mineral · for joint pain
Boron
Lowers inflammatory markers and helps your body use calcium, magnesium and vitamin D.
Say that in clinical terms
Reduces inflammatory markers CRP and TNF-alpha. Enhances calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D metabolism for bone-cartilage health.
How strong is the research?
4 papers read, 3 supporting.
Tested as: calcium fructoborate (FruiteX-B)
Who was studied: Adults with diagnosed osteoarthritis, probably older. Joint pain has many other causes.
How much to take
daily
3–9 mg
Upper limit 20 mg/day. Most studied at 6 mg/day for osteoarthritis.
Before you take it
- NIH ODS Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) for adults age 19+ is 20 mg/day; the FNB set this threshold based on reproductive and developmental toxicity observed in animal studies.
- The UL applies to pregnant and lactating women: 17 mg/day for ages 14-18, 20 mg/day for ages 19+, using the same animal reproductive-toxicity basis.
- Breast milk, formula, and food are the only recommended boron sources for infants under 6-12 months; no supplemental boron is advised for that age group.
- NIH ODS explicitly states boron has no known clinically relevant interactions with any medication.
- Excessive acute intake can cause nausea, gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin flushing; historical case reports of extremely high cumulative ingestion (on the order of 15,000-20,000 mg total) have been fatal.
What we make of it
One pilot of 20 people from 1990, whose own authors called for more research.
The detail
The entire human evidence is a single 1990 pilot trial in 20 people using a different boron compound, and its authors said explicitly that more research was needed. Nothing has followed it up.