BORON BOOSTS FREE TESTOSTERONE BY 28%
Effect of Boron on Free Testosterone levels
🧪BORON, FREE TESTOSTERONE & SHBG
If you struggle with low free testosterone or high SHBG, or just want to increase your free testosterone above the average range, having enough Boron in your diet is a must.
Symptoms of high SHBG or low free testosterone include low confidence, high anxiety, low motivation to get sh*t done, low rate of muscle & strength gain, difficulty losing body fat, low energy and excess fatigue, and low libido and overall male health.
In short, there is no bigger threat to our masculinity as men in this ruthless and competitive society than low free and total testosterone.
And if you’re like I once was, you’re probably tired of all of the misinformation and endless BS supplements out there that either provide little to no value or are way too overpriced.
Fortunately, Boron is extremely cheap and is found in decent quantities in natural whole FOODS, which if you know me, is where I insist that >95% of your nutrients should come from. How powerful is Boron? Let’s find out.
🔬THE STUDY
The goal of this 2010 study by Naghii et Al. was to see the effects of Boron on inflammation (the #1 killer of testosterone) and steroid hormones.
The men in the study were middle aged (30 to 50 years old), and were given 10 mg of boron a day for 7 days.
On the first day alone, a substantial increase (14%) in free testosterone was seen compared to placebo, while total testosterone was only 8% higher (implicating an inhibitory effect on SHBG). As expected, SHBG was about -9.5% lower with Boron. There was also a MASSIVE drop in inflammation, as CRP was a whopping -30% lower compared to placebo. And this was just after ONE day of Boron supplementation.
Day 7 is where the magic really happened, as free testosterone increased by 28% with Boron, and estradiol (the main estrogen) was reduced by a shocking -40%, and inflammation (as measured by CRP) was down by a colossal -45%.
SHBG wasn’t notably different by day 7, which implies that Boron either lowered testosterone’s binding affinity to SHBG, OR increased its disassociation rate. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) was about 7% higher, but since DHT binds to SHBG significantly more than testosterone, this can also explain the big increase in free testosterone despite the little change in SHBG by day 7 (more DHT was bound to SHBG, leading to more free Testosterone in the blood). I will discuss more on the relationship between Boron, DHT, estradiol / estrogens, SHBG, inflammation etc. in future articles/videos.
📝CONCLUSION
In short, the power of Boron when it comes to increasing free testosterone, lowering SHBG activity, and reducing inflammation is mind boggling, especially given how accessible it is in NATURAL foods and how cheap it is in supplement form. Now keep in mind that the study (just like all studies) had some limitations, despite its several strengths. A major positive is that most of the conclusions of this study were replicated several times in other studies that I will cover in the future, so the effects of Boron on testosterone in this paper are far from an isolated finding.
How much Boron do you need? Most studies show that the majority of Boron’s beneficial affects mostly appear at doses above 3 mg per day, and tend to peak around 10-15 mg per day (avoid going significantly higher than that to prevent toxicity). As always, I recommend focusing on NATURAL whole food sources for 95-99% of your dietary micronutrient needs, and only using supplements as a BACKUP or emergency plan. The best NATURAL food sources of Boron are nuts (almonds and hazelnuts), fruits (especially dried raisins and apricots), and avocados. More articles and videos on the best sources of Boron coming soon.
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And now, the usual Team3DAlpha memes 😂..
📚SOURCES
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. PMID: 21129941.
Pizzorno L. Nothing Boring About Boron. Integr Med (Encinitas). 2015 Aug;14(4):35-48. PMID: 26770156; PMCID: PMC4712861.
Rainey CJ, Nyquist LA, Christensen RE, Strong PL, Culver BD, Coughlin JR. Daily boron intake from the American diet. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999 Mar;99(3):335-40. doi: 10.1016/S0002-8223(99)00085-1. PMID: 10076586.