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Silicon
A trace element, taken here as orthosilicic acid stabilised with choline. EFSA assessed the claims put forward for it, on collagen, bones, skin and hair among others, and rejected them. It sits in one formula, at 10 mg, which is exactly the maximum the German BfR proposes for food supplements.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
No authorised claim. EFSA turned down collagen, bones, skin and hair.
There is no health claim for silicon on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. EFSA assessed the claims put forward for it and rejected them (EFSA Journal 2011;9(6):2259): on collagen formation, the maintenance of bones, joints, skin and hair, the lining of the stomach, and protection against aluminium in the brain. None of them made it into Regulation 432/2012.There is no health claim for silicon on the EU register. EFSA assessed the ones put forward for it, on collagen, bones, joints, skin and hair among others, and rejected them, so there is nothing for us to quote.
You will read that silicon builds collagen, strengthens your bones or improves your hair. Those are exactly the areas where EFSA said no. What our file describes is mechanism: silicon takes part in making collagen, as a cofactor of prolyl hydroxylase, the enzyme that stabilises its triple helix, and in the matrix and mineralisation of bone. That is a reason to include it, not a permission to promise anything. In Skin, hair & nails, the claims for hair, skin and nails come from the biotin, vitamin C and zinc next to it, not from the silicon.
WHY CHOLINE-STABILISED
No claim to protect. The form decides how much reaches you.
No form of silicon carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our form file prefers orthosilicic acid stabilised with choline, ch-OSA, the form EFSA assessed in 2009 and considered safe as a source of silicon in food supplements. It dissolves in water, stays stable in liquid and tastes neutral, which is what a liquid formula needs. Our composition table does not tie the formula to a form yet, so this is the form on file, not a locked specification.
Our form file records it, like elemental silicon, as much less available to your body than ch-OSA. It is not the form we would use.
Our notes put how much of it you absorb at 1 to 3%. It is the comparison behind our choice, and not a form we use.
Orthosilicic acid stabilised with choline. Our form file records it as soluble in water, stable in liquid and neutral in taste, sensitive to heat and best kept between pH 4 and 6.
Our records do not agree on how much of it you absorb. One note puts it at 17.5%, against 1 to 3% for sodium silicate; our pharmacokinetic file records 50 to 86% and uses the middle of that range, 68%; our form file says 70%. None of these is an authorised claim, and we would rather show you the disagreement than pick the most flattering number. Our files agree that it leaves your body through the kidneys, but not on timing: they put any effect 2 to 4 weeks away in one line and 12 weeks away in another.Our records do not agree on how much of it you absorb: 17.5% in one note, 50 to 86% in another, 70% in a third. None of these is an authorised claim.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries silicon.
It appears only in Skin, hair & nails, the CORE formula taken each morning, preferably with breakfast, next to biotin, vitamin C, zinc, hydrolysed collagen and hyaluronic acid. Our file sets no timing of its own for silicon, so the window is the formula's. The formula is pending clinical validation and has its own exclusions, listed on its page.
THE CEILING
No EFSA limit. The BfR proposes 10 mg, and we serve 10.
EFSA has not established an upper intake level for silicon: in 2004 its panel found the data insufficient to set one, and it does not class silicon as an essential nutrient, so no NRV is set either. The figure we work to is the maximum the German BfR proposes for food supplements, 10 mg of silicon a day, which our file treats as a precautionary limit in the absence of an EFSA one. Skin, hair & nails carries exactly 10 mg: it sits on that line, not over it.EFSA has not established an upper limit for silicon. We work to the German BfR's proposed maximum of 10 mg a day in supplements, and the one formula that carries it serves exactly 10 mg.
Only Skin, hair & nails carries it, at 10 mg each morning. That reaches the BfR maximum without passing it, which leaves no room for a second source of silicon. The engine has no rule written for silicon yet: today, what keeps your total at 10 mg is that only one formula carries it.
Our file holds no data on side effects, or on what happens above 10 mg a day. EFSA did not set a limit because the data were insufficient. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign that more is fine.
If you have severe kidney failure, ask a health professional first: silicon leaves your body through the kidneys, and this is the one warning on our label written for silicon itself. Like any food supplement, do not exceed the recommended daily dose, do not use it instead of a varied and balanced diet, and keep it out of reach of young children. Our file lists no other contraindication, and its research on silicon is still marked as pending: it has nothing yet on pregnancy, breastfeeding or under 18. That is missing data, not a clearance. It contains none of the fourteen allergens that must be declared in the EU, and our file records no known restriction for vegan, halal, kosher or gluten-free diets. Skin, hair & nails is also ruled out if you take a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin, because of the vitamin C in it, and lists further cautions on its page.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
Silicon is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented none of them so far, out of the 443 pairs on file. That is an unchecked row, not a clean one.
Our interaction table has no pair for silicon, either as a synergy or as something to keep apart. In Skin, hair & nails it shares a morning with biotin, vitamin C, zinc, hydrolysed collagen and hyaluronic acid, and none of those five pairs is documented yet.
None of our engine rules names silicon. Nothing moves it to another window or lowers its dose today, because nothing documented asks for it.
Our drug table has no row for silicon. Our notes record that it is not significantly processed by the CYP450 enzymes in your liver, and that it leaves your body through the kidneys. Nothing documented is not the same as proven safe, so if you take regular medication, ask first.
443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.443 of the 9,730 possible pairs in our library are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
Every one of them has a page like this.
What it is, what we are allowed to say about it, which formulas carry it, what it reacts with and where each of those statements comes from. No proprietary blends, no hidden amounts.