Boron, Borax

My own experience:
For some time I have had joint pains, which were sometimes not too bad, sometimes very bad so that I had trouble walking or holding on to things. So I decided I needed to do something about that. But this was not easy. Most of the time one reads that this means calcium or whatever the common ideas are. Or just plain, that is part of growing older, live with it. Live with it is not something I like, I prefer to find out why something is happening and with that seeing whether there is a way to make it better, easier, or cure it altogether. Mostly things can be solved.

After a bit of a search I stumbled upon hearing about the element boron while watching a presentation by Sally Fallon Morell. This triggered my interest with regards to my joint pains. She explained she had been using boron and that this resulted in healthier joints and less pain.

So I decided I needed to seriously read up on that. I discussed it with knowledgeable people as well, as I wanted to know as much as I could about it.

I learned that boron can indeed help with joints and many other symptoms. I bought a supplement, called "Liquid Ionic Boron" for 20 Pounds for a bottle of 250 ml. This was quite a bit of money, so I wanted to find out whether there were cheaper options. 
There was a much cheaper option I learned. When using borax and mixing it with water, one get liquid ionic boron. Just like that. Borax is quite cheap.
This resulted in buying borax (sodium tetraborate hexahydrate or sodium borate) on E-bay for 3 Pounds per kilo. After some research I learned I would need 1 teaspoon per litre of water. That was an entirely different price tag, that all of a sudden became dirt cheap.

The research into which type of solution of borax to use for which issues was very interesting. After having used up the first bought batch I noticed that my joint pains were really seriously become much much less, so I continued after that by making my own borax solution. This continued giving me the same effect. So essentially I am joint pain free these days.
During a week away from home recently I forgot to take my supplement, by the end of the week I had more pain again. So it is very clear to me that my home made Boron supplement is saving me a lot of pain.

What I learned from researching Borax / Boron:

So what is Borax:
Borax (sodium tetraborate hexahydrate or sodium borate) is a naturally-occurring mineral composed of sodium, boron, oxygen and water. Most commercially-produced borax is mined from deposits produced by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. It is found in large quantities in the Western United States, in Mediterranean countries, Kazakhstan, and the Tibet region of China. Turkey is one of the largest commercial producers of borates.

From our food we tend to get no more than 7mg of boron per day, which is mainly from plant foods. It seems that this is too little for most people. Which is mostly an issue for people living in areas where there is little to no boron in the soil.
Chemical fertilisers inhibit the extraction of boron from the soil by the plants, therefore conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are very low in boron. 
Organically grown are fruits and vegetables can be very high in boron when they have been grown on boron rich soil.

What does Borax do for health:
I was amazed when I learned what research has shown that boron can do to keep people healthy. Below the list follows, I have referenced the research at the bottom for you to check for yourself. As with anything, do not believe me just like that, check for yourself.

1. It is anti-microbial and anti-viral: It is toxic to insects, bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasites.
2. It is a fungicide: It is effective again fungi and moulds, internally and externally (1, 2)
3. It is a toxin remover: It chelates and protects from heavy metals (3)
4. It helps with mental capabilities: It improves memory, short and long term, attention span, perception and hand-eye coordination (4, 5)
5. It reduces and controls inflammation (5, 6)
6. It balances fluoride: It protects against accumulating fluoride in the body, it removes fluoride from the body, it is an effective anti-dote against fluoride poisoning. (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
7. It balances the hormones: It stabilises estrogen, it stimulates the production of hormones. It helps with insulin use and blood glucose control, triglyceride use and production of reactive oxygen. This study (4) has shown that with adequate boron blood serum triglyceride levels are significantly lower. And with adequate boron estrogen therapy is possibly not necessary (13, 6). It is helps with low libido for both men and women as boron stimulates of DHT and testosterone and normalises oestrogen (5, 6)
8. It is good for the immune system: It enhances the immune system (4)
9. It is good for wound healing (5)
10. It stabilises several mineral levels: It stabilises calcium, magnesium and copper levels and inhibits calcification (4). Adequate boron levels normalise calcium levels, which prevents bone weakness and abnormal calcium deposits. (4, 13, 5). Adequate boron levels prevents the accumulation of in-organic copper in the bones and prevents loss of bone (4, 13)

This is quite a list of good effects that adequate levels of boron can have on health. I was quite amazed when discovering this all.

What can you use boron / borax for: 

Boron can be used as prevention, or as treatment, depending on your needs.

You can use boron for the following ailments: rheumatoid arthritis (5, 17), gout, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and other bone, joint and connective tissue diseases, spondylitis, swollen gums and loose teeth (5, 17, 4,13), arterial diseases, hypertension and blood lipid disorders (4, 5), obesity, cancer (18, 5, 19), UTI (1) and other infections. It has been used for many problems. (14, 15, 16, 4, 13, 17, 6). 

How do you use boron / borax:

Make sure you buy medical grade borax as this has no unwanted additives. In Europe you'll have to get it online (E-bay) as it is basically banned, because of it being toxic. But the toxicity level is LD50 (Lethal Dose 50), which very close to table salt which also got LD50. Borax is 2.66g/kg in rats and table salt is 3.75g/kg in rats (20), yet nobody is bothered by table salt, we can buy it in every supermarket, so why not borax? Material safety data sheets of salt and borax (21).

Externally:

Take some water, however much you think you will need, and saturate it completely with borax powder. You keep adding the powder until it stops taking it up. This will require quite a bit of shaking and stirring to get it done. You may also need to give it time. When I dissolve the borax I start the day before, as it seems to really take time to dissolve.

You can use this solution on affected skin. 

