Another thing to add, nice and cheap too.
Boron/borax
Immune Response, Inflammation, and Oxidative Stress
In addition to the effects on inflammation described in the arthritis section above, other reports indicate that
boron can affect the immune response, the populations of blood cells involved in the inflammatory response, and reactive oxygen species metabolism occurring with chronic inflammatory stress or the acute inflammatory response. Animal studies include the finding that supplementing 3 mg/kg boron to boron-deficient (0.2 mg/kg) diet more than doubled the serum total antibody concentrations in response to human typhoid vaccine injection in rats.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr68-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr68-2156587211407638">68</a>In mice, boron deprivation downregulated 30 of 31 cytokines or chemokines associated with the inflammatory response 6 days postprimary infection with the nematode
Heligmosomoides bakeri.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr69-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr69-2156587211407638">69</a> An opposite pattern was found, especially 21 days postchallenge; mice consuming low and marginally boron-deficient diets had >100% increases in 23 of the 31 cytokines or chemokines.
Animal studies showing that boron can affect blood cell populations include one in which rats were fed diets where the fat source was fish oil (high in anti-inflammatory n-3 fatty acids) or safflower oil (high in n-6 fatty acids).<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr70-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr70-2156587211407638">70</a> Compared with safflower oil, fish oil increased white blood cell numbers, with most of the increase in the lymphocyte fraction, in boron-supplemented (3 mg/g diet) but not in boron-deprived (0.1 mg/g diet) rats. Fish oil instead of safflower oil increased monocyte and basophil numbers in boron-deprived but not in boron-supplemented rats. In another study, boron supplemented (2.0 mg/kg diet) rats had lower circulating concentrations of natural killer cells and CD8a+/CD4− cells than did boron-deficient (0.1 mg/kg diet) rats after injection with an antigen (
M butyricum in mineral oil).<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr20-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr20-2156587211407638">20</a>
One human study found that perimenopausal women excreting an average of 1.1 and 3.0 mg/d boron during placebo and boron supplementation periods, respectively, had increased white blood cell numbers, an increased percentage of neutrophils, and a decreased percentage of lymphocytes during the boron supplementation period.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr64-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr64-2156587211407638">64</a>
Activation of neutrophils and phagocytes during the inflammation process results in the production of reactive oxygen species such as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide, and the hydroxyl radical that are used for microbicidal purposes. Excess reactive oxygen species are destroyed in reactions involving glutathione, superoxide dismutase, and catalase. Evidence exists indicating that boron status can affect the destruction of reactive oxygen species. Boron supplementation (3.0 mg/d) significantly increased erythrocyte superoxide dismutase concentration in boron-deprived (0.25 mg/d) men and women.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr59-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr59-2156587211407638">59</a> Low doses (eg, 5 mg/L) of boron were found to support antioxidant enzyme activities, including superoxide dismutase and catalase, in human blood cultures.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr71-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr71-2156587211407638">71</a>Calcium fructoborate has been found to decrease the intracellular production or amount of superoxide ions in cultured cells exposed to oxidative stress.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr40-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr40-2156587211407638">40</a> Findings in an experiment with cultured THP-1 monocytes suggested that boron can limit inflammatory injury (lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-α formation) even in the presence of glutathione deficiency.<a href="
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2156587211407638#bibr26-2156587211407638" data-xml-rid="bibr26-2156587211407638">26</a>