Boron is a natural element found in leafy greens like kale and spinach. It can also be found in grains, plums, raisins, non-citrus fruits, and nuts.

A person's daily diet typically contains 1.5 to 3 milligrams (mg) of boron. The five most common sources of boron in a person's daily diet are:

• Apples
• Coffee
• Dried Beans
• Milk
• Potatoes

Boron helps your body metabolize important vitamins and minerals. It plays a key role in bone health and also affects estrogen and testosterone levels.

There is no established dietary recommendation for boron in terms of the daily value.

Small studies have shown that boron may play a role in brain function. Early studies in the 1990s showed that human supplementation with boron showed promise.

For example, a 1994 study published in a journal found that people who added 3.25 mg of boron to their diet had better memory and hand-eye coordination tasks than People with low boron levels.

Although researchers know that boron plays a role in many human functions, due to its status as a minor mineral, there have not been many recent trials examining boron's benefits for the brain.

Boron can help keep your bones strong and may also improve brain function.

Boron is known to play a role in prolonging the half-life of vitamin D and estrogen.

The half-life is the time it takes for a substance to degrade to half its original amount.

Scientists are not entirely sure how boron does this. But it could be important for bone health in several ways.

First, vitamin D is essential for bone health because it improves your body's ability to absorb calcium. Calcium is a mineral responsible for strengthening bones. Boron may help improve bone health by increasing the duration of action of vitamin D in your body

According to an article in The Open Orthopedics Journal, people who are low in vitamin D are more likely to have low boron levels.This shows that the two nutrients have a relationship in terms of their availability in the body

Estrogen is another hormone that plays a role in bone health. It protects against bone loss that can lead to osteoporosis. This is a condition that can make bones weak and brittle in both men and women. By increasing the length of time estrogen is present in the body, boron can help maintain healthy bones

But boron has a more far-reaching effect. When administering 3 mg boron to a test group of women after the menopause, it was found that these women had 40% less calcium, a third less magnesium (that's why we also have magnesium in our boron!) and also lost less phosphorus in the urine than controls. All of these substances are known to be important for the formation and structure of the bones.

Sources:

• Chapter 13: Arsenic, boron, nickel, silicon, and vanadium. Dietary reference intakes for vitamin A, vitamin K, arsenic, boron, chromium, copper, iodine, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, silicon, vanadium, and zinc. (2001).
  nap.edu/read/10026/chapter/15
• Dietary reference intakes (DRIs): Elements. (n.d.).
  nationalacademies.org/hmd/~/media/files/activity%20files/nutrition/dri-tables/6_%20elements%20summary.pdf?la=en&_ga=2.266413644.33072676.1499122416-707816316.1498842547
• Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016). osteoporosis.
  mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/osteoporosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351968
• Menopause & osteoporosis. (2015).
  my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10091-menopause--osteoporosis
• Nieves JW. (2005). Osteoporosis: The role of micronutrients. DOI:
  10.1093/ajcn/81.5.1232
• Penland JG. (1994). Dietary boron, brain function, and cognitive performance.
  ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1566632/
• Penland JG. (1998). The importance of boron nutrition for brain and psychological function. DOI:
  10.1007/BF02783144
• Price CT, et al. (2012). Essential nutrients for bone health and a review of their availability in the average North American diet. DOI:
  10.2174/1874325001206010143
• Vitamin D for good bone health. (2016).
  orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00567