Childhood neuro-motor disorders treated with silica-rich mineral water: A case report

Full text

Case Report http://doi.org/10.18231/j.jpmhh.2019.013
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Holistic Health, January-June, 2019;5(1):70-72 70
Childhood neuro-motor disorders treated with silica-rich mineral water: A case report
Tullio Grassi
Faculty Specialist, Dept. of Physics, University of Maryland, USA
*Corresponding Author: Tullio Grassi
Email: tgrassi@umd.edu
Abstract
Previous works have shown the benefits of drinking silica-rich mineral water by patients diagnosed with specific neurological
diseases. The suggested mechanism is that silica-rich water facilitates the removal of aluminum from the body and the
nervous system. This report describes the case of a child with a mix of neurological and motor symptoms that have greatly
decreased while drinking silica-rich water over a period of less than one year. These improvements also show a correlation
with EEG results. A discussion of potential sources of aluminum that the child was exposed to is also included.
Keywords: Child, Neurological disorders, Motor skills, Seizures, Silicon, Aluminum.
Case Report
A previously healthy male child, between three or four years
of age, started to present the following symptoms: shaking
repeatedly his head left and right as if to say "no", pain in
the legs without apparent reason, chronic cough during
sleeping time without symptoms of either a cold or a
gastroesophageal reflux disease. These symptoms were not
of sufficient concern to be reported to doctors.
When the child reached 52‐months of age, new, more
serious symptoms appeared including episodes of full-body
involuntary movements and absence seizures that included
not responding to words and appearing confused or in a
haze. Each of these episodes typically had a duration of less
than a minute. The child was taken to the emergency room
of a children’s university hospital in Switzerland. The
family had taken video recordings of the movements and
these were shown to doctors.
Full-body involuntary movements were of two types:
one type was walking in a repetitive pattern, while making
anomalous movements of hands, arms, feet. The other type
happened when the child was either in bed or on a similarly
flat surface. In this type, the movement was starting from a
knee-elbow position, then the child suddenly pushed his
legs making a small horizontal jump and often hitting his
head on obstacles in front of him.
There is no family history of neurological disorders. The
child’s two parents and four grandparents have never been
diagnosed with neurological disorders.
After the appearance of more serious symptoms, these
symptoms were more carefully observed and recorded in a
journal. The following three additional anomalies were
noted:
1. During sleep the child had shaking and tremors of body
parts, the tremors were not visible by eye but was very
clear by touching the child, and these tremors typically
happened in bursts;
2. While awake, for a period of less than a minute, the
child did not respond to words and did not remember
appealing words told to him (the word “chocolate” was
normally used);
3. While awake, for a period of less than a minute, strange
smiling expressions with no apparent reason.
The last two symptoms observed when the child was awake
seem similar to absence seizures.
During a 24