Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Grow Taller by removing silicon from your diet?

Recently, there has been articles coming out that beer helps with bone development.  Specifically, the Orthosilicic Acid in beer.  Can this form of Silicon help you grow taller?  What other sources of OSA exist besides beer?   However, it is possible that removing silicon sources from your diet may help you grow taller!  And that this help in aiding bone development may actually be height shortening.

The comparative absorption of silicon from different foods and food supplements. 


So the MMST had the highest form of silicon absorption along with Alcohol-free beer. Green beans are a not so delicious form form of silicon.  

Silicon and bone health. 

"[There is a] strong positive [association] between dietary Si intake and bone mineral density[although not everything that increases BMD increases height]. [Silicon is involved in the] synthesis of collagen and/or its stabilization, and matrix mineralization." 

So we'll have to study if either the synthesis of collagen or matrix mineralization can increase height. 

"rhPTH, strontium renelate and sodium fluoride can increase osteoblast activity and hence bone formation"  

We already knew that teriparatide could help increase height.  We'll have to investigate strontium renelate and sodium flouride.  

"dietary silicon deficiency produces defects in connective and skeletal tissues, and that silicon is concentrated at the mineralisation front of growing bone." 

Mineralizing bone shouldn't increase height.  We'd need to know exactly what effect silicon had on skeletal tissues to know potential height increase effects.

"In osteoporotic subjects silicon supplementation with monomethyl trisilanol resulted in increased bone volume and increases in femoral and lumbar spine BMD. silicon [is] more effective [at increasing these parameters] than Etidronate (a bisphosphonate) and sodium fluoride.  In osteopenic and osteoporotic subjects, using choline-stabilised orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA), [there was] a trend for increased bone formation markers in serum, especially PINP (pro-collagen type I N-terminal propeptide) a marker type I collagen synthesis, with increasing dose of ch-OSA. A slight significant increase in femoral BMD was observed with the mid ch-OSA dose (6 mg Si/d).
In ovariectomised rats, supplementation with silicon or ch-OSA reduced bone resorption and bone loss and increased bone formation and bone mineral content or BMD. Results in chickens showed increased BMD and mechanical strength and in horses (mares) reduced bone-related injuries with silicon supplementation."

Remember that Marfan's Syndrome a disorder involving Tall Stature involves changes in collagen.

"Silicon [increases] bone matrix synthesis (non-collagenous matrix polysaccharides and collagen) and that Si dose dependently [increases] prolyl hydroxylase activity, the enzyme involved in collagen synthesis.  Studies with human osteoblast cells and zeolite A, an acid labile aluminosilicate, reported increased osteoblast proliferation, extracellular matrix synthesis, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteocalcin synthesis. orthosilicic acid increases type I collagen synthesis and cellular differentiation" 

The thing is that you grow taller with chondrocytes and not with osteoblasts and Silicon seems to have more anabolic effects on Osteoblasts but Collagen and Marfan's...

Here's a study that shows that Silicon may actually be height inhibiting:

Increased longitudinal growth in rats on a silicon-depleted diet.

