Boron for Cognitive Function
A handful of small studies link low boron intake to poorer attention, but the evidence base is thin.
Overview
Verdict
How It Works
Dosing & Protocol
Typical dose
- Recommended dose
- Not recommended - evidence is from depletion studies only
- Expected timeframe
- Not established
Protocol
- hard limit
- 20 mg/day upper intake level
- studied dose
- Controlled diets providing under 0.25 mg/day versus around 3 mg/day in depletion-repletion studies
- evidence note
- Verdict is insufficient - the evidence shows deprivation is bad, not that supplementation helps
- what happened
- Depletion studies reported slowed EEG activity and poorer psychomotor task performance on low-boron diets. Restoring normal dietary intake reversed it. No modern trial shows that adding boron above dietary adequacy improves cognition in anyone
- what to do instead
- Eat fruit, nuts and legumes, which supply boron readily; for cognition itself, sleep, exercise and cardiovascular risk management have the real evidence
Evidence
What the studies say
Dietary boron, brain function, and cognitive performance
Penland JG
When dietary boron was raised from about 0.25 mg to 3.25 mg per day, participants showed improved performance on tasks of attention, short-term memory, manual dexterity and psychomotor speed, alongside EEG changes indicating reduced low-frequency activity and increased alertness.
Safety
Caveats
Upper intake level is 20 mg/day; above it, nausea, vomiting and headache occur, and animal studies show reproductive toxicity at high exposures. Avoid supplemental boron in pregnancy and breastfeeding. Avoid in hormone-sensitive cancer. Do not supplement with kidney impairment. Deprivation-study designs cannot tell you whether extra intake helps a replete person.
Less likely to help if
Medical Disclaimer
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Individual results may vary. The statements on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Products and information are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.