After 12 months the combined therapy had a beneficial effect on bone collagen, compared to taking calcium and vitamin D alone. This suggests that silica, when taken in combination with calcium and vitamin D is of potential use in osteoporosis. Silica may also be indicated in bone fractures to assist in bone repair and healing.
Atherosclerosis is a process where calcium plaques develop in the arteries. This results in reduced blood flow and poor heart health because the arteries are hardened and widened with plaque.
Silica enhances the utilization of calcium and thus prevents calcification or calcium build-up in arteries. It has been found that the silica level is higher in healthy hearts compared to pathologic ones. Silica might protect against the effect of dietary aluminium intake by preventing its absorption and facilitating in its excretion by the kidneys. Your body needs silica to help form collagen, the protein responsible for keeping your skin smooth and unlined.
A deficiency in silica may contribute to slow growing hair and nails, ageing skin, wrinkles, thinning hair, breakouts and brittle nails. If you have injuries or wounds, supplementing with silica may help to accelerate the healing process. Research has shown that silica helps to boost the production of the antibodies and antigens that the immune system relies on to fight infections. This facilitates better, faster healing from colds, flu, infection, and illness—even when the immune system has been compromised.
There are several forms of silica which are collective known as silicic acid. Most forms available on the Australian market are silicon dioxide the same form present in our food and colloidal silica. To date there no is no clear evidence of any adverse health risks of silica supplementation.
Martin KR. Silicon: the health benefits of a metalloid. Met Ions Life Sci. Barel A , et al. You can also try herbs that are rich in sources of silica such as nettle leaf and horsetail.
Silica supplements can also be found in most major health food stores, but these usually come in a pill form that can be difficult to swallow and take a long time to digest. At Nourished, we offer a far more convenient way to take silica as a supplement to improve your health.
Our Life Stacks have been specially developed to suit certain lifestyles and goals, and our Inner Beauty blend contains a healthy dosage of silica to help fortify hair and nails and prevent the signs of ageing.
Alternatively you can take our quiz to see if silica is recommended for you, or build your own stack and add silica to your stack today! Suffering from hot flushe…. Our very own award-winning entrepreneur, registered nutritionist and self-con…. What are the Benefits of Silica? A recent review article suggested that silicon might have a potentially positive effect on bone formation and density and support immunity in humans, but noted that commercially available silica sources were insoluble and therefore released very small amounts of orthosilicic acid This confirmed the largely non-bioavailable nature of the silica contained in the control feed largely in the form of phytolithic material from the grain content.
Several silicon supplements claiming high bioavailability are commercially available but reviews summarizing their bioavailability conclude them to be low or, at best, highly variable 19 , The in vitro analysis presented in Fig. This enhanced bioavailability was further emphasized by the significantly higher serum silicon content recorded in birds fed with MONO-Si in Trial 1 compared with those fed either the un-supplemented feed or feed augmented with the commercial supplement Bamboo-Silica.
This bioavailability is further evidenced by the linear increase in both serum and tibia silicon concentration seen with increasing supplementation level of MONO-Si as observed in the dose response study Trial 2. These results confirm the feed concentration dependent transit of silicon species through the mucus layer of the gastrointestinal tract, and the slow release of bio-available silica observed with the biogenic silica could explain the observations of others who found Si level increases in the plasma in human studies of biogenic silica where we find none in the more rapid transit of chickens.
We also noted that serum silicon concentration decreased across all treatments proportionately from week 2 onwards, and this general reduction in serum silicon level observed as trial 2 progressed may be indicative of the role of silicon in the early stages of bone deposition i.
A potential link between collagen production and silicon has been suggested previously 26 , particularly in relation to bone formation, but this requires further elucidation. The effects of the novel silicon supplement presented in this study are of great interest as they are in contrast to earlier findings 13 , where the authors noted that, unless traditional conditions of extreme dietary silicon deficiency were imposed using synthetic diets 27 , no effect in broiler chickens was observed.
These early studies were using birds which were very different genetically to modern broilers and therefore this may no longer be the case, in fact, the modern bird may be growing at such a rate that silicon is now deficient.
