Following a car accident, my automotive insurance company made me see an orthodox medical doctor to cure me of whiplash and excruciating back pain. The medical doctor, after briefly examining me, prescribed painkillers. I told the physician that I never take any drugs, not even aspirin. Only on repeated insistence was I referred to 'physio' therapy, which, however I quickly found wasn't affording long term relief. Neither did subsequent 'bone cracking' therapy. What did eventually work for me was intensive silica supplementation together with massage therapy, obtained only after repeatedly insisting to the doctor that everything else didn't obtain pain relief. Surprised?

Prescribing drugs to suppress symptoms is the standard approach of medicine, even today. Yet some advanced orthodox medical scientists are beginning to realize that prescription of drugs and antibiotics is downright dangerous to the immune system. Drugs, together with camouflaging symptoms (mark you, not healing, but hiding the underlying disease conditions!), shatter the body's ability to function holistically.

What can we safely turn to when accident or illness strikes? The key to maintaining or regaining wellness may truly be prevention, but when accident or illness strike because of oversight or lack of foresight, there still are natural remedies we can turn to, remedies that work without dangerous side effects. One of the best for both accidental or degenerative tissue damage is silica! The amazing nutrient combination of silicon and oxygen, i.e., organic silica, has the inherent power to turn the progression of disease and injury into a regenerative process of healing.

Uncovering the Silica Wonder

The human fetus has an abundant supply of silica in its unborn tissues. The developing organism needs this glut of silica to form its tissues. The bones, capsules, ligaments, cartilage, blood vessels, and skeletal systems such as the dental structures, are made up of fibers that are rich in silica. So are the surrounding tissues that keep these structures in place. One of the most important of the 'connective tissue' ingredients is collagen, making up one third of all body protein. Collagen underlies the beauty of skin, hair, and nails, forming it, replacing it, keeping it beautiful and young looking, in a word, keeping the body healthy.

Loss of beauty and loss of health are closely identified with loss of silica. Scientific studies found that silica diminishes rapidly with age. Studies done on the human aorta show that by age ten, much silica is lost and, while slowing down, the downward curve declines with advancing years. In all, silica content remains higher for males. This points to a greater need for silica supplementation for females. It is a proven medical fact that the stature of children born of weak, undernourished, sickly mothers, could after weaning be dramatically improved by adding supplementary silica to their food. Such children improved their less than ideal weight and chest measurements.

Other medical studies show silica of vital importance in bone formation. Many experts, among them Prof. Dr. Kervran and Prof. Dr. Carlisle, presented evidence that silica is more vital in bone formation than calcium. While Kervran's research suggests that silica transmutes into calcium inside the living body, Carlisle found that silica is vital to bone formation, appearing at the osteoblast and there placing calcium. The conclusion is obvious. Silica has the power to remineralize calcium into bone. This means that osteoporosis could be prevented and treated with silica.

Silica Supplementation

According to Kervran, only organic vegetal silica holds the key to health. Kervran discovered and utilized the silica-rich spring horsetail (Equisetum urvense) as, in his words, the most effective silica. Kervran invented and patented a unique aqueous extraction method of neutralizing alkaloids present in horsetail. His method, proprietary and therefore secret, can be briefly described as a process of "atomization" and "reconstitution" that makes Kervran vegetal silica, and only Kervran vegetal silica, safe for long-term therapy.

Hobby herbalists, collecting horsetail, must know that other horsetail varieties contain even more alkaloids than spring horsetail. As they look alike when dried, it is important to verify the absence of alkaloids through methods such as chromatography. This avoids misuse. It should also be remembered that, while drinking the occasional cup or horsetail tea as a great diuretic, a hemostatic and a vulnerary, such unprocessed horsetails are not intended for long-term internal therapeutic uses.

