Treating Arthritis & Osteoporosis, and Preventing Prostate Cancer
with Boron
Brian Brown MS, MS, MHA
Two-time Nobel Prize winner and molecular biologist, Linus Pauling, PhD,coined the term "Orthomolecular" in 1968. Orthomolecular medicine describes the practice of preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body. These optimal amounts are typically in excess of the US RDA for these nutrients
According to the National Institutes of Health boron is not classified as an essential nutrient for humans because research has not yet identified a clear biological function for boron.
In addition they say that boron deficiency signs and symptoms have not been firmly established.
They found the existing data insufficient to derive an RDA for boron.
Most of the information in this presentation is from the video “Boron and Health” by Jorge Flechas, MD, the article “Nothing Boring About Boron” by Lara Pizzorno, MDiv, MA, LMT, and the article "The Borax Conspiracy" by Walter Last.
According to the CDC, an estimated 53.2 million US adults have arthritis.
Arthritis is a leading cause of work disability among US adults.
There is no cure for arthritis.
According to the CDC arthritis is common among people with other chronic conditions including obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Treatments include medication, non-drug therapies such as physical therapy or patient education, and sometimes surgery
In the 1960’s Rex Newnham, Ph.D., D.O., N.D, developed arthritis. At that time he was a soil and plant scientist in Perth, Australia.
Conventional drugs did not help, so he looked for the cause in the chemistry of plants. He realized that plants in that area were rather mineral deficient. Knowing that boron aids calcium metabolism in plants he decided to try it.
He started taking 30 mg of borax a day, and in three weeks all pain, swelling and stiffness had disappeared!
Newnham told public health and medical school authorities about his discovery but they were not interested.
However, some people with arthritis were delighted as they improved.
Others were scared to take something with a poison label on the container and meant to kill cockroaches and ants.
Eventually he had tablets made with a safe and effective quantity of borax.
Within five years and only by word of mouth he sold 10,000 bottles a month. He could no longer cope and asked a drug company to market it. That was a major mistake. They indicated that this would replace more expensive drugs and reduce their profits.
It so happened that they had representatives on government health committees and in 1981 Australia instituted a regulation that declared boron and its compounds to be poisons in any concentration.
Newnham
was fined $1000 for selling a poison, and this successfully stopped his arthritis cure from spreading in Australia.
He subsequently published several scientific papers on borax and arthritis. Most of his later research was devoted to the relationship between soil boron levels and arthritis.
Borax is sodium borate and boron supplements are derived from borax. (There is 11.3% boron in borax.)
In the US we consume about 4mg of boron a day and 23% of the population has arthritis (all categories including lupus, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid, etc.).
One of the highest concentrations of boron on earth is in the Mojave desert; there is zero boron in Asheville, NC.
20 Mule Team
Borax
Boron, CA
Where employees live to be 112!
In Jamaica there is zero boron in the soil and 70% of Jamaicans have arthritis. It’s common to see dogs limping around with arthritis.
In Mauritius (an island off the eastern coast of Africa) there is very little boron in the soil. 50% of all people have some arthritic symptoms, and they are alarmed at the rise in juvenile arthritis.
Researchers believe that boron is being removed from the soil by chemical fertilization.
There's lots of boron in Israel, Palestine, and Cyprus; of natural-borne residents in those countries the incidence of arthritis is less than 0.5% where they consume 10-30mg/day.
In western Turkey residents consume 30-60mg/day in their water.
In Western China near Tibet residents consume 128mg/day with no negative effects.
Boron is found naturally in the environment.
The safety profile of boron is very high. Boron is as safe as table salt; a lethal adult dose is 20,000mg/day.
The NaBC1 Transporter in the body (that transports boron into the cell) is specific to boron and suggests that boron is essential for the human health.
Jorge Flechas, MD lost 1/2 inch of height between ages 40 and 45 at which time he started taking boron; at age 60 he's the same height he was at age 45.
At age 60 he had a full body bone scan and it revealed that he had the skeleton of a 20 year old male.
