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 and overcoming osteoporosis naturally.
In this latest video, Lara talks about the recommended daily intake or RDA of boron and what food sources are boron-rich. Watch the video below (or read the transcript provided) and let us know what you think in the comments.
Hi, I’m Lara Pizzorno the author of “Your Bones” and I’m here to talk to you today about Boron which is a very important trace mineral that is extremely important for the health of our bones.
I’ve been talking about boron in the last several video clips and in this video I want to talk to you about how much boron you need and whether you can rely upon dietary sources or whether you should consider a bone health supplement that includes boron to make sure that you are getting enough.
So are you getting enough boron? Well, the data suggest that you are possibly not.
In a survey that was conducted in the US between 1994 and 1996 indicated that boron intakes ranged from a low of less than a milligram, about a ⅓ of a milligram to a high of just about over 3 mg a dose for adults and average intake of boron ranged from less than 1 milligram 0.87 milligrams per day to just over 1 milligram, 1.13 milligrams per day. And this is not enough, you need at least 3 mg per day for healthy bones.
A study that involved 43 postmenopausal women in North Dakota found that the average urinary excretion of boron which is a good indicator of dietary boron intake, was less than half a milligram a day for two of these women and between 0.5 and 1 milligram a day for 14 of them. Ok, so we need about 3 mg a day of boron for optimal bone health. Boron therefore is one of the micronutrients your bones needs for which a supplement is probably your best option. There is boron present in some foods including raisins, peanuts, some nuts, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts, there’s also a little boron present in dried apricots, prunes and avocado, but the amount of boron that is present in these foods is, for which boron is concentrated in any of these foods, is very small.
Raisins are the richest source of boron
and you would have to eat 3 ounces of raisins in other words 185 calories worth of raisins to gain 4.5 milligrams of boron. 3 ounces of peanuts butter, which is 6 tablespoons of peanut butter will give you 570 calories and 48 grams of fat is going to give you less than 2 milligrams of boron and if you decide to rely on peanut butter as your source of boron and do this everyday, you can forget about those skinny jeans, you will not be able to get them on.
So supplementation is obviously a more practical and weighty means of getting your boron, 3 mg per day that you need for optimal bone health. It turns out that boron is one of our bones’ best friends and if you’ve seen the prior videos you’ll understand the many reasons research has revealed to us. You need boron for optimal bone health and many of us are not getting enough. Fortunately if you are taking AlgaeCal Plus, you’re covered! It contains the 3 mg of boron that we need daily. Hope this information has been helpful and you will tune in again next time.
Sources:
Nielsen FH. Update on human health effects of boron. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2014 Jul 5. pii: S0946-672X(14)00128-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2014.06.023. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25063690
Nielsen FH. Is boron nutritionally relevant? Nutr Rev. 2008 Apr;66(4):183-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2008.00023.x. PMID: 18366532
Article Comments