Silicium & Bone

Dietary Silicon Study

In 2004 the world’s top journal for research into health and disease of bone (JBMR) published a research article from Harvard University, Cambridge (UK) and London (UK) looking at the association between dietary silicon intake and bone health in several thousand people ^[4]

For men and for pre-menopausal women a marked increase in the density (and therefore health) of the bone that correlated to their silicon intake was evident. For post- menopausal women, there was no such effect.

The Relationship between Silicon Intake and Bone Mineral Density

Ref.4: Jugdaohsingh et al., Journal of Bone and Mineral Research (JBMR) 2004

Data from Jugdaohsingh et al (JBMR 2004), showing how the percentage increase in the bone mineral of the hip (trochanter site) varies with increasing units of ‘5 mg dietary silicon’ per day ^[4]. The apparent ‘block’ for post-menopausal women had been overcome by organic silicon supplementation in several previous studies.

The reason for these differences, it turns out, is due to the presence of the hormone ‘estrogen’. Its very low levels in post-menopausal women seems to block the effects of silicon. This study was carried out using silicon from the diet, and a question that the researchers have since asked is whether higher levels of silicon could overcome this block? In fact, as we shall see a little later, doctors had already shown that Organic Silicon did indeed overcome this block and improved bone mineral density in older women (and men).