The Effects of Silicon in Beer & its

Association with Bone Health

Devi Dinghoor
The Sage Colleges
Fall 2016

Abstract
Background: Calcium and vitamin D are very popular for decreasing the
risk of osteoporosis, however, research is suggesting that silicon (Si) is
in an important contributor to bone health as well. The purpose of this
study is to determine the richest source of silicon and its effect on bone
health.
Result: Beer is the richest source of Si by having 6.4 to 56.5 mg/L of
silicon in it. Silicon in beer increases bone mineral density (BMD) in
postmenopausal women. Postmenopausal women who have more than 1
drink a day had a significantly greater femoral neck BMD (P = 0.008)
than postmenopausal women who did not drink at all.
Conclusion: It is concluded that beer is the richest source of silicon and
it increases the bone mineral density of bones.

Introduction
Dietary silicon is recognized to have an important role in bone health
growth and development preventing bone diseases such as
osteoporosis.
Even though silicon is associated with several health benefits, it is not
considered as an essential nutrient for the body. Therefore, there is no
recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for this mineral.
Some forms of silicon are indigestible, such as silica found in processed
foods. The digestible form of silicon is orthosilicic acid, which are only
found in liquids such as water and beer.
Orthosilicic acid yields a 50 % bioavailability making beer a major
contributor of dietary silicon. Silicon in beer has been claimed to
strengthen the development of bones since it is consider the richest
source of silicon.

Subjects & Methods Part 1

A study was done to determine the amount of silicon found in a 100
commercial beers brought from a local grocery store. The data was
categorized according to beer style and source.
Each sample of commercial beer was degassed in a 2 L vacuum flask
for 3 h under a vacuum of 137.8 kPa (20 lb/in2). Sixty milliliters of
each sample was submitted for analysis.
Malts were ground following the American Society of Brewing
Chemists standard method Malt 4 and dried at 102 C for 3 h prior to
analysis as above. Hops were dried at 102 C for 3 h prior to be
analyzed for silicon content.

Subjects & Methods Part 2

A cross-sectional study design was used to examine the relation
between alcohol intake and BMD in a cohort.
Subjects included 3,218 postmenopausal women chosen from the
Aberdeen Prospective Osteoporosis Screening Study age 50 to 62
years old.
Subjects were grouped into clusters according to their lifestyle
choices.
ANCOVA was done using SPSS to examine the effect of categorized
alcohol intake on BMD adjusted for cluster of lifestyle.
The ANCOVA was repeated for different types of alcoholic beverage
(eg, beer, liquor, and wine) separately.

Results
Compare to the other dietary sources of silicon(Si), beer is the richest source of
Si.
The average silicon content found in each beer ranges from 6.4 to 56.5 mg/L.
The silicon is found in the hops of the beer. Hops have four times more silicon
than malt.
Indian Pale Ales are hoppier beers, therefore, they have a higher silicon content
than other beers.
As shown in Table 1, Indian Pale Ales led the way averaging 41.2 ppm of silicon.
It was found that lighter color beer contain more silicon than darker colored
beers, such as the chocolate, roasted barley, and black malt, all have substantial
roasting. Thus the reason for the high content of silicon in IPAs, which is a
lighter color beer.

Table 1. Silicon Content of

Commercial Beers
Category of
Beer

Si, Average
(ppm)

Category of
Beer

Si, Average
(ppm)

All

29.4

Wheat

18.9

Ales

32.8

Pale Ale

36.5

Lagers

23.7

Sorghum

27.3

Regular Lagers

23.8

USA

31.6

Light Lagers

17.2

International

20.4

IPA

41.2

California

34.2

Non- Alcoholic

16.3

Colorado

20.8

Results
Silicon is a not consider an essential nutrient for the body, however, it is important for the
development of bone health.
Beer is the richest source of silicon, therefore, drinking beer in moderation increases the
bone mineral density in bones.
Research shows that those who are consuming alcoholic beverage have a higher bone
mineral density.
In a study that examine the relationship between the intake of alcohol and its association
with bone mineral density found that postmenopausal women who have more than 1 drink
a day had a significantly greater femoral neck BMD (P = 0.008) than postmenopausal
women who did not drink at all.
Women who had more than 1 drink a day had a higher lumbar spine BMD (P = 0.007) than
the women who were non-drinkers. However, beer was the only alcoholic beverage that
had a greater significant outcome on lumbar spine BMD after the adjustment for lifestyle
(P= 0.005).

Results continued..
Calcium and vitamin D are very popular for decreasing the risk of osteoporosis, however,
silicon is in an important contributor to bone health as well.
Studies has proven that intakes of more than 40mg per day of silicon can decrease the risk of
developing osteoporosis because it increases BMD.
Those who are consuming an additional 40 mg of silicon daily has found to have a higher
femoral bone mineral density than those who are consuming less than 14 mg of silicon a day.

Summary
Silicon (SI) plays an important role in the growth and development of
bone bones.
After analyzing 100 commercially available beers for their silicon
content, it was found that the average silicon content ranged from 6.4 to
56.5 mg/L making beer one of the richest sources of silicon.
Silicon in beer increases bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.
More that 40 g of silicon increases BMD. The average daily intake is 20
to 50 mg, 2 liters of beer fulfills that requirement.
Silicon reduces the risk of developing the bone-thinning disease,
osteoporosis.

Conclusion
Research concludes that moderate intake of alcoholic drinks such as
beer seems to have a positive correlation with bone mineral density in
postmenopausal women.
Moderate intakes of beer is good for the development of bones and can
help fight osteoporosis, but heavy drinking can deteriorate those health
benefits of silicon in beer.
It is recommended to consume a higher intake of dietary silicon because
more than 40 mg per day increases bone mineral density (BMD).
More research needs to be done because there is not enough evidence
that explains the mechanism of silicon in relation to increasing bone
mineral density.

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