It is well accepted in human medicine that the form of silicon provided as a supplement overwhelmingly influences its bioavailability The silicon form in MONO-Si is released into solution immediately as monosilicic acid, whereas many other Si sources present the silica in a condensed form Fig. The overall lack of impact of the silicon supplement on growth or feed intake ratio in Trial 1 or 2 Tables 2 and 3 indicates that the palatability and overall performance of the diet was not affected by the inclusion of the silicon supplement.
This is an important consideration in the development of novel feed supplements for any commercial feed industry, as any negative impact on performance renders the supplement uneconomical and conversely, any stimulation of increased growth rate may increase the physiological stress placed upon the birds.
In Trial 1, the feed conversion ratio was numerically improved, but the lack of significant difference between treatments is likely due to the small number of birds per pen for performance measures. This further suggests a role of silica in the early formation of bone, perhaps in the development of the collagen matrix, in young birds. If the effect of supplementation with bioavailable silicon is an improvement in construction of the collagen matrix, this may explain the improvement in bone strength in older birds seen in Table 2 , where the MONO-Si improved strength of tibia bone in birds of slaughter age compared with control fed birds.
Silicon is known to be important in the formation of cross-linkages between collagen and proteoglycans in bone formation 29 but defining its precise role in maintaining connective and skeletal tissue has proved elusive.
It has been proposed 19 , 30 that the biochemical role of silicon is in its involvement in DNA synthesis of osteoblast and extracellular matrix with structural function as a crosslink between procollagen linkage in collagen production and bone mineralization.
In vitro studies have shown that human osteoblasts responded to silica gel to form nodules which eventually mineralized 31 and dietary silicon intake was found to be significantly and positively correlated with cortical bone mineral density in men and pre-menopausal women 32 but, once again, these studies have only postulated as to the mechanisms involving silicon.
Recent research using genetic engineering created controlled silica mineralized silk films which were evaluated with human mesenchymal stem cells subjected to osteogenic differentiation demonstrated that the presence of the silica in the silk films influenced osteogenic gene expression, with the upregulation of alkaline phosphatase, bone sialoprotein, and collagen type 1 markers In addition, more recent studies of this type have shown that the induction of key markers of osteogenesis were correlated with the silica content of the materials These recorded effects provide possible mechanisms for the increased bone mineralization observed early in Trial 2.
Although positive in vivo effects of silicon supplementation on bone formation and connective tissue metabolism were reported in earlier studies 27 , other studies have reported no effects 9.
It has also been reported that silicon supplementation of tetraethylorthosilicate in rats and turkeys resulted in lower bone size and strength parameters such as those measured by maximal load and elasticity of the femur and tibia bone but these conclusions were based on numerical rather than statistically significant differences These contradictory data highlight the importance of providing a form of silicon in the diet that not only remains bioavailable but will not undergo negative interactions with other minerals.
The lack of apparent lameness observed in any birds combined with the increased tibia silicon content observed in Trial 2 with MONO-Si supplementation, suggests that it is unlikely that an adverse interaction between the current supplement and other minerals involved in bone development is occurring. Larger scale trials or intentional induction of lameness in future studies will be necessary to determine if the novel silicon supplement alleviates lameness in poultry.
This type of study would also allow further investigation into the potential mechanisms behind the role of silicon in bone and tissue development and repair that have been previously outlined in rabbits 5 , poultry 3 and in humans Oral ingestion toxicity levels have not been established for humans so establishment of a safe upper level is based on a rat and mice toxicity study that concluded that the chronic toxicity of silicon is low Preliminary data indicating safe upper limits for oral ingestion of silicon in poultry have been determined using turkeys 35 but ensuring proposed supplement levels are safe and comply with required labelling standards 38 will still need to be considered before marketing this product for use in poultry or humans.
Whilst this communication has focused on the potential use of bioavailable silicon in poultry, there are many other spheres of animal production, human health and high performance sport where a bioavailable form of silicon may also be highly beneficial in maintaining and potentially repairing skeletal integrity.
