» http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=19091&zoneid=28
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» Clinical Study Validates Jarrow Formulas® BioSil™ Improves Hair Quality
»
» 2007/07/26 - Jarrow Formulas
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» Los Angeles, California, July 27, 2007– The results of a clinical trial
» investigating the effects of Jarrow Formulas® silicon supplement BioSil™,
» which contains a choline-stabilized and concentrated form of orthosilicic
» acid, ch-OSA™, on hair thickness, strength and elasticity, was presented
» by University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy Professor R. Randall
» Wickett at the Fifth International Congress of Hair Research held in
» Vancouver Canada on June 13-16, 2007.
» An international research team conducted a 9-month, randomized,
» double-blind placebo controlled study using 48 healthy Caucasian women
» with fine hair and an average age of 43.3 years. Half the women
» supplemented their regular diet with 10 mg of silicon in the form of
» choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid, while the other half received a
» placebo. The BioSil™ group experienced a significant improvement over the
» placebo group including:
»
» - Increased cross sectional area of hair fibers: 7.8 percent increase
» average (twice the placebo group)
» - Increased diameter of hair fibers: 3.8 percent increase average (1.7
» percent for the placebo group).
» - Hair tensile strength and elasticity decreased significantly in the
» placebo group (- 10.8 %) whereas in the BioSil™ group no significant
» change was observed.
»
» “This is a rigorously controlled study demonstrating that the oral intake
» of a dietary supplement may improve hair quality,” says Randy Wickett,
» Ph.D, Professor and Director of the Cosmetic Science Program at the
» University of Cincinnati. “Hair tensile properties such as strength and
» elasticity may degrade over time because of exposure to sunlight or other
» factors. In this study the intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid
» increased the diameter of the hair and reduced the loss of elasticity and
» tensile strength compared to placebo.”
»
» BioSil™ (US patent 5,922,360) contains a choline-stabilized and
» concentrated form of orthosilicic acid, ch-OSA™ and is manufactured by Bio
» Minerals n.v. in Destelbergen, Belgium. The observed improvement in hair
» expands upon prior clinical research showing beneficial effects on human
» hair from orally consuming BioSil. Previously, a significant reduction of
» hair brittleness was observed in a 20-week study titled “Effect of oral
» intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on skin, hair and nails in
» women with photodamaged skin” published in Archives of Dermatological
» Research (2005) 297: 147-153.
I won’t buy Bio-Sil, and I have doubts about this study.
It’s not that I think it definitely won’t help, but there are a gazillion products that supposedly help and I’d go poor trying them all.
Here’s my test of when I think a study or product claims are legit:
If there are many manufacturers or suppliers of a particular product and studies are about the substance in general, not about a particular suppliers’ product.
In this case, Bio-Sil is made by one manufacturer, a Belgium manufacturer. It is marketed by the reputable company Jarrow under the name Bio-Sil.
I’ve looked at all these product reviews and generally the claims are way too miraculous especially given the modest claims of the study itself.
I think someone got paid to spread the word on blogs that Bio-Sil is great for hair. It may in fact be very good for hair, but so might a lot of other things.
I did notice at the bottom of a long list of some of these positive reviews some people were saying things like “I didn’t see any results.” Granted a lot more said they saw great results, but were they paid by the Belgium manufacturer to write this stuff? Or by Jarrows? Or by a distributor?