No scientific evidence supporting claims of diatomaceous earth’s “detox” benefits

Key takeaway

Diatomaceous earth is a kind of sedimentary rock composed of the shells of diatoms, a type of microscopic algae. These shells are rich in silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen. Diatomaceous earth is used in a wide range of applications, as pesticides and as filters in food production. However, there’s currently no scientific evidence showing that consuming diatomaceous earth or silica supplements is beneficial to health.

Reviewed content

Verdict:

Unsupported

Claim:

Diatomaceous earth contains silica, which is important for absorbing minerals, water, and vitamins; it’s also antiparasitic and detoxes the body

Verdict detail

Inadequate support: Scientific evidence on the role of silica in the human body is largely limited to its hypothetical benefits for bone health. There’s no evidence supporting the claim that it’s antiparasitic or that it removes heavy metals from the body.
Factually inaccurate: The claim that people are deficient in silica rests on the assumption that a recommended level of silica intake has been established. However, at the time of writing, no recommended intake for silica has been established, since the role of silica in the human body is still unclear.

See our method of evaluation

Full Claim

“Why are people deficient in Silica?”; “What is Diatomaceous Earth? Why do we use it? 80% silica, antiparasitic, rebalances hormones, heavy metal detox!”; “The challenge is, without silica, we can’t absorb minerals, water, and vitamins properly.”

A video uploaded to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok claimed that without silica “we can’t absorb minerals, water, and vitamins properly”, and that silica in diatomaceous earth is “antiparasitic” and a “heavy metal detox”.

The claim was made by Garry Lineham, co-founder of the company Human Garage, who describes himself on Facebook as a “Master Fascial Maneuver Instructor”. The company, which has more than a million followers on Instagram and TikTok each, promotes the practice of “fascial maneuvers”, claiming it can “release traumatic memories stored in the body’s connective tissue, promoting emotional release and relief from persistent mental and physical health issues”.

Human Garage also sells supplements. One is the Fascial Foundation supplement that contains diatomaceous earth, which comes at a price of USD 47.99. The supplement was promoted in the caption of the video, which was viewed more than 595,000 times across all three platforms.

We found no record showing that Lineham holds relevant medical or scientific credentials. A Rolling Stone article from October 2024 reported that Lineham was previously known as Nathanael Garrard Lineham, and that he had been convicted in 2010 for distributing encrypted BlackBerry phones to a drug trafficking ring operating in the U.S. and Canada. Lineham alluded to this period of time in his life in an article on the Human Garage website, but claimed these were “trumped up charges”.

As we will explain below, Lineham’s claim about silica’s health benefits isn’t supported by scientific evidence.

Diatomaceous earth is a kind of sedimentary rock composed of the shells of diatoms, a type of microscopic algae. These shells are rich in silica, a compound of silicon and oxygen. Diatomaceous earth is used in a wide range of applications. For example, it’s used as a pesticide as it absorbs oils and fats on the exoskeleton of insects, causing the insects to dry up. It’s also used in food production, as a filter for clarifying syrups and beverages.

Silica is also common in the food and water we consume. Vanessa King, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told Science Feedback in an email that silica occurs naturally in plant-based foods like cereal, grain, fruit, and vegetables. Small quantities can also be found in meat.

Indeed, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that “silicon is readily available from meals” and that food is a major source of silica, with beer, bananas, and white bread among the examined food sources with the greatest amounts of silica^[1].

However, silica doesn’t have high bioavailability, King said, meaning it isn’t readily absorbed in the body.

Claims that diatomaceous earth provides various health benefits like “detoxing” the body have circulated for years, as this 2016 article on Science-Based Medicine demonstrates. The article also highlighted the dearth of evidence for such claims.

In the video, Lineham also provided no evidence to substantiate his claims that silica helps the body absorb water and nutrients and that silica removes heavy metals. We reached out to Human Garage seeking this evidence and will update this review if new information becomes available.

The latter claim might be based on some early findings in fish, indicating that silica can bind to aluminum. Some researchers have investigated this effect in relation to a potential association between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease^[2]. However, the link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease remains unproven. Thus, extrapolating such findings to silica’s effects on heavy metals would be faulty due to insufficient evidence.

King stated that it is “possible that silicon is essential for health”, as studies in animals found that silicon deficiency induced bone deformities.

One review of the scientific literature published in 2007 also referenced animal studies suggesting that silica could be important for bone and connective tissue health. However, it also added that these haven’t been replicated in later studies, “at least to the same magnitude and thus the essentiality of Si in higher animals remains questionable”. It also stated that “[t]here are no known symptoms or diseases of silicon excess or deficiency in humans”.

Later reviews of the scientific literature, one from 2021 and another from 2024, similarly discussed the role of silicon in the human body^[3,4]. But like the review from 2007, both connected silicon with hypothetical benefits for bone health only, based mainly on cell and animal studies.

We reached out to the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, regarding silica’s role in the human body.

In an email, Stefan Pasiakos, the director of the ODS, stated that “silica is not considered essential” to the human body and that “there is no established recommended intake for silica”.

Pasiakos wrote that he wasn’t aware of any evidence showing that silica-containing supplements would “detox” the body and remove parasites.

The U.S. Department of Defense Dietary Supplement Resource states that “the biological role of silicon in humans is uncertain, so there is no recommended dietary intake amount”.

Claims that people need to routinely “detox” and remove parasites from their body have been popular on social media platforms. They are also commonly attached to advertisements of dubious supplements like zeolite. Science Feedback addressed these claims in previous articles and explained that these practices are largely unsubstantiated by evidence and could even be harmful.

Commenting on the popularity of diatomaceous earth supplements, King said that “I think the appeal of silica is that it’s natural. But natural doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for you or better”, and added that people should seek advice from their medical provider if they’re concerned about parasites.

Conclusion

While the findings of studies in cells and animals suggest that silica may be beneficial to bone health, there isn’t sufficient evidence in humans establishing that silica is indeed beneficial. Further studies are needed to improve our understanding of silica’s potential effects on the human body.

There’s no evidence to support Lineham’s claim that silica removes parasites and heavy metals in humans. Studies have found that food is a major source of readily available silica. There’s no evidence to indicate that consuming additional silica in the form of diatomaceous earth or other supplements confers health benefits.

REFERENCES

• 1 – Jugdaohsingh et al. (2002) Dietary silicon intake and absorption. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
• 2 – Rondeau et al. (2000) Relation between aluminum concentrations in drinking water and Alzheimer’s disease: an 8-year follow-up study. American Journal of Epidemiology.
• 3 – Rondanelli et al. (2021) Silicon: A neglected micronutrient essential for bone health. Experimental Biology and Medicine.
• 4 – Pritchard and Nielsen. (2024) Silicon Supplementation for Bone Health: An Umbrella Review Attempting to Translate from Animals to Humans. Nutrients.