08/28/2024
Article on Borax and Arthritis prevention.
The Borax Conspiracy: How the Arthritis Cure Has Been Stopped
Walter Last
You may not imagine that borax, a humble insecticide and laundry detergent, could potentially disrupt our entire economic system. However, concerns have been recognized, and steps have been taken to address the situation. I will start with the basics, and you will understand as the story unfolds.
Borax is a naturally occurring mineral commonly mined from dried salt lakes and serves as the source for other boron compounds. The primary deposits are in California and Turkey. Chemical names include sodium tetraborate decahydrate, disodium tetraborate decahydrate, or simply sodium borate. This means it contains four atoms of boron as its central feature, combined with two sodium atoms and ten molecules (or sometimes fewer) of crystallization water—decahydrate means 10 water molecules, pentahydrate 5, and anhydrate or anhydrous borax means no crystallization water; chemically, it is all the same.
Borax is commonly sold as technical or agricultural grade with a minimum purity of 99 to 99.5%. Potential impurities consist of sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride, bicarbonate, carbonate, sulfate, and phosphate, but not toxic or heavy metals. This grade includes the borax commonly used as a household cleaner. Pharmaceutical grade is not noticeably purer or better.
Borax is the sodium salt of the weak boric acid. Because sodium is more strongly alkaline, this makes a solution of borax strongly alkaline with a pH between 9 and 10 (pH 7 is neutral). When ingested, it reacts with hydrochloric acid in the stomach to form boric acid and sodium chloride. The boron content of borax is 11.3%, while for boric acid it is 17.5%, or about 50% higher. Ingested boron compounds are rapidly and nearly completely excreted in the urine. Boric acid was formerly used as a food preservative but is now banned for this purpose in most countries and also banned from public sale in Australia.
According to conventional medicine, it is not known if boron is essential for humans, but research shows that we do need it. The difficulty in answering this question arises from the presence of boron in all plants and unprocessed foods. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables provide about 2 to 5 mg of boron per day, but this varies based on where and how the food was grown.
In reality, the average intake in developed countries is 1-2 mg of boron per day. Institutionalized patients may receive only 0.25 mg of daily boron. Chemical fertilizers inhibit the uptake of boron from the soil; an organic apple grown in good soil may contain 20 mg of boron, but if grown with fertilizer, it may have only 1 mg of boron. Fertilizers combined with poor food choices have greatly reduced our boron intake compared to 50 or 100 years ago.
Furthermore, unhealthy cooking methods greatly reduce the availability of boron from food. Cooking water from vegetables containing most of the minerals may be discarded during home cooking or commercial processing. Phytic acid in baked goods, cereals, and cooked legumes may greatly reduce availability, while gluten sensitivity and Candida overgrowth inhibit the absorption of minerals. This makes health problems due to boron deficiency increasingly common.
Health Effects of Boron
Due to their boron content, borax and boric acid have similar health effects, including good antiseptic, antifungal, and antiviral properties but only mild antibacterial action. In plants and animals, boron is essential for the integrity and function of cell walls and the way signals are transmitted across membranes.
Boron is distributed throughout the body, with the highest concentration in the parathyroid glands, followed by bones and dental enamel. It is essential for healthy bone and joint function, regulating the absorption and metabolism of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus through its influence on the parathyroid glands. Boron is to the parathyroids what iodine is to the thyroid.
Boron deficiency causes the parathyroids to become overactive, releasing too much parathyroid hormone, which raises the blood level of calcium by releasing calcium from bones and teeth. This leads to osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and tooth decay. With advancing age, high blood levels of calcium lead to calcification of soft tissues, causing muscle contractions and stiffness, calcification of endocrine glands (especially the pineal gland and ovaries), arteriosclerosis, kidney stones, and calcification of the kidneys, ultimately leading to kidney failure. Boron deficiency combined with magnesium deficiency is particularly damaging to bones and teeth.
Boron affects the metabolism of steroid hormones, especially s*x hormones. It increases low testosterone levels in men and estrogen levels in menopausal women. It also plays a role in converting vitamin D to its active form, thereby increasing calcium uptake and deposition into bone and teeth rather than causing soft tissue calcification. Other reported benefits include improvements in heart problems, vision, psoriasis, balance, memory, and cognition.
German cancer researcher Dr. Paul-Gerhard Seeger has shown that cancer commonly starts with the deterioration of cell membranes. Since boron is essential for cell membranes and boron deficiency is widespread, this may be an important cause of tumor initiation. Boron compounds have anti-tumor properties and are "potent anti-osteoporotic, anti-inflammatory, hypolipemic, anti-coagulant, and anti-neoplastic agents."
The Arthritis Cure of Rex Newnham
In the 1960s, Rex Newnham, Ph.D., D.O., N.D., developed arthritis while working as a soil and plant scientist in Perth, Western Australia. Conventional drugs did not help, so he investigated the chemistry of plants and realized that local plants were mineral deficient. Knowing that boron aids calcium metabolism in plants, he decided to try it. He started taking 30 mg of borax a day, and within three weeks, all pain, swelling, and stiffness disappeared.
He informed public health and medical school authorities about his discovery, but they showed no interest. Some people with arthritis experienced significant improvements, while others were hesitant to use a product labeled as a poison meant for killing insects. Eventually, he had tablets made with a safe and effective quantity of borax.
Within five years, he sold 10,000 bottles a month through word of mouth. Unable to cope with the demand, he sought help from a drug company to market it. This was a major mistake. The company indicated that the product could replace more expensive drugs and reduce their profits. The company had representatives on government health committees, leading to the 1981 regulation in Australia that declared boron and its compounds as poisons in any concentration. Newnham was fined $1,000 for selling a poison, effectively stopping his arthritis cure from spreading in Australia.
Newnham later published several scientific papers on borax and arthritis, including a double-blind trial in the mid-1980s at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The trial showed that 70% of those who completed it experienced significant improvement, compared to only 12% on a placebo. There were no negative side effects, but some reported improvements in heart ailments, general health, and reduced tiredness.
Newnham’s subsequent research focused on the relationship between soil boron levels and arthritis. For instance, traditional sugarcane islands with long-term heavy fertilizer use had very low soil boron levels. Jamaica, with the lowest soil boron levels, had an arthritis rate of about 70%. Mauritius, with similarly low boron levels, had a 50% arthritis rate. The daily boron intake in these countries is less than 1 mg/day. In contrast, regions like Carnarvon in Western Australia and Ngawha Springs in New Zealand, with high boron levels in soil and spa water, have much lower arthritis rates.
Bone analysis showed that arthritic joints and nearby bones had only half the boron content of healthy joints. Synovial fluid in arthritic joints was also deficient in boron. After boron supplementation, bones became much harder, and fractures healed in about half the normal time in both humans and animals. Borax has also been effective in treating other forms of arthritis, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Juvenile Arthritis, and Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus). Newnham reported that a young girl with juvenile arthritis was cured in two weeks.
He noted that most people could eliminate their pain, swelling, and stiffness in 1 to 3 months and then reduce treatment to 1 boron tablet (each 3 mg) per day as a maintenance dose to prevent future arthritis. He also observed that patients with rheumatoid arthritis often experienced a Herxheimer reaction, an early worsening of symptoms, which he considered a good prognostic sign. In long-standing and resistant cases, additional antimicrobials might be beneficial.
Part 1
![✨ Exciting news! We’ve opened our Movement Room in [City] — a bright, fully equipped space perfect for yoga, Pilates, me...](https://img3.findhealthclinics.com/531/618/1102480055316189.jpg)