The novel monomeric form of silica developed by the authors is significantly more bioavailable in vitro compared with a range of commercially available formats. Bird trials using broiler chicks have shown that this form of silica can be taken up by the bird into bone and serum and improves bone quality and strength, thereby helping alleviate the lameness commonly seen in the broiler industry.
This preliminary study has future implications for other fields where improved bone integrity would be beneficial. Five forms of silicon-based health supplement were initially screened using an in vitro assessment of bioavailability, before undertaking feeding trials in broiler chicks.
The first broiler chick trial compared uptake into serum of a novel form of silicon supplement with a form currently commercially available while the second broiler chick trial examined the effect of incremental dosage of the supplement which had been identified in trial 1 as having the highest serum uptake. For the in vitro experiment described in this contribution, bioavailable silicon is defined as monomeric silicic acid and silicate species, which rapidly dissociate to the monomer, as quantified by the colorimetric molybdenum blue method In vitro bioavailability was compared for five forms of silicon supplement: a mineral-derived colloidal silica Hubner Silicea TM , Anton Hubner, GmBH and Co, Germany , a choline-stabilised nanoparticulate colloidal silicic acid source Biosil, Biominerals, N.
Bioavailable silicon content was analysed by a molybdenum based colorimetric assay 39 developed from the method originally reported by R. Iler 17 detail provided in SI1. Further details relating to bird husbandry are provided in SI2. For bird trial 1 comparison of serum silicon levels of birds fed diets containing differing silicon supplements , the silicon supplements were fed as part of a nutritionally balanced, wheat-soya-rapeseed based mash diet made in house as described below.
A commercially formulated starter basal diet was was used from days 0 to 21 and a finisher diet from days 22 to 35 Table 1. The total silicon content of the control diet was 4. Dietary treatments were allocated to 27 pens with 9 pens experimental units fed each treatment. Birds were housed in groups of 7 birds to d14, then 4 birds to d21 and 2 birds to d Birds three per pen at week 2; two per pen for weeks 3 and 5 from each treatment were euthanized to obtain samples for analysis.
For bird trial 2 Investigation into the effects of increasing levels of silicon supplement on silicon content in serum and tibia and foot ash content from hatch to slaughter age birds were fed a commercially produced starter basal diet Target Feeds Ltd, Shropshire, UK from days 0 to 21 and a finisher diet from days 22 to 42 Table 1 with treatments as described below.
The silicon content of the control diet was 5. Treatments were allocated to six pairs of pens with each pair of pens counting as one experimental unit. The birds were housed in pens of six for 2 weeks and then in decreasing numbers during the study. Each week birds in each experimental unit were weighed.
Feed intake was measured for weeks 0—3 and 3—6 for each experimental unit. Feed intake was calculated to give grammes of feed eaten per bird per day and feed conversion was determined. Birds two per pen at 2 weeks of age and thereafter 1 bird per pen weekly from each treatment were euthanized to obtain samples for analysis. In both bird trials, birds were euthanized using cervical dislocation and post mortem blood samples were collected.
Foot ash was determined as for tibia ash, but without any flesh removal prior to drying. Tibias were removed between the tibial-tarsal joint and the tibial-femoral joint. Data were analysed using SPSS version 12 to determine One way Analysis of Variance using a two tailed analysis with rate of silicon inclusion considered as a treatment factor.
Currie, H. Silica in plants: biological, biochemical and chemical studies. Carlisle, E. Silicon as an essential trace element in animal nutrition. In: Silicon biochemistry- Ciba Foundation Symposium , , pp. Chapter Google Scholar. Silicon: An essential element for the chick. Schwarz, K. Growth-promoting effect of silicon in rats. Nature , — Belous, A. Silicon content of bone callus in experimental fractures. Article Google Scholar. Whitehead, C. Dyschondroplasia in poultry. Mench, J.
In: Measuring and auditing broiler welfare , pp. Lynch, M. Avian tibial dyschondroplasia as a cause of bone deformity. Avian Pathol. Shariatmadari, F.
The application of zeolite in poultry production. Worlds Poult. Ballard, R.
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