Forms of Silica

 Excerpt from the manuscript of the book Silica Water the Secret of Healthy Blue Zone Longevity in the Aluminum Age  written by Dennis N Crouse which will be available in the Fall of 2018

OSA (orthosilicic acid) which is found in mineral water is the bioavailable form of silica and is the form you want to use for removing aluminum from your body.

Other Forms of Silicon

Elementary Silicon

Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si.  It is a crystalline solid and semiconductor used for components in electronic products.  Silicon has a very high affinity for oxygen, the most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Silicon has been slowly oxidized to silica over millions of years in the earth’s oxygen rich environment. Most of the earth’s crust is composed of silicon, primarily as silica and silicate containing minerals, making silicon the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust.

Silicon Dioxide

Silicon dioxide is the anhydride of OSA and is the simplest oxide of silicon with the chemical structure SiO₂.  Silicon dioxide is found in nature in many physical forms including:

·         Crystalline such as quartz

·         Amorphous such as the major component of sand

·         Shells of diatoms and radiolariens such as diatomaceous earth

·         Colloidal such as commercial silica supplements

These forms of silica have low water solubility and dissolve as OSA very slowly in water on a time-scale of years. Therefore when they are placed in water they provide only traces of bioavailable OSA. Also, there are manmade nanometer sized particles (i.e. nanoparticles) of silicon dioxide called aerogels and silica gels, such as found in Saguna Colloidal Silicogel. Silicon dioxide in most of these physical forms is considered insoluble, as it takes years to dissolve in water as OSA.

Inhaling fine particles of insoluble silicon dioxide causes irritation and can lead to silicosis, bronchitis, lung cancer, and systemic autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis²⁴. 

Silica Nanoparticles

Intravenously administered silica nanoparticles caused liver damage in mice²⁵. Injection of silica nanoparticles into the body cavity of mice induces an inflammatory response²⁶.  Some nanoparticles of silicon dioxide have been found to be cytotoxic tested in vitro (i.e. in glass) on three different types of human cells²⁷.

Orally ingested silica nanoparticles (20nm to 100nm) were determined in a 90 day study of rats to have a no adverse effects limit (NOEAL) of 2,000mg per kilogram per day²⁸.  No animals were treated over this limit and animals treated at this limit had no treatment-related clinical changes and no histopathological findings were observed in any of the treated animals²⁸. Even though inhalation of nanoparticles and injection of nanoparticles into the blood and body cavity should be avoided, the high NOEAL indicates oral ingestion of tenths of a gram of silica nanoparticles a day is safe for rats.

The 2014 finding that oral ingestion of silica nanoparticles is safe for rats is not surprising.  Rats and humans eat plants and food derived from plants. Almost all plants make silica nanoparticles, called phytoliths, in an effort to sequester OSA for protection from aluminum toxicity, as discussed later in this chapter. Therefore rats and humans have likely evolved to tolerate oral ingestion of phytoliths and even benefit from their consumption. Phytoliths bind tightly with aluminum ions in the gut. This prevents aluminum from being absorbed by the gut and facilitates the excretion of aluminum as discussed in more detail in chapter 2.        

Silicate Oligomers

Some natural and manmade oligomers (i.e. polymers) of sodium silicate, can be converted to OSA in water at room temperature in a matter of hours at pH 4.7 to a matter of days at pH 7.2^29,30.  In addition, supersaturated OSA in water (i.e. 960ppm) above pH 8 can be converted back to oligomeric colloids of sodium silicate in a matter of hours²⁹.  These oligomeric colloids are in a pH dependent equilibrium with OSA above OSA’s saturation level (i.e. greater than 200ppm) in water. Therefore these manmade oligomeric colloids of sodium silicate could provide a healthy oral source of less than 200ppm of OSA, only when allowed enough time to dissolve in a sufficient volume of weakly acidic water before oral ingestion. 

Natural or manmade oligomers of sodium silicate should not be taken orally without drinking a volume of water sufficient to dissolve and dilute them to below the saturation level of OSA in water (i.e. 200ppm).  When this lack of sufficient water occurs there is a risk that OSA will crystallize out of a supersaturated OSA solution in the kidneys forming either painful silica stones or cytotoxic nanoparticles.  This has never been reported after ingesting oligomers of sodium silicate.

Magnesium Trisilicate

Silica kidney stones do rarely occur in those who ingest large amounts of magnesium trisilicate without drinking a sufficient volume of water³¹.  Magnesium trisilicate is a compound of silicon dioxide (not less than 45%) and magnesium oxide (not less than 20%) the rest being water. Magnesium trisilicate is used in some antacids as it reacts to neutralize stomach acid. It is also used by fast food chains, such as KFC, to absorb fatty acids and remove impurities that form in the edible oils during the frying process.

Unlike sodium silicate which is soluble in water (22.2gr./100cc), magnesium trisilicate is practically insoluble in water. Ingesting undissolved silicates is a health risk because without adequate water intake the silicates can become supersaturated in the kidney lumen and polymerize or crystallize forming stones (a.k.a. silica uroliths) containing primarily silica (a.k.a. silica urolithiasis). In general silicon containing kidney stones are rare and only found in those who consume large amounts of magnesium trisilicate³¹.

Silicones

Silicones (a.k.a. polysiloxanes) are manmade polymers of siloxane ( [Si-O]_n ) usually with carbon and/or hydrogen atoms bonded to the silicon atom. These polymers are very stable and used for grease, rubber, resin, and lubricants.  Silicones are also used for cooking utensils and coatings on cookware.  These applications of silicones are considered safe. 

Gels of silicones are used for breast implants. If the implant ruptures, silicone leaking from the implant can cause inflammatory nodules in the breast and armpit areas and enlarged lymph glands in the armpit areas of the body³².