Internally:

A study has shown that humans need a minimum dosage of 0.5 to 1 mg per day to function properly (4). That said it seems that an ongoing maintenance dosage to prevent illness is more likely to be 3 to 6 mg. A treatment dosage is to be around 10 mg or more per day.

How to mix it:

Take 1 teaspoon of borax, dissolve this in 1 litre of water. 

As a maintenance dosage use 2 teaspoons per day of this solution, this gives you about 6mg per day.

For bone, muscle and hormone problems go up to about 9mg per day, this will be 3 teaspoons per day.

For infections such a fungal and for removing fluoride from the body use about 100ml of the solution per day.

When you are considering taking up a boron protocol, do keep in mind that you should have an idea on whether or not you may have other deficiencies. Boron works synergistically with magnesium, but magnesium needs vitamin D3 to work well.

For further reading you can look here (http://www.health-science-spirit.com/borax.htm). This was quite an interesting site to read about why it is so difficult to purchase borax in Europe and other areas.

References:

1. Francesco De Seta1, Martin Schmidt, Bao Vu, Michael Essmann, Bryan Larsen. Antifungal mechanisms supporting boric acid therapy of Candida vaginitis. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. (2009) 63 (2):325-336. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkn486.
2. Iavazzo C, Gkegkes ID, Zarkada IM, Falagas ME. Boric acid for recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: the clinical evidence.J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2011 Aug;20(8):1245-55. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2010.2708. Epub 2011 Jul 20.
3. Turkez H., Geyikoglu F., Tatar A., Keles M.S., Kaplan I. The effects of some boron compounds against heavy metal toxicity in human blood. Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2012 Jan;64(1-2):93-101. Epub 2010 Jul 20. Article
4. Forrest H. Nielsen. Evidence for the Nutritional Essentiality of Boron. The Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine. 9:215-229 (1996).
5. Benderdour M, Bui-Van T, Dicko A, Belleville F. In vivo and in vitro effects of boron and boronated compounds. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 1998 Mar;12(1):2-7.
6. Naghii MR, Mofid M, Asgari AR, Hedayati M, Daneshpour MS. Comparative effects of daily and weekly boron supplementation on plasma steroid hormones and proinflammatory cytokines. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2011 Jan;25(1):54-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2010.10.001. Epub 2010 Dec 3.
7. Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Reggabi M, Alamir B, Benali S, Azzouz M, Khelfat K. Boron as a preventive antidote in acute and subacute fluoride intoxication in rabbits: its action on fluoride and calcium-phosphorus metabolism. Fluoride 13:129-138 (1980).
8. Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Reggabi M, Benali S, Azzouz M, Khelfat K, Tabet Aoul M. Boron as an antidote in acute fluoride intoxication in rabbits: its action on the fluoride and calcium-phosphorus metabolism. Fluoride 13:30-38 (1980).
9. Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Azzouz M, Khelfat K, Hamrour M, Alamir B, Benali S, Reggabi M. Boron as antidote to fluoride: effect on bones and claws in subacute intoxication of rabbits. Fluoride 14:21-29 (1981).
10. Elsair J, Merad R, Denine R, Reggabi M, Benali S, Hamrour HM, Azzouz M, Khalfat K, Tabet Aoul M, Nauer J. Action of boron upon fluorosis: An experimental study. Fluoride 15:75-78 (1982).
11. Franke J, Runge H, Bech R, Wiedner W, Kramer W, Kochmann W, Hennig A, Ludke H, Seffner W, Teubner W, Franke M, Moritz W, Barthold L, Geinitz D. Boron as an antidote to fluorosis? Part I. Studies on the skeletal system. Fluoride 18: 187-197 (1985).
12. LY Zhou, ZD Wei, SZ Ldu. Effect of Borax in Treatment of Skeletal Fluorosis. International Society for Fluoride Research, 20(3):104-108. 1987.
13. Forrest H. Nielsen, Loanne M. Mullen, Sandra K. Gallagher. Effect of Boron Depletion and Repletion on Blood Indicators of Calcium Status in Humans Fed a Magnesium-low Diet. The Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine. 3:45-54 (1990).
14. Newnham, Rex. Away with Arthritis. 2nd edition printed 1993.
15. Mary Duncan. Boron phenols and health : clues to the mysteries of ADD - Alzheimer's - Asthma. Carabooda, W.A. : Alkimos Australia, 1995.
16. Newnham R. E. Essentiality of boron for healthy bones and joints. Environ Health Perspect. 1994;102 Suppl 7:83-85.
17. Z Bentwich, Robert Bingham, Mark Hegsted, Herbert Hunt, Prof Jeffries, Jack Loneragan, Loughman, O.O. Myers, Ploquin, Hans Neiper, Rex E. Newnham, et al. Boron and Arthritis. Arthritis Trust of America. 1994.
18. Hall, Iris et al. Ongoing research on boranes and other borax compounds, Division of medical chemistry, University of North Carolina.
19. Hasan Turkez, Fatime Geyikoglu. Boric acid: a potential chemoprotective agent against aflatoxin b1 toxicity in human blood. Cytotechnology. Apr 2010; 62(2): 157-165. Published online Apr 30, 2010. doi: 10.1007/s10616-010-9272-2.
20. Borax - toxicity, ecological toxicity and regulatory information. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Article
21. Material Safety Data Sheet or MSDS for borax.
    http://www.hillbrothers.com/msds/pdf/n/borax-decahydrate.pdf retrieved January 2014, date of issue May 2008.
    http://www.hillbrothers.com/msds/pdf/n/pool-salt.pdf retrieved January 2014, revised 18 February 2005.
22. S. Meacham, S. Karakas, A. Wallace, F. Altun. Boron in Human Health: Evidence for Dietary Recommendations and Public Policies. The Open Mineral Processing Journal, 2010, 3, 36-53.