tuneTypical Dose
Common studied daily amount in ch-OSA products
Mineral
Silicon
Silicon
Evidence TierCWADA NOT PROHIBITED
watchEffect Window
Hair and nail outcomes take months.
check_circleCompliance
WADA NOT PROHIBITED
Overview
Clinical Summary
Oral silicon supplements such as ch-OSA may modestly improve some skin, hair, and nail outcomes, but the evidence is narrow and formulation specific.
Silicon supplements are usually marketed for connective tissue, skin, hair, nails, and bone. The clearest human evidence is not for bone. It is for modest improvements in skin surface properties and hair or nail brittleness using choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid. That makes silicon a narrow beauty-adjacent supplement rather than a broadly proven structural-health intervention.
Bioavailable silicon may support collagen-rich tissues and related structural properties, but direct human evidence is strongest only for certain skin, hair, and nail outcomes.
Outcomes
What This Is Expected To Influence
Primary Outcomes
- Modest improvement in some skin, hair, and nail properties
Secondary Outcomes
- Weak support for broad bone claims
Safety
Contraindications and Interactions
Contraindications
No entries provided
Side effects
- Mild GI upset
Interactions
No entries provided
Avoid if
- You cannot verify the form and dose
Evidence
Study-level References
si-SRC-001Randomized controlled trial
Sourceopen_in_newBarel A, et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on skin, nails and hair in women with photodamaged skin. Arch Dermatol Res. 2005;297(4):147-153. doi:10.1007/s00403-005-0574-0. PMID:16205932.
Population: Women with photodamaged skin.
Dose protocol: ch-OSA providing 10 mg silicon daily for 20 weeks
Key findings: Improved skin surface properties and hair or nail brittleness.
Notes: Best general cosmetic anchor.
Paper content
This is the clearest clinical-silicon anchor. It supports modest improvements in skin surface properties and hair or nail brittleness with ch-OSA, but not broad bone or connective-tissue claims.
si-SRC-002Randomized controlled trial
Sourceopen_in_newWickett RR, et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on hair tensile strength and morphology in women with fine hair. Arch Dermatol Res. 2007;299(10):499-505. doi:10.1007/s00403-007-0798-2. PMID:17960402.
Population: Women with fine hair.
Dose protocol: ch-OSA providing 10 mg silicon daily for 9 months
Key findings: Improved hair tensile strength.
Notes: Best hair-specific RCT.
Paper content
This trial supports a narrow hair-strength role for bioavailable silicon, but again mainly in ch-OSA products.
si-SRC-003Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Sourceopen_in_newTeughels W, Unal Celik G, Tarce M, et al. The effect of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid in patients with peri-implantitis: an exploratory randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study. BMC Oral Health. 2021;21(1):485. doi:10.1186/s12903-021-01817-4. PMID:34587941.
Population: Patients with peri-implantitis following surgical treatment.
Dose protocol: Oral ch-OSA versus placebo for 12 months after surgical peri-implantitis treatment
Key findings: Stabilized bone-to-implant contact and prevented tissue recession in the ch-OSA group versus placebo.
Notes: Small exploratory trial (n=21). Extends ch-OSA evidence to oral bone and tissue endpoints.
Paper content
This exploratory RCT tested oral choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA) versus placebo for 12 months in 21 patients with peri-implantitis after surgical treatment. Probing pocket depth and bleeding improved in both groups, but tissue recession progressed significantly only in the placebo group, and radiographic bone stability was maintained in the ch-OSA group. This study extends the ch-OSA literature beyond cosmetic endpoints into oral bone and tissue health, though the very small sample size makes it hypothesis-generating rather than definitive.
si-SRC-004Umbrella review (systematic review of systematic reviews and controlled studies).
Sourceopen_in_newPritchard A, Nielsen BD. Silicon Supplementation for Bone Health: An Umbrella Review Attempting to Translate from Animals to Humans. Nutrients. 2024;16(3):339. doi:10.3390/nu16030339. PMID:38337624.
Population: Animal models across species. The review explicitly aims to translate findings to human relevance.
Dose protocol: Umbrella review of animal silicon supplementation studies for bone health
Key findings: Silicon positively influenced bone metabolism in animal models at approximately 139 mg/kg/day, but this dose vastly exceeds feasible human intake.
Notes: Reinforces that bone health claims for silicon supplements lack practical human translation.
Paper content
This umbrella review examined controlled animal studies to determine if silicon supplementation supports bone health and whether doses are translatable to humans. Silicon appeared to positively influence bone metabolism at approximately 139 mg/kg body weight daily in animal models. However, this dose vastly exceeds current human silicon intake recommendations (25 mg/day), making direct translation impractical. The review highlights that while animal data support a role for silicon in bone metabolism, the effective doses are unlikely to be achievable through human supplementation, reinforcing that the strongest human evidence for silicon remains in skin, hair, and nail endpoints rather than bone.