Beer promotes differentiation and mineralization of human osteoblastic cells: Role of silicon

Silicon (Si) is an essential element for bone metabolism and beer is one of the richest sources of orthosilicic acid (OSA), the readily bioavailable form of Si. In this work, we compared the in vitro pro-anabolic effects on human osteoblastic cells of OSA and beer. We determined the optimal OSA concentration range positively affecting cell viability, proliferation, osteoblastic differentiation and collagen synthesis. Even more positive effects were obtained treating cells with beer containing the optimal dose of silicon, since beer also promoted cells differentation increasing alkaline phosphatase activity, mineral nodules formation, collagen and glycosaminoglycans synthesis and nitric oxide release. This study showed, for the first time, that beer has evident beneficial effects towards osteoblastic functionality, in respect to OSA alone and this may probably be ascribed to its interrelationship with other elements present in the whole beverage, thus supporting the potential use of beer as nutraceutical to prevent bone omeostastasis unbalance.