Flechas' wife reversed her osteoporosis at a dose of 150mg of boron a day.
Prior to taking boron she was humped forward and could not straighten her back.
When she returned to her doctor for an osteoporosis test after supplementing with boron for months, her doctor was unable to drill a sample in 30 minutes of trying.
According to Flechas "You need to start taking boron to avoid turning into a little person." (i.e. to avoid osteoporosis)
Flechas says "You need 30-75mg/day to keep away from the ravages of aging that we are suffering from."
There is evidence that dietary boron helps control the normal inflammatory process.
There is an apparent positive effect of boron on aspects of physiology related to the inflammatory process, including joint swelling, restricted movement, fever, antibody production, and hemostasis (preventing bleeding)
Arthritic bone is associated with almost a 20-fold decrease in boron content.
Boron reduces joint pain without decreasing kidney function like aspirin and NSAIDs do.
A 1990 study double-blind pilot study revealed that a small quantity (6mg/day) of boron greatly relieved severe osteo-arthritis and there were no side-effects.
Boron aids in bone healing and boron deficiency leads to slower bone growth and healing.
Boron and magnesium supplementation markedly reduces the urinary excretion of calcium and magnesium and also reduces kidney stone formation.
Boron is well known for it's role in bone health because of its effects on steroid hormones.
Boron helps balance hormone production as we age.
Boron increases low testosterone levels in men and estrogen levels in menopausal women.
Boron is good for the prostate.
Boron inhibits the making of PSA and thus inhibits prostate cancer.
Increased boron consumption is associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer. The higher the boron intake in the population, the less incidence of prostate cancer.
“My PSA level dropped from 7.2 back to 2.8 then to 2.5 then most recent to 2.2. (PSA is a measure of the prostate protein antigen that indicates cancer or onset of cancer). Bone density was measured at 26% above that of the world health standard of a 30 year old. Testosterone level increased from below 300 to over 600, accompanied by a substantial increase in sex drive and sex performance. I turned 80 this October!” - YouTube comment, boron 20mg/day.
It has been suggested that the low incidence of cervical cancer in Turkey correlates with its boron-rich soil.
Higher amounts of boron in drinking water may help inhibit HPV transformation, reducing incidence of cervical cancer.
3 mg a day of boron will reduce the average loss of calcium in post menopausal women from 117 to 64 mg per day. The same boron will also raise the level of 17 beta estradiol to normal in these women.
Boron may have cancer-preventive actions similar to those of HRT, which is known to reduce lung cancer. Decreased boron intake is associated with increasing odds of lung cancer.
Boron-based drugs are now being developed for use as therapeutic agents with anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and other disease-specific activities.
One drug, which contains boron as an active element, has been approved as a proteasome inhibitor for the treatment of multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Boron has similar properties to silicon. Silicon is used by the body to help retain fluid so that you stay better hydrated and is a stimulant to the human brain (good for a.d.d. in children).
Boron increases mental cognition and wakes up the brain. Do not take Boron right before you go to sleep!
Low dietary boron results in poorer manual dexterity, eye-hand coordination, attention, perception, encoding & short-term memory and long-term memory. This is further evidence that boron is essential to human health.
Borax has also been used as a natural remedy for skin infections, skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, digestive issues such as acid reflux and heartburn, vaginal infections, and as an antifungal.
“I used borax as an eye wash to heal infection. I am an old RN trained in traditional medicine also by my Victorian grandmother. She never went to a doctor. Lived to 96.” - YouTube comment.
EarthClinic.com recommends 1/4 teaspoon for men or 1/8 teaspoon for women of borax dissolved in warm water a day. 5 days on/2 days off.
1/4 teaspoon of Borax = 115mg of boron
1/8 teaspoon of Borax = 57.5mg of boron
Recall Flechas’ comment:
“You need 30-75mg/day to keep away from the ravages of aging that we are suffering from.”
Orthomolecular Medicine - Where should I start?
Questions?