Boron is a word that calls up images of grease-dirty hands, 20
mule teams, Death Valley, old Western movies. In my mind. Borax,
is still linked to the twenty mule team and images of Wallace
Beery in Western movies, hauling borax in wagons. Until recently
there was nothing much medical or nutritional about it; Boron
was just a powdery cleaner, something to get out the dirt-- a
not very tidy cleaning agent. Boric acid has a bit more medical
history as it has uses as an antibiotic, and a cleansing agent
for mucous membranes and the eyes. More recently it has gained
popularity as a bug-killer. Just dust the boric acid or borax
powder in the insect runways and cracks in your house and they
die--even cockroaches go away and it is safer than the other commercial
pesticides.
Twenty years ago I read a report that boron is an essential mineral
for plants, in particular enhancing their ability to attract and
utilize potassium, enhancing its transport in the plant tubules.
That sounded like a function that might apply to humans but I
have heard nothing about it since. But now there is evidence that
boron is probably essential for humans. Beyond that, some boron
compounds have almost miraculous power against inflammation, vascular
disease, and cancer. A symposium on Boron was held at University
of California, Irvine, in 1992 and published in the journal, Environmental
Health Perspectives in 1994 (volume 102, supplement 7). Here are
a few excerpts to prepare you to appreciate the amazing progress
regarding health effects of this mineral and benefits that might
apply to you.
History
Most areas of the world have less than 5 mg in a pound of soil
(454,000 mg in a pound) but large areas of Western United States,
Mediterranean, and Kazakhstan have soils with 10 mg per pound
(10-20 mg/Kg). All of the United States commercial supply is mined
in the Mojave desert, headquartered in the appropriately named
town of Boron for the past 75 years or so. In 1960 boron was discovered
in Turkey and today Turkey is the largest producer in the world
of borates for borax, boric acid, glass, fiberglass, cleaning
agents, metal alloys, fertilizers, wood treatments, insecticides,
and microbiocides. It works in life systems by chemical binding
to hydroxyl groups (oxygen-hydrogen) and thereby influencing enzyme
activity.
Human intake of boron ranges between 1.7 and 7 mg per day, mostly
from fruits, nuts, legumes, and vegetables. It has yet to be recognized
as an essential mineral; however it does have measurable effects
on human biochemistry, physiology and performance . In studies
comparing electroencephalograph (EEG) and performance
testing (cognitive testing), low boron intake was associated with
a significant decrease in fast frequency brain waves and increased
slow waves. This represents a decreased arousal, as evidenced
also by poor performance on tasks measuring attention, short term
memory, long term memory, perception, eye-hand coordination, and
manual dexterity. In other words, there was statistically significant
decrement in performance reflecting impaired brain activity in
the 28 adult human subjects in these studies.
Low copper status amplified the effects of boron deficiency, which
were less apparent after 6 weeks than at 9 weeks, thus bracketing
in the time required for clinical deficiency signs. However, tests
of attention and memory were consistently impaired even in the
shorter periods of deficiency.
Dr. Forrest Nielsen, also of the US Department of Agriculture,
Grand Forks Station, was first to discover the probable essential
role of boron in human health, particularly bone maintenance.
Though the question of essentiality remains controversial, Dr.
Nielsen's first study remains a landmark in this field. He fed
12 postmenopausal women a diet with only 250 micrograms of boron
per 2000 dietary calories for 4 months. Then these ladies were
fed a similar diet but with a boron supplement providing 3 mg
per day for 7 weeks. Urine tests showed reduced amounts of calcium
and magnesium being lost at the same time that the blood plasma
was also reduced. This was associated with an increase in 17b-estradiol
and testosterone. The implication was that youth-giving hormones
were increased and calcium was going back into the bones.
In another experiment Dr. Nielsen studied men over age 45, postmenopausal
women and postmenopausal women on estrogen therapy. Again they
were fed a low boron diet, this time for 2 months; then supplemented
with boron for 7 weeks. Testing showed significantly increased
copper binding protein (ceruloplasmin) and plasma copper, as well
as increased antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase (which depends
on copper for its activity) during the period of boron repletion.
The estrogen therapy women showed increased ceruloplasmin and
copper--which increased further during boron repletion. Dietary
boron led to increased ceruloplasmin, copper, and Superoxide dismutase
in the non estrogen groups. Dr. Nielsen proposed that boron also
affects cell membrane transport of calcium and thus affects "cell
signaling."
Where Dr. Nielsen leaves off, Dr. Iris Hall and her co-researchers
at the division of medicinal chemistry and natural products, University
of North Carolina, set forth to evaluate medical applications
of specific boron componds, called amine carboxyboranes. Their
findings are exciting: boron compounds have beneficial medical
effects in treating osteoporosis, inflammation, blood lipid disorders,
obesity, and cancer!
