Also called: Orthosilicic Acid, Phytolithic Silica, Silica, Silicium, Silicon Dioxide, Sodium Silicate.
Sodium metasilicate or Silicon is used for bone formation. It may be beneficial in osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease and improving hair and nail quality. It is also used for improving skin healing, treating sprains and strains, and digestive system disorders.
Silicon is a trace mineral that is found in the body as orthosilicic acid. Silicon dioxide, also known as Silica, is present in foods such as vegetables, whole gains and seafood. Most of the silicon in the body is contained in connective tissues such as in the aorta, trachea, bone, tendons and skin. Silicon might also protect against atherogenesis. Pre-clinical research suggests that Silicon supplementation might inhibit bone resorption and stimulate bone formation in laboratory models of estrogen deficiency.
Published Clinical Studiescl top
The effect of sodium fluoride and sodium silicate on growth and bone strength of broilers.1
Merkley JW, Miller ER.
Two experiments were conducted using 300 broilers each. Standard broiler diets were supplemented by adding to the drinking water either sodium fluoride or sodium meta-silicate. Sodium fluoride provided 120 ppm Na and 100 ppm F and 120 ppm Na and 74 ppm Si were provided by the sodium silicate. Control groups received tap water. All groups received a standard corn-soybean meal diet and drinking water ad libitum. All broilers were reared in floor pens, and hardwood shavings were used for bedding. Live weights and feed conversion were determined every 2 weeks. Growth rates, feed conversions, and mortality were not affected by the sodium salts in either experiment. Litter conditions in the pens were closely observed, and no differences were found resulting from the addition of either sodium salt to the drinking water. A significant decrease in humeri strength was observed when one wing of broilers in the control and sodium fluoride treated groups was immobilized with tape during the last 2 weeks of each experiment. This loss of strength was not significant in the sodium silicate group. In both experiments, breaking strength and ash content of humeri and tibiae were significantly increased in birds fed the sodium fluoride when compared to the control group. The sodium silicate group yielded intermediate results.
PMID: 6308588 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2
Silicon deprivation decreases collagen formation in wounds and bone, and ornithine transaminase enzyme activity in liver.
Seaborn CD, Nielsen FH.
University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, USA.
We have shown that silicon (Si) deprivation decreases the collagen concentration in bone of 9-wk-old rats. Finding that Si deprivation also affects collagen at different stages in bone development, collagen-forming enzymes, or collagen deposition in other tissues would have implications that Si is important for both wound healing and bone formation. Therefore, 42 rats in experiment 1 and 24 rats in experiment 2 were fed a basal diet containing 2 or 2.6 microg Si/g, respectively, based on ground corn and casein, and supplemented with either 0 or 10 microg Si/g as sodium metasilicate. At 3 wk, the femur was removed from 18 of the 42 rats in experiment 1 for hydroxyproline analysis. A polyvinyl sponge was implanted beneath the skin of the upper back of each of the 24 remaining rats. Sixteen hours before termination and 2 wk after the sponge had been implanted, each rat was given an oral dose of 14C-proline (1.8 microCi/100 g body wt). The total amount of hydroxyproline was significantly lower in the tibia and sponges taken from Si-deficient animals than Si-supplemented rats. The disintegrations per minute of 14C-proline were significantly higher in sponge extracts from Si- deficient rats than Si-supplemented rats. Additional evidence of aberrations in proline metabolism with Si deprivation was that liver ornithine aminotransferase was significantly decreased in Si-deprived animals in experiment 2. Findings of an increased accumulation of 14C-proline and decreased total hydroxyproline in implanted sponges and decreased activity of a key enzyme in proline synthesis (liver ornithine aminotransferase) in Si-deprived animals indicates an aberration in the formation of collagen from proline in sites other than bone that is corrected by Si. This suggests that Si is a nutrient of concern in wound healing as well as bone formation.
PMID: 12462748 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Dietary silicon and arginine affect mineral element composition of rat femur and vertebra.3
Seaborn CD, Nielsen FH.
University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, WI, USA.
Both arginine and silicon affect collagen formation and bone mineralization. Thus, an experiment was designed to determine if dietary arginine would alter the effect of dietary silicon on bone mineralization and vice versa. Male weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to groups of 12 in a 2 x 2 factorially arranged experiment. Supplemented to a ground corn/casein basal diet containing 2.3 microg Si/g and adequate arginine were silicon as sodium metasilicate at 0 or 35 microg/g diet and arginine at 0 or 5 mg/g diet. The rats were fed ad libitum deionized water and their respective diets for 8 wk. Body weight, liver weight/body weight ratio, and plasma silicon were decreased, and plasma alkaline phosphatase activity was increased by silicon deprivation. Silicon deprivation also decreased femoral calcium, copper, potassium, and zinc concentrations, but increased the femoral manganese concentration. Arginine supplementation decreased femoral molybdenum concentration but increased the femoral manganese concentration. Vertebral concentrations of phosphorus, sodium, potassium, copper, manganese, and zinc were decreased by silicon deprivation. Arginine supplementation increased vertebral concentrations of sodium, potassium, manganese, zinc, and iron. The arginine effects were more marked in the silicon-deprived animals, especially in the vertebra. Germanium concentrations of the femur and vertebra were affected by an interaction between silicon and arginine; the concentrations were decreased by silicon deprivation in those animals not fed supplemental arginine. The change in germanium is consistent with a previous finding by us suggesting that this element may be physiologically important, especially as related to bone DNA concentrations. The femoral and vertebral mineral findings support the contention that silicon has a physiological role in bone formation and that arginine intake can affect that role.
PMID: 12462747 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4
The action of excessive, inorganic silicon (Si) on the mineral metabolism of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg).
Najda J, Gminski J, Drozdz M, Danch A.
Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry, Silesian Medical Academy, Katowice, Poland.
The influence of silicon treatment on the levels of calcium and magnesium in blood serum and tissues was studied in rats. The concentrations of both elements were estimated in samples of sera and tissues of rats receiving per os a soluble, inorganic silicon compound--sodium metasilicate nonahydrate (Na2SiO3.9H2O (REACHIM, USSR)), dissolved in the animals' drinking water. A decrease of magnesium concentration in serum was observed with accompanying elevation of registered calcemia. Moreover, a reduction of tissue calcium levels was found with a simultaneous increase of magnesium tissue pool. The results provide evidence for silicon involvement in mineral metabolism. It could result in a modification of pathological processes concerning bone tissue.
PMID: 7688524 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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