Nonetheless, by those knowledgeable in herbal lore, any silica-rich horsetail herb can be made into a poultice for stimulating and accelerating wound healing, as a hair rinse and as a skin conditioner. Remember though that in the old days, horsetail was called 'scouring rush' and 'bottle brush' because of the abrasive powers of the unprocessed plant. Kervran, however, suggests that silica's greatest benefits come from internal use with the proper formula. In a radical break with traditional pharmacology, and supported by elements of atomic research, Professor Kervran points to silica as the ground substance for the body's mineralization.

Silica's Biological Transmutation

I would draw attention to the fact that the discovery of biological transmutations by the late Professor Louis C. Kervran would seem farfetched to anyone with a chemistry or pharmacy background. Yet transmutations are now recognized in medicine. Professor Kervran's biological transmutation holds that silica transmutes into calcium inside the living body. The contrariety of his views is clearly acknowledged, yet Professor Kervran was a Nobel Prize Nominee for his unique contribution to biochemistry and held that processes that occur inside the body, i.e., in vivo, cannot be judged from mere observations in petri dishes, i.e., from in vitro processes.

Biological transmutations are more fully explained in my book Silica--The Forgotten Nutrient. It details the astounding theory and how it may indeed occur inside of us, provided we are rich enough in silica (SiO2, i.e., the silicon-oxygen molecule, which, supported by flavonoids, is the main medicinal basis of vegetal silica like VegeSil¨).

Regeneration with Vegetal Silica

Decline in mobility and associated discomforts are the complaints of aging. But consider these overwhelming 'youthful' facts: silica is the vital ingredient in maintaining shiny, youthful looking hair. Silica, by enabling proper formation of collagen under our skin, prevents wrinkling. Silica is the key ingredient in growing beautiful nails that stay flexible and don't become brittle or break off. Silica speeds up the repair of broken bones and prevents scar tissue. Through its elastogenic facility silica restores flexibility to aging joints. Not surprising, organic vegetal silica has become the therapeutic choice of self-medication. Naturopaths, holistic or nutritionally aware medical practitioners are applying it in the prevention and treatment of many degenerative conditions. Silica's anti-oxidant, anti-aging effect has been found to prevent or help alleviate osteoporosis, arthritis, inflammatory rheumatic disorders, and arteriosclerosis.

Silica, in close cooperation with vitamin C, has the unique and vital ability of holding moisture in body tissues known as mucopolysaccharides. Also known as glycosaminoglycanes, these mucous carbohydrates together with collagen and elastin make up our connective tissue, the body's most prevalent tissues. Wouldn't you know it, both collagen and elastin are rich in silica, too, and require silica for their formation. Collagen has been rightly called 'the glue that holds us together.' As if that wasn't enough, silica is truly vital to our tooth structures. It is involved in the hardening of enamel, prevents bleeding gums and recession, the cause of loosening of teeth, which ultimately leads to the need for dentures. Here we have one more indicator for silica's ability to prevent premature aging.

Grandmother's Remedy of Choice

Though silica-containing herbal plants, most notably horsetail, have been known for a long time in folk medicine, silica's restorative powers are ignored by the medical establishment. Yet already a hundred years ago the great scientist and healer. Dr. Louis Pasteur, proclaimed silica the ultimate future remedy. Silica puts calcium back into the bones and provides the major lubricant in our bodies. Nature provides silica, a vital nutrient, in a number of foods. It is plentiful in potatoes, oats and other cereal grains. Yet, through the over-refining and processing of grains and the continuous and combined onslaught of impeding environmental pollution, bad eating habits, and loss of adequate absorption ability, i.e., aging, body silica diminishes with age. To get it back into the tissues, we can boost silica metabolism though supplementation.

Increased bioavailability to the body's metabolism can be assured through naturaly chelated supplements. The rate of absorption is a major criterion in choosing the right supplement. Natural chelates present in organic vegetal silica assist in successfully absorbing it through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream and from there into the tissues. Successful supplementation can be ensured if silica is extracted from natural horsetail herb, such as VegeSil¨, carefully extracted from springtime horsetail herbs according to the aqueous extraction method that eliminates horsetail's abrasive quality.