Dear Reader,
You are in the middle of skyrocketing rates of prostate cancer…
It’s the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. What you won’t hear much about are effective, inexpensive, and natural ways to fight it.
Today I’ll tell you about a little-known weapon in the battle against this killer. It’s a basic, plentiful mineral, but few doctors know much about it – or its health benefits. It’s called boron.
Boron is one of nutritional science’s ugly stepchildren. It’s a “trace element,” meaning it’s vital to health in small amounts. It’s also toxic in high doses to animals and insects, which is why it’s still used as a commercial pesticide in the form of boric acid.
That’s one reason people don’t know about boron. Another is that researchers didn’t even recognize its role as an essential nutrient until the late 80s. They stumbled on it by chance while conducting animal studies.
Add to that the mainstream medical establishment’s focus on drugs and surgery to deal with prostate cancer and you can see why boron’s not on the radar screen. You won’t find it in most multi-vitamins. And most men don’t get enough of it through diet alone.
That’s a big problem, because all men really need it.
Boron’s one of the prostate’s most potent allies. My research has shown that it can cut your risk of prostate cancer in half. One recent study compared the eating habits of 76 men with prostate cancer with those of 7,651 men who were cancer-free. The men whose diets were the most boron-rich were 64% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who got the least boron in their diet.1
Boron’s power is not only preventive; it may be an alternate form of prostrate cancer treatment. In mice, boron shrank prostate tumors by 25 to 38% and reduced PSA levels by 86 to 88%.2
What’s more, boron has the power to reverse the effect of Father Time. It acts like a shield against arthritis by blocking the enzymes that cause pain and inflammation.3 It’s crucial to bone strength and brainpower, with increasing benefits as people age. Boron keeps bones from losing calcium and magnesium. It also keeps your mind sharp and improves eye-hand coordination, attention span, and even short- and long-term memory.4,5
But how can you get enough of it?
The best way is through the right food choices. Foods rich in boron include nuts, plums, prunes, red grapes, raisins, apples, pears, and avocados. One thing I sometimes tell patients is to make all-natural trail mix their snack food of choice – all those raisins and nuts are a great source of boron.
Another surefire way to get enough boron is to take a supplement. If you want to get it through a supplement choose a brand you trust, look for one as natural as possible and shoot for a dose range of 3-6 mg per day.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
P.S. – I’m working on a new prostate supplement that will be the first to include boron along with other prostate cancer fighters overlooked by most doctors and vitamin makers. Stay tuned…
1 Zhang Z-F et al, “Boron is associated with decreased risk of human prostate cancer,” The FASEB Journal, 15:(2001)A1089.
2 Gallardo-Williams et al, “Effects of boron supplementation on morphology, PSA levels, and proliferative activity of LNCaP tumors in nude mice,” Proceedings of the American Cancer Association, 43(2002):77.
3 Hall et al, “Anti-inflammatory activity of amine-carboxyboranes in rodents,” Archiv der Pharmazie (Weinheim), 328(1995):39-44.
4 Nielsen, FH; ‘Studies on the relationship between boron and magnesium which possible affects the formation and maintenance of bones.’ Magnes Trace Elem 9:61-9; 1990.
5 Penland, JG; ‘Dietary boron, brain function and cognitive performance’, Environ Health Perspect 102 Suppl 7:65-72, 1994.