectively keeping it active longer (11).

In addition to upregulating estrogen and vitamin D via enzyme inhibition (3, 11), boron also modulates several enzymes associated with inflammation (22).

Enzymes either activate or deactivate specific molecules in the body. Inhibiting certain enzymes that cause inflammation and activating ones that clean up inflammation is ideal. Boron increases glutathione production, increases superoxide dismutase (both of which are potent antioxidants), and inhibits serine proteases (proteins that break down tissue) (22, 23).

Boron also reduces CRP in the blood (a major marker of inflammation) (3, 8, 24) and upregulates SAM-e production, which is a crucial methyl donor involved in protecting DNA from damage and recycling homocysteine (another inflammatory molecule) to cysteine or methionine (3).

Boron Improves Brain Health

Low boron levels have been linked to poor mental and physical performance and decreased cognition (25). Higher boron intake is linked to better cognitive task performance, manual dexterity, attention, perception, and short- and long-term memory function (25).

Essential for a Better Life

While boron may not yet be recognized as essential to life itself, it’s hard to deny just how essential it is for optimal health and well-being. If given the choice, anyone would opt for the health parameters seen with optimal boron intake than those of low intake.

Across all studies, benefits were seen when boron intake was at least 3mg/d (3). That’s why Recuperate IQ now contains 3mg of boron per capsule. The goal of this formula is to provide foundational mineral support to regulate metabolic processes, metabolism, and mineral balance. We believe that boron makes Recuperate a complete foundational nutrient support formula.

*According to the NIH, no tolerable upper limit has been established for boron. Still, no adverse effects have been reported for boron except for when consumed as Borax (1). The NIH states, “Symptoms of too much boron [from Borox or pesticides] include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rashes, headaches, and convulsions.” (26). (note* humans should never consume Borax – this is NOT a food-grade supplement but a cleaning agent).