Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease which contributes significantly to the burden of physical disability. Conventional management of OA mainly focuses on relief of symptoms using analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Some dietary supplements have shown some potency to reduce symptoms associated with OA conditions. Calcium Fructoborate (commercially marketed under the trade name FruiteX-B®), is a naturally occurring borate complex as first described by Patrick Brown [1]. For this study, FruiteX-B® was characterized by NMR and data from solid and liquidstate 11 B NMR have been obtained and compared against boric acid and fructose for quality purposes. In this study, FruiteX-B® was tested for fourteen days at a serving of 108 mg twice a day on subjects diagnosed with minor osteoarthritis conditions of the knees by CT scan. FruiteX-B® was well tolerated by all study subjects with no reports of adverse effect and resulted in several positive outcomes. On Day 14, WOMAC and McGill indexes were reduced by an average 29% and 14% respectively over Day 1 pre-ingestion values. Blood level of C-Reactive Protein (CRP) in 7 out of 10 subjects was found reduced up to 37% compared to Day 1 baseline levels. Interestingly, the study also showed that blood level of endogenous 1, 25(OH) vitamin D was increased more than 19% compared to baseline. However, differences in 25(OH) vitamin D were not observed. These results indicate that FruiteX-B® at a serving as low as 108mg twice a day provides significant benefits to people experiencing conditions associated with knee osteoarthritis. On the basis of these results, a larger clinical efficacy study is highly justified.

Calcium fructoborate (CFB) has been reported as supporting healthy inflammatory response. In this study, we assess the effects of CFB on blood parameters and proinflammatory cytokines in healthy subjects. This was a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Participants received placebo or CFB at a dose of 112 mg/day (CFB-1) or 56 mg/day (CFB-2) for 30 days. Glucose, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), triglycerides (TG), C-reactive protein (CRP), homocysteine, interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were determined before and after supplementation. CFB-1 showed a reduction in blood levels of CRP by 31.3 % compared to baseline. CFB-1 and CFB-2 reduced LDL levels by 9.8 and 9.4 %, respectively. CFB-1 decreased blood homocysteine by 5.5 % compared with baseline, whereas CFB-2 did not have a significant effect. Blood levels of TG were reduced by 9.1 and 8.8 % for CFB-1 and CFB-2, respectively. Use of both CFB-1 and CFB-2 resulted in significantly reduced IL-6 levels, when compared within and between groups. IL-1β was reduced by 29.2 % in the CFB-1 group. Finally, CFB-1 and CFB-2 reduced MCP-1 by 31 and 26 %, respectively. Our data indicate that 30-day supplementation with 112 mg/day CFB (CFB-1) resulted in a significant reduction of LDL, TG, TC, IL-1β, IL-6, MCP-1, and CRP. HDL levels were increased, when compared to baseline and placebo. These results suggest that CFB might provide beneficial support to healthy cardiovascular systems by positively affecting these blood markers (ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN90543844; May 24, 2012 (http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN90543844)).

The present single-dose study was performed to assess the effect of whole coffee fruit concentrate powder (WCFC), green coffee caffeine powder (N677), grape seed extract powder (N31) and green coffee bean extract powder (N625) on blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Randomly assorted groups of fasted subjects consumed a single, 100 mg dose of each material. Plasma samples were collected at time zero (T 0 ) and at 30 min intervals afterwards, up to 120 min. A total of two control groups were included: subjects treated with silica dioxide (as placebo) or with no treatment. The collected data revealed that treatments with N31 and N677 increased levels of plasma BDNF by about 31 % under these experimental conditions, whereas treatment with WCFC increased it by 143 % (n 10), compared with baseline. These results indicate that WCFC could be used for modulation of BDNF-dependent health conditions. However, larger clinical studies are needed to support this possibility.

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Calcium fructoborate (CFB) at a dose of 110 mg twice per day was previously reported to improve knee discomfort during the first 14 days of treatment. In this study, 60 participants with self-reported knee discomfort were randomized into two groups receiving CFB or placebo. Initial levels of knee discomfort were evaluated by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) and McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ) scores at the beginning of the study and also at 7 and 14 days after treatment. Results showed that supplementation with CFB significantly improved knee discomfort in the study subjects; significant reductions of mean within-subject change in WOMAC and MPQ scores were observed for the CFB group compared to the placebo group at both 7 and 14 days after treatment. Estimated treatment differences for the MPQ score were −5.8 (P=0.0009) and −8.9 (P<0.0001) at Day 7 and 14, respectively. Estimated differences for the WOMAC score were −5.3 (P=0.06) and −13.73 (P<0.0001) at Day 7 and 14, respectively. Negative values indicate greater reductions in reported discomfort. On both Day 7 and Day 14, the trend was toward greater improvement in the CFB group. The placebo group did not exhibit any change in the WOMAC and MPQ scores. In conclusion, supplementation with 110 mg CFB twice per day was associated with improving knee discomfort during the 2 weeks of intake.