Chemical and Structural Comparison of Different Commercial Food Supplements for Silicon Uptake

Abstract

Various food supplements for silicon uptake were compared in terms of their structures and chemical compositions. In particular, we analyzed the silanol group content, which can be an indicator of the uptake of the siliceous species in the human body. We analyzed the commercial products Original Silicea Balsam®, Flügge Siliceous Earth Powder, Pure Colloidal Silicon, and BioSil® by applying various methods such as FTIR, 29Si NMR, and TGA. The Si-OH group content of the samples containing pure silica was the highest for the Original Silicea Balsam followed by the Pure Colloidal Silicon. The siliceous earth powder revealed the lowest content of such groups and the densest structure. BioSil® contained a considerable concentration of organic molecules that stabilized orthosilicic acid. The study may help to understand the silicon uptake behavior of different food supplements depending on their chemical structure.

Keywords

• food supplements
• silica
• orthosilicic acid
• ²⁹Si solid-state NMR
• FTIR
• analysis