"Using a specifically formulated silicon-depleted diet and modern methods for silicon analysis and assessment of skeletal development, we undertook, an extensive study of long-term silicon depletion on skeletal development in an animal. 21-day old female Sprague-Dawley rats (n=20) were fed a silicon-depleted diet (3.2 microg Si/g feed) for 26 weeks and their growth and skeletal development were compared with identical rats (n=10) on the same diet but with silicon added as Si(OH)(4) to their drinking water (53.2 microg Si/g water); total silicon intakes were 24 times different. A third group of rats, receiving a standard rodent stock feed (322 microg Si/g feed) and tap water (5 microg Si/g water), served as a reference group for optimal growth. Fasting serum silicon concentrations and especially urinary silicon excretion were significantly lower in the silicon-deprived group compared to the supplemented group. Tibia and soft-tissue silicon contents did not differ between the two groups, but tibia silicon levels were significantly lower compared to the reference group. Outward adverse health effects were not observed in the silicon-deprived group. However, body lengths from week 18 onwards and bone lengths at necropsy were longer in this group.
these measures correlated inversely with serum silicon concentrations. A reduction in bone growth plate thickness and an apparent increase in chondrocyte density were also observed in the silicon-deprived animals. No other differences were observed between the two groups, except for tibia phosphorus concentrations, which were lower in the silicon-deprived animals. although silicon intake and circulating fasting serum levels differed between the silicon-deprived and silicon-supplemented animals, tibia and soft-tissue levels did not and may explain the lack of difference in bone quality and bone markers (except serum CTx) between these two groups. Markedly higher tibia silicon levels in the reference group and nutritional differences between the formulated low-Si and reference diets suggest that one or more co-factors may be absent from the low-Si diet that affect silicon incorporation into bone. [There was] evidence for urinary silicon conservation (to maintain tissue levels), changes in bone/body lengths, bone calcium:phosphorus ratio and differences at the growth plate with silicon deprivation. rats actively maintain body silicon levels via urinary conservation, but the low circulating serum silicon levels during silicon deficiency result in inhibition of growth plate closure and increased longitudinal growth."

So perhaps remove and inhibit silicon from the diet to grow taller?

"Humans ingest between 20–50 mg/d in the Western diet"<-that's a lot of silicon to remove and possibly grow taller by eliminating silicon.

"Meat and dairy products have low levels of Si"<-thus if you only eat meat and dairy products you will have lower serum silicon levels and can possibly grow taller.  Maybe that's why the dutch diet results in height growth?

"Intestinal absorption is dependent on the chemical form: i.e. monomeric silicic acid (orthosilicic acid), present in beverages such as beer and water, or partially produced by digestion of foods in the gut lumen, is efficiently absorbed whereas polymeric (colloidal) silica are poorly absorbed"<-Would it be possible to not drink water?  Or to drink silicon free water?

However, it should be noted that other studies report silicon deficiency as growth studies and relay these facts: "(i) the presence of high concentrations of non-dialysable Si in connective tissues and their components, (ii) the localisation of Si at the growing front of bone, (iii) in vitro studies showing increased synthesis of matrix polysaccharides and proteins with Si supplementation and (iv) the requirement of Si for optimal prolyl hydroxylase activity, the enzyme involved in collagen synthesis"

If you take at Table 1 in the study you can see the exact diet they used for rats.

"Since there were no marked differences in intake of feed and water at 17 and 25 weeks, the mean intakes over the two periods are given for simplicity for each group. Thus the estimated mean ± SD daily intake of Si at 17 and 25 weeks (i.e. from feed plus water) was 0.17 ±0.04 mg/kg body weight for the rats in the Si-deprived group and 4.08 ± 0.74 mg/kg body wt in the supplemented group. Dietary silicon intake in the Si-supplemented animals was thus 24 times that of the Si-deprived group."

"body lengths were greater for theSi-deprived animals from week 18 until the end of the study (45 ± 1 cm vs. 43 ±2 cm in the Si-supplemented group at the end of the study, at 26 wk)."<-That's a pretty big increase height.  2cm which is approximately 5% height increase!

"both body length and bone lengths correlated inversely with fasting serum Si concentrations at necropsy "

"Examination of the growth plates indicated a decrease in growth plate thickness, while chondrocyte density appeared to be increased in the Si-deprived animals compared to the supplemented group although this was not formally quantified"

"some co-factor, probably nutritional, is required for maximal Si uptake into bone and that this co-factor was absent for animals on the formulated low-Si feed"<-so it's possible to target removal of the co-factor rather than silicon for height growth.

Unfortunately, there are no further studies on silicon and longitudinal growth.  However, silicon inhibition to increase height seems promising although the safety of such a diet cannot be determined as of yet.

Thus, it is definitely worth exploring and it may be worth reducing silicon levels in your diet by eating more meat and dairy.  However, total elimination of silicon in the diet safety cannot be ascertained.


  1. you have to be registered to see this so check it out sign up,

  2. do you think tyler that the answer to height increase is inhbiting FGFR3
    or something else like stemcell injections/activated bone marrow growth factors?