Dear Friends,
One of the most confusing and often overlooked supplement topics is the mineral silica.
The nutritional prize inside plant silica is the element silicon, which plays an important role in healthy bone formation and enhancing the appearance of your hair, nails, and skin - in part by supporting collagen production.
If you’re not familiar with silica and silicon, don’t worry - you’re not alone. While silicon might remind you of computer chips (it’s a key material in their production), the nutritional organic form of silicon energizes important biological processes in your body.
Most of the silicon in computer chips comes from beach sand, which is crystallized silica (or quartz). The crystallized form of silica doesn’t provide any nutritional value to humans.
Soil contains a lot of silica that’s not crystallized, but like with other minerals, this silica is an inorganic form that isn’t easily absorbed and used by your body.
This is where plants come in and why plant silica should be your go to, to increase silicon intake.
One of the most valuable functions of plants is they absorb these inorganic minerals from the soil and make them organic and soluble, through a process called chelation.
When we eat these plants, our bodies can more easily digest and use these minerals, including the silicon found in plant silica.
Bamboo shoots: The Superior Source of Plant-Based Silica
Bamboo shoots are commonly eaten in Indian and Asian diets. Not only are they the tastiest part of the plant, bamboo shoots have one of the highest (if not the highest) concentrations of plant silica and plant silicon.
This is why we feature an organically grown bamboo extract in our TrueOsteo+ and TrueOsteo bone health products, and in the TrueHNS hair, nails and skin supplement.
As a result, we think bamboo extract is the best and most efficient way to get more plant-based silicon into the body as a supplement.
Silica’s Benefits for Bones, Hair, Nails, and Skin
As mentioned, bamboo shoots have been a staple in Asian diets for many years, and is a key reason why, on average, they consume about 5 to 7 times more silicon from diets than Americans.
Some researchers have suggested that this may be part of the reason why these populations exhibit better bone health with fewer bone fractures as they age.
Silicon helps energize and ignite the bone formation process, working to attract calcium to bones, resulting in harder denser bones.
So how much silicon do we need for strong bones?
Research suggests we should target at least 40mg of dietary silicon a day. The challenge is the average American only gets about 20mg per day.
Good dietary sources of silicon include green beans, spinach and whole grains like oats and barley. Among fruits and vegetables, raisins and dried dates contain good amounts of silicon.
The bamboo extract used in NatureCity’s TrueOsteo+ and TrueOsteo products is a good way to supplement the silicon you get from diet to help reach ideal levels.
Better yet, in addition to supporting bone health, the silicon in bamboo extract can also help the appearance of your hair, skin and nails, which is why it’s also part of TrueHNS.
Hair strands with higher silicon content are typically stronger and exhibit greater shine.
Silica also helps with collagen formation to help skin look its best, and a greater concentration of silica in nails can make them less brittle and increase luster and appearance.
You can find the TrueOsteo+ and TrueOsteo bone health supplements and the TrueHNS hair, nails and skin product at naturecity.com (and are also at Amazon if that’s more convenient for you).
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
P.S. Subscribe to our YouTube channel or podcast to discover more about nutrients that can make a difference in your health!
