Boron Is Needed For Strong Bones and Teeth – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 78
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Boron is a really important mineral that does very important, powerful things for the human body. It is not very well known and may not be very well understood by the general public, but it is required for bone strength and keeping your teeth healthy. Boron is a micro-nutrient, or a micro-mineral, which means that you just need small amounts for maintaining good health.
Levels of Boron in Your Body
Your body needs Boron for numerous things – for healthy wound healing, it possibly helps balance hormones, and it has been studied in cancer research. Some many healthy foods can supply this mineral but you would have to eat them in large amounts, including walnuts, almonds, beans, lentils, broccoli, olives, avocados, carrots, pears, apples and oranges.
A small amount – 1 mg or so – added to a bone supplement is a very good idea; it is plenty and it is very safe. A metric is something measurable. Many of the metrics involved with bone strength, maintaining bone, remodeling bone (breaking down old bone and replacing it with new, healthy, strong bone) is based on Boron.
General Bone Health Information
You have about 10 pounds of bone, on average, in the human body. You remodel about 10% of it per year, so you remove and replace about a pound of bone throughout the whole structure. When you are young, you are removing bone and replacing it at the same rate so you are able to maintain strong, healthy bones.
There is an interplay between vitamins, minerals, hormones and other nutrients to build strong bones. For instance, Vitamin C (when you’re young) interacts with protein and you create Collagen. This is a structural protein that 35% of your body is made out of (mostly type 1). A large part of your bone structure (about 35%) is made of out Collagen. Collagen makes the framework of bone, it is called a superstructure. Ninety percent of the matrix if your bone is made out of Collagen.
Vitamin D, Vitamin K and the mineral Silica interact with Collagen to make receptor sites for minerals like Calcium. Receptor sites are where the minerals attach to the Collagen. So, Collagen creates tens of thousands of these really tough, stretchy cables for two purposes. The first, this is the platform for minerals to attach to in order to create bone crystals and bone. Secondly, it also gives bone its shock-absorption ability.
Studies on Boron
The Military Performance Division of the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine published a study in March 2019 in the Journal Biological Trace Element Research where they studied Boron. They found that this mineral is required for the survival of bone cells. Boron connects the organic matrix of bone (which is mostly Collagen) with osteoblasts. Boron interacts with Collagen and bone-building cells called Osteoblasts to attach minerals to Collagen to actually make bone. The research found the following:
- Boron effects osteopontin (the length between the bone matrix and minerals)
- It is also important for Bone Sialoprotein (mixes with Collagen protein to bond calcium into the bone)
- Important for Osteocalcin (bind calcium into the bone)
To summarize, Boron is needed for absorbing minerals into bone, securing their bonding into the bone and making the bone stronger and more fracture resistant. In other words, it is one of the answers to help against bone loss throughout your lifespan.
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