Why Boron is Essential for Healthy Bones

Updated: November 28, 2022

Lara Pizzorno is the author of “Your Bones: How You Can Prevent Osteoporosis and Have Strong Bones for Life – Naturally” and a member of the American Medical Writers Association with 29 years of experience specializing in bone health.

Recently we asked Lara if she would help us provide a series of short, ongoing videos to help you (our customers and readers) stay up to date on the latest facts and science related to bone health.

In this latest video, Lara talks about the importance of boron, a trace mineral that is absolutely essential for your bones. Watch the video below (or read the transcript provided) and let us know what you think in the comments.

Hello, I’m Lara Pizzorno the author of “Your Bones” and I’m here today to share some information with you that I hope will help you have healthier bones.

Today I’d like to share with you the latest research findings on boron, which is a trace mineral that is absolutely essential for healthy bones. In “Your Bones” I explain that boron is a very important nutrient for healthy bones for two reasons primarily.

Boron is required for the conversion of estrogen into the form in which it increases our absorption of magnesium, which along with calcium and phosphorous makes up the crystal lattice structure of our bones. Plus, estrogen also helps us build healthier bones by increasing the activity of our bone-building cells, which are called osteoblasts.

And, boron is essential for healthy bones because it is a cofactor of an enzyme in our kidneys that converts vitamin D into its most active form 125OHD3 which is the form in which vitamin D is responsible for calcium absorption.

So because boron is the cofactor for this enzyme, it will not work without boron. All our enzymes have cofactors that are either minerals or vitamins and without them our enzymes don’t work properly. So boron plays a really important role in our ability to absorb calcium and we’ve known this for many years.

We’ve known that boron is essential for healthy bones since 1985 when the US Department of Agriculture conducted an experiment where postmenopausal women were given 3mg of boron a day.

And what happened, was not only that boron caused the activation of the bone building forms of estrogen and vitamin D, but it also reduced women’s daily excretion of calcium by 44% in this study.

And the citations for the research that I discuss in these video clips, will be provided along with the video clip on AlgaeCal’s website. So the latest research however is showing that boron does even more for us than these already really important things that we already have known about. And we will talk about some of boron’s most exciting, beneficial effects in our next video. Thanks for tuning in.


 Sources:

Nielsen F, Stoecker B. 2009. J Trace Elem Med Biol 23(3):195–203. PMID: 19486829

Nielsen F. 2008. Is boron nutritionally relevant? Nutr Rev Apr;66(4):183–91. PMID: 18366532.

Nielsen F, Hunt C, Mullen L, et al. 1987. Effect of dietary boron on mineral, estrogen, and testosterone metabolism in postmenopausal women. FASEB J Nov;1(5):394–7. PMID: 3678698.

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This article features advice based on cutting-edge research from our industry experts to give you the best possible information to support your bone-building journey.

Lara Pizzorno
MDiv, MA, LMT - Best-selling author of Healthy Bones Healthy You! and Your Bones; Editor of Longevity Medicine Review, and Senior Medical Editor for Integrative Medicine Advisors.,
Dr. Liz Lipski
PhD, CNS, FACN, IFMP, BCHN, LDN - Professor and Director of Academic Development, Nutrition programs in Clinical Nutrition at Maryland University of Integrative Health.,
Dr. Emma Gasinski
PT, DPT, RYT - Physical therapist and certified yoga teacher with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Rocky Mountain University of Health Professionals,
Dr. Lawrence (Larry) A. May
MD, FACP, Harvard Medical School Graduate, Physician, Author, Public Speaker - Doctor of Internal Medicine at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center and author of several articles and books, including the widely utilized and best selling medical textbook Primary Care Medicine,