These boron compounds, amine-carboxyboranes, were found to posses
selective activity against single-cell and solid tumors from mouse
and human leukemias, lymphomas, sarcomas, and carcinomas. In leukemia
cells the boranes inhibited DNA and RNA nucleic acid synthesis,
evidently by inhibiting enzymes, e.g. orotidine-monophosphate
decarboxylase, and various nucleoside and nucleotide kinases (enzymes
that add phosphorous to molecules). In addition the boranes proved
useful to reduce edema and pain caused by inflammation. They also
protected against septic shock from lipopolysaccharides (LPS)
better than any other drug. They were effective against chronic
arthritis (in rats) and pleurisy (rats). When tested against implanted
lipopolysaccharide (toxic substances from bacteria) they were
found to block the inflammation caused by myeloperoxidase enzyme
activity of neutrophils.
The boranes were found to be dual inhibitors of both cyclo-oxygenase
and lipoxygenase enzymes. By blocking cyclo-oxygenase, the gateway
enzyme to prostaglandins and thromboxanes, as well as lipoxygenase,
gateway to the pro-inflammatory leukotrienes, the boranes have
the more profound anti-inflammatory effect than any other single
compound that I know.
Boranes also were found to increase excretion of cholesterol and
triglyceride into the bile, which was increased in flow volume
by almost 50 percent. Reabsorption of cholesterol from the intestinal
tract was also reduced and the boranes were found to lower cholestesrol
synthesis by blocking the enzyme HMG Coenzyme A reductase, an
action comparable to the statin drugs. Boranes lowered cholesterol
by 18- to 48 percent and triglycerides by 12 to 77 percent after
only 16 days of treatment.
But this is really just the portal to one of the most exciting
discoveries in cancer therapeutics, and that is the use of HMG-CoA
reductase inhibitors as inducers of cancer cell apoptosis, i.e.
programmed cell death. Pioneers, such as Robert Nagourney, founder
of Rational Therapeutics, reports dramatic tumor involution after
treatment with herbal molecules, such as the plant terpene, limonene,
when combined with statin drugs. The combination triggers apoptosis
in some types of cancer, leading to shrinkage and even disappearance
of the tumors. It is possible that the carboxyboranes provide
an even more potent avenue to make use of this effect.
Is boron a toxic mineral?
In medicine one must always question the safety of any treatment.
Hippocrates left us with the admonition: "First do no harm." I
am glad to report that boron is safe for ordinary usage but not
something to be careless about. Toxicology studies in rats, mice
and rabbits were performed by Jerrold Heindel and associates at
the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at Research
Triangle Park, North Carolina. In pregnant rabbits, abortions
occurred with doses of 250 mg per kg per day. The lowest observed
adverse effect level for neonatal offspring was 78 mg/kg/day for
rats and 125 mg/kg./day for rabbits; while the lowest adverse
effect level for the mothers was 163 mg/kg (rat) and 250 mg/kg
(rabbit). In other words, a fetal rat is not noticeably affected
by doses of boron, up to about 80 mg per kg (2.2 lb) an amount
that calculates to 800 mg extrapolated for a 22 pound human baby.
While that is a high dose, babies do the darnedest things and
poisonings have occurred, though yet higher doses of 4.5 to 14
grams. It appears that human babies are more resistant to boric
acid than rats; however itis important to know that boric acid
can absorb through the skin and mucous membranes. It is not a
good idea to bathe a child in it.
Toxicology studies have also been carried out on borax workers.
A study by Dwight Culver and associates from the University of
California, Irvine, identified blood and urine boron levels in
workers at a borax packaging plant. The average dietary intake
was 1.35 mg boron per day, very similar to the estimated 1.52
mg boron reported recently for the standard American diet. Total
estimated boron plus exposure to borax dust on the job added up
to about 28 mg per day.
I conclude from all this that supplementation with boron in the
range of 3 to 6 mg per day is 1000-fold less than the no observed
adverse effect level and that boron is remarkably safe. I predict
that it will be recognized as an essential mineral in the not
too distant future. But right now it should be used with doctor's
instructions and it is important to remember that boric acid and
borax compounds can absorb through the skin and mucous membranes--without
even swallowing!
On the other hand, in adults the reality is deficiency, not toxicity.
Testing of blood, urine and hair reveals that many of my patients
are sub-optimal in boron. Supplementation seems to confirm the
observations of Dr. Nielsen: patients feel better, libido and
mood go up, and calcium loss is diminished.
The amine-carboxyboranes are a different story. These are not
just nutrients; they are medical drugs and need to be further
researched before approval by FDA. But I think it is such a promising
area of research that you should know about it now. And the effects
are truly remarkable: this combination of orthomolecular and pharmaceutical
research promises to open a new era of "miracle drugs." Boron
is a versatile candidate to lead this revolution in nutraceutical
medicine.
©2000 Richard A. Kunin, M.D.
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