Hyped as Diatomaceous Earth.
If you Google diatomaceous earth, you’ll find the same article
reprinted over and over and over. It starts out: In 1939, the Nobel
Prize winner for chemistry, Professor Adolf Butenant, proved that
life can not exist without Silica.
Since this piece is splattered all over the web, like most viral
pieces, the odds of it containing false information are
astronomical. First off they spelled the professor’s name wrong. He
is actually, Professor Adolf Butenandt. Next, well, “can not” is
actually one word: cannot.
I ran to my Encyclopedia Britannica and found this:
almost simultaneously with
Edward A. Doisy
in the United States, Butenandt isolated estrone, one of the
hormones responsible for sexual development and function in females.
he isolated and identified androsterone, a male sex hormone, and in
1934, the hormone progesterone, which plays an important part in the
female reproductive cycle. It was now clear that sex hormones are
closely related to steroids, and after Ruzicka showed that
cholesterol could be transformed into androsterone, he and Butenandt
were able to synthesize both progesterone and the male hormone
testosterone. Butenandt's investigations made possible the eventual
synthesis of cortisone and other steroids and led to the development
of birth control pills.
Nowhere, it seemed, except
in this “viral” article is his name connected to silica or silicon.
That is until I went to Google Books and found this:
Price [sic] winner for chemistry, Professor Adolf Butenandt,
provided that life can not [sic] exist without silica. According to
his research conducted in 1972, silica is an essential nutrient and
must be supplied continuously from food. Silica is also the most
common substance in the earth’s crust. Silicon is found in the same
element group on the periodic chart as carbon. In the past, this
close family relationship to carbon has led many scientists to
speculate that a realm of silicon chemistry awaited discovery,
however silicon was not a replacement for carbon. However silica is
an important element in many body functions like in bone and
cartilage growth. Silica is also a natural constituent of blood and
urine (<1 ppm). The average human body has about seven grams of
silica. Since silica is so common in earth’s crust and in living
systems, it has led to the situation that living systems have
adapted to the presence of silica very well.
can be found in crystalline and amorphous forms. It has been
reported that crystalline form of silica can cause fibrosis of the
lungs as inhaled, this is a serious illness called silicosis, which
was called at the old times “coal workers disease.” Crystalline
silica has very low water solubility. Whereas the amorphous silica
is water soluble and biocompatible. The solubility of amorphous
silica in water at body fluid pH is commonly determined to be
130-150 ppm (µg/ml). Amorphous silica is known to dissolve in body
fluids as silicic acid is removed through the urine. No silica
accumulation is observed in organs.
for Materials Processing: Focusing Pollution Control, Water
Purification, and Soil Remediation (NATO Science for Peace and
Security Series C: Environmental Security)
by By Plinio Innocenzi, Yuriy L. Zub, Vadim G.
Kessler, Page 253]
The problem with a “viral”
piece on the web is that it is copied word for word and no one ever
checks its validity. As you can see from the above, it was actually
in 1972 that Professor Butenandt made his claim, and apparently he
“provided” which is a huge giant step from “proved.” Though the
piece we’ve excerpted from required a proofreader (as do many of our
pieces), it does say a few things we’ve already discovered
elsewhere, which will be pointed out as we go along.
So, silica, or silicon
dioxide, is vital to all life, and as quoted above, it is the most
abundant mineral on the earth’s surface. Scientists theorize that
silicon based life forms might exit in the universe, as opposed to
the carbon based life forms here on earth.
As vital as silica is to
health, it is only a trace mineral in the body. As we age, the
levels in our bodies drop. Deficiency in silica sounds like a list
of aging complaints: thinning hair, thinning nails osteoporosis,
arthritis, wrinkles, atherosclerosis, and
Alzheimer’s disease. (I’ve placed the last one in italics because
this is connected only to a theory which has yet to be thoroughly
Web sites selling silica
recommend one to two heaping tablespoons of diatomaceous earth
(silica), right after claiming that our recommended needs are 20-30
mg. At first, this made no sense. Why would anyone take huge
quantities of a trace mineral?
I first supposed the only
time one would take such an amount would be as a “therapeutic dose.”
If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, then perhaps a
therapeutic dose is recommended, though it should be noted that our
bodies do not absorb all we are taking, especially when you consider
the three forms available on the market:
Fossil Shells (diatomaceous earth)
The problem with all these
is bioavailability. How much do we absorb and how much do we pass?
As referenced above in the book
Sol-Gel Methods for Materials Processing: Focusing Pollution Control,
Water Purification, and Soil Remediation (NATO Science for Peace and
Security Series C: Environmental Security), in the form of diatomaceous earth, silica is not very bioavailable
because it is Crystalline silica. We would get amorphous
silica in our water supply (however, most people have soft water
which filters out silica) in our foods, and, amazingly enough, in
Now for the shocker:
silica is a de-wormer, or, using a word I just love, it’s
The same stuff people buy to add to their smoothies is sold under a
different name, at a higher price, which is used as a pesticide.
To deworm your colon,
quite a bit has to pass through the digestive tract, which should be
proof enough that just a little is being absorbed.
As we age, we produce less
and less stomach acid. Stomach acid is needed to absorb silica by
turning it into orthosilicic acid.
While researching silica,
I ran across a great article at the
Life Extension Magazine that gives us the following:
the market is a liquid, stabilized orthosilicic acid concentrate. A
research group from the University of Antwerp in Belgium has
published a supplementation study describing a high rate of silicon
absorption from a liquid silicon supplement containing 2% silicon in
the form of stabilized orthosilicic acid. In the six-month study
with calves, the total dietary silicon intake was increased by only
5% in the form of stabilized orthosilicic acid. Even with such a
small dose of orthosilicic acid, the supplemented group showed 70%
higher blood silicon levels than the unsupplemented group. These
higher silicon blood levels also translated into a 12% higher
collagen concentration in the skin of supplemented animals compared
to unsupplemented animals. This study clearly demonstrated that the
bioavailability of stabilized orthosilicic acid concentrate is very
high compared to dietary silicon.
independent Belgian research groups demonstrated both in a
comparative human study that the total silicon absorption by the
human body is considerably higher (more than 2.5 times higher) after
supplementation of stabilized orthosilicic acid (as present in a
product called BioSil™) compared to plant extracts or colloidal supplements. In fact, only
resulted in a statistical significant increase in silicon absorption
compared to the placebo. Without exception, each test subject had a
similar absorption from orthosilicic acid, whereas large differences
among subjects were found for the other silicon supplements.
So, what we have here is
the simple fact that the form BioSil™
produces greater absorption than any other form, including food
sources. The next best method of absorption would be to add extra
acid to your meal, in the form of apple cider vinegar or Betaine
Foods high in silica are
(you probably already guessed pears, since it seems to be common
knowledge that the “grit” in pears is silica):
Fruits (especially dried)
Leafy green vegetables
Much of the herbal
supplements that have silica come from alfalfa and horsetail, but
you can also get silica in hard drinking water and in some processed
foods because it’s added as an “anti-caking” or “anti-foaming”
agent. On the other hand, most processed foods process out the
silica, and modern conventional farming doesn’t replace the minerals
they pull from the earth, so a lot of our foods are becoming mineral
(and silica) depleted.
Silica’s Function in Our Bodies
Silica is needed for collagen
synthesis while activating enzymes that keep your skin elastic yet
strong. Wrinkles are a sign that you are deficient in silica.
Silica stimulates the bone forming cells and seems to regulate the
process by which bones form and repair themselves using nutritional
minerals. As mentioned above, silica facilitates collagen synthesis.
Collagen is the fibrous protein that makes bones flexible. Silica
deficiencies produce brittle bones. Supplementing with silica helps
broken bones heal faster.
Tendons (and ligaments): Collagen is a
major component of ligaments and tendons.
Not only does silica play an important role in collagen formation,
it is also needed to form cartilage and assists in maintaining water
in your joints. We know that inflammation eats away at cartilage and
now we know that silica helps to rebuild that cartilage.
Heart and Cardiovascular System: Silica is found in
the inner lining of our arteries. Lesions in our arteries cause
cholesterol to attach leading to atherosclerosis. In our
Cardiovascular Articles we’ve noted that lack of vitamin C is a
major cause of these lesions, and we now know that silica also helps
in reducing these lesions. Studies show that the aorta and carotid
artery (through the neck to the head) of healthy individuals (their
arteries are clear of plaque) contain ten times the amount of silica
than individuals with atherosclerotic plaque in those arteries.
Hair and Nails: Silica is the major
mineral found in hair shafts and nails. Optimum amounts of silica
keep hair flexible and shiny while keeping nails hard and strong. If
your hair is falling out or your nails are brittle and soft, you
might have a silica deficiency.
Lungs and Sinuses: Silica restores the mucus
membrane in the sinuses and respiratory tract.
Silica, besides being found in bone tissues is also found in enamel.
One great use of diatomaceous earth is in tooth brushing. Add it to
your paste or powder for really clean teeth.
Silica is one tough fiber. Taking diatomaceous earth internally will
keep you regular and kill parasites.
It is thought that silica can help to detox a number of things from
the body, such as mercury, aluminum, and it’s even touted as killing
e-coli. The research is not completed on this subject.
Sites selling diatomaceous
earth tout long lists of benefits and uses for their products, but
most are not backed by any solid research.
Overdoses of silica (or
diatomaceous earth) might produce kidney problems, but most feel
that you’d have to really overdose, and as stated in our quotation
above, “No silica accumulation is observed in organs.”
DO NOT BREATHE in silica
or diatomaceous earth. Workers in the not so distant past who
worked heavily with silica and breathed in the dust now suffer from
serious lung disorders and cancers.
Oh, one more thing.
Another line found in a different paper on silica (that seems to
have been copied all over the web contains this line (or variations
of it): “In 1878, Louis Pasteur believed that the need for silica in
treating many diseases, would someday be widely recognized. Various
scientists, in the 20th century, supported Pasteur's theory by
extensively studying the effect of silica on animal and human life.”
After a bit of research I
found that John Emsley, in his book
Nature's Building Block: An
A-Z Guide to the Elements, states that Pasteur did believe that
silica would someday be used in treating many illnesses. [Emsley,
John. Nature's Building Block:
An A-Z Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University Press,
2001, Page 386]
Here are two links. The
first is to diatomaceous earth and the second is to the only product
on the market that has been tested for bioavailability, BioSil™.