Silicon
It is also found in plant fibers and is probably an important part of their structure. This mineral is able to form long molecules, much the same as is carbon, and gives these complex configurations some durability and strength. It represents about 0.05 percent of our body weight.
Functions:
Silicon promotes firmness and strength in the tissues. It is part of the arteries, tendons, skin, connective tissue, and eyes. Collagen contains silicon, helping hold the body tissues together. This mineral is also present with the chondroitin sulfates of cartilage, and it works with calcium to help restore bones.Silicon is also thought to radiate or transmit energy in its crystalline structure, as in quartz crystal. It is thought by some to be able to deeply penetrate the tissues and help to clear stored toxins. The "silicea" tissue salt, a homeopathic remedy, is described poetically as acting like a "microscopic surgeon."
Uses:
Silicon is often used in herbal remedies to promote strength in the hair, skin, and nails. It helps maintain the elasticity of the skin, so it may be one of our antiaging nutrients. Other possible uses of silica or silicon that are under investigation are to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease, to treat arthritis and other joint or cartilage problems, gastric ulcers, and other conditions where tissue repair and healing are needed. Silicon is thought to help heal fractures and may have some role in the prevention or treatment of osteoporosis.Silica is also available as a mineral gel, which is basically a colloidal dispersion of ultramicroscopic parts of silica. It can be used internally to help normalize an over-acidic stomach, heal colitis, Crohn’s disease and diarrhea. It is effective even with bladder infections. Silica gel acts like a sieve or filter, as it binds pathogenic agents that cause sickness. It actually activates the phagocytes, which are hungry cells in our bodies that gobble up toxic elements and viruses. Applied externally, silica gel does a lot of repair work to damaged skin, scratches, pimples, acne, sunburn and stretch marks.
Silicon: An Essential Nutrient of Good Bone Health
Silicon has become a well-known chemical element in part because its properties allow millions of bits of information to be processed and stored in computers. The term silicon became popular when a large number of computer companies, which had converged in an area of California, became known as Silicon Valley. Now, based on some recent happenings, silicon may become familiar to the general public for another reason – as an element that has health-promoting properties.
Research at the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center (GFHNRC) has shown that low dietary silicon decreases the bone and blood concentrations of substances that stimulate cells to form joint and bone cartilage and initiate bone calcification in experimental animals. Low dietary silicon also has been shown by the GFHNRC to increase the excretion of products resulting from collagen and bone breakdown and loss, which are used as markers of osteoporosis risk. The recent research confirms that silicon stimulates the formation of collagen, a protein that gives bones their strength and flexibility, joint cartilage its cushioning ability, and a scaffold upon which bone mineralization occurs.
Silicon was actually first reported as possibly being an essential nutrient more than 30 years ago. For the next 25 years, the battle of bringing attention to the nutritional importance was fought, not too successfully, by a scientist who promoted the hypothesis that inadequate dietary silicon could contribute to diseases associated with aging such as atherosclerosis, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. After this scientist's death, studies examining the nutritional importance of silicon came to a standstill until about 2 years ago. Then several research groups reported new findings indicating that silicon is important for joint cartilage and bone formation and maintenance, thus boosting the suggesting that silicon is a nutrient of concern for osteoporosis, and perhaps osteoarthritis.
Scientists at King's College and St. Thomas' hospital in London, England in collaboration with scientists from Harvard and Tufts Universities in the United States reported that there is a "significant positive association" between the density of bone and silicon intake in men and in premenopausal women. In addition, scientists at the University of Mons-Hainaut in Belgium have found that silicon is an essential component in bioactive glasses or materials used as bone substitutes upon which new bone can grow in humans with serious bone injury.
Although evidence is accumulating that shows an inadequate intake of silicon may contribute to the risk of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, very little is known about its requirement. A daily intake of 5 to 10 mg of highly absorbable silicon probably will be found adequate. Not all food silicon is highly absorbable so a higher intake than this is most likely desirable. The richest sources of silicon are unrefined grains of high fiber content, cereal products and root vegetables. Because it is made from grains, beer also is a dietary source of silicon.
Silicon molecules in the tissues, such as the nails and connective tissue, give them strength and stability. Silicon is present in bone, blood vessels, cartilage, and tendons, helping to make them strong. Silicon is important to bone formation, as it is found in active areas of calcification.
Without silica there would be no lustre to our hair; we would have brittle nails, rough and itchy skin and no elasticity in our connective tissues. Our immune systems would suffer and we would grow old sooner. Pregnant women benefit greatly from adding silica to their diets,
as it prevents stretch marks. For babies, one of the best first additions to mothers’ milk is strained oatmeal. This lays the foundation for strong bone structure.
What food it is found in:
Silicon is widely available in food. It is part of plant fibers (though not of cellulose) and is found in high amounts in the hulls of wheat, oats, and rice, in sugar beet and cane pulp, in alfalfa, and in the herbs horsetail, comfrey, and nettles. Horsetail, Equisetum arvensa, is a common source used to make supplemental silica. Silicon is also pre-sent in lettuce, cucumbers, avocados, strawberries, onions, and dandelions and other dark greens. The pectin in citrus fruits and alginic acid in kelp also contain small amounts of silicon. Hard drinking water may also be a good source.While horsetail is the pinnacle herb for silica content, one of the best food sources for silica is oats. A breakfast muesli made with raw soaked oats eaten daily supplies lots of silica.
Silica is also found in a wide variety of products: horsetail plant juice, tincture or herbal tea, aqueous extracts of spring horsetail in powder or capsules, and silica gel. In any case, the people in your local health food store will be able to advise what’s best for you. Just one caution: if you pick your own, never ingest raw ground horsetail, either in capsules or powder. Horsetail herb is used as a scouring agent to polish tin and will have an abrasive effect on your stomach lining. However, raw horsetail, dried or freshly picked, can be added to bath water–it is soothing to painful kidneys and a wonderful relief for rheumatic pain.
Food (100 g) Silica Content (mg)
Oats 595.0
Millet 500.0
Barley 233.0
Potatoes 200.0
Whole wheat grain 158.0
Jersusalem artichoke 36.0
Red beets 21.0
Corn 19.0
Asparagus 18.0
Rye 17.0
This mineral is lost easily in food processing. Only about 2 percent of the original silicon is left in milled flour. Soil may also become deficient in silicon, and it is not being replaced; this loss could affect inherent plant structure.
Source: Silica: The Forgotten Nutrient by Klaus Kaufmann (alive Books, 1993).
Proven Herbal Medicine
About the Author
Siegfried Gursche is the founder and publisher of alive Magazine, a master herbalist and the author of several books including Fantastic Flax (alive Books, 1999).