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Susan L. Meacham¹, L. Janette Taper², and Stella L. Volpe³

¹Department of Human Nutrition, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina;
²Department of Human Nutrition and Foods, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia;
³Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California

Abstract

The effects of boron supplementation on blood and urinary minerals were studied in female college students--17 athletes and 11 sedentary controls--over a one-year period. The athletes had lower percent body fat and higher aerobic capacities than sedentary controls. Athletic subjects consumed more boron in their normal diets than sedentary subjects ; all other dietary measures were similar between the two groups. The athletes showed a slight increase in bone mineral density, whereas the sedentary group showed a slight decrease. Serum phosphorus concentrations were lower in boron-supplemented subjects than in subjects receiving placebos, and were lower at the end of the study period than during baseline analysis. Activity depressed changes in serum phosphorus in boron-supplemented subjects. Serum magnesium concentrations were greatest in the sedentary controls whose diets were supplemented with boron, and increased with time in all subjects. A group supplement interaction was observed with serum magnesium ; exercise in boron-supplemented subjects lowered serum magnesium. In all subjects, calcium excretion increased over time ; in boron-supplemented subjects, boron excretion increased over time. In all subjects, boron supplementation affected serum phosphorus and magnesium, and the excretion of urinary boron. -- Environ Health Perspect 102(Suppl. 7) :79-82 (1994) .

Key words: boron supplementation, female athletes, serum minerals, urinary mineral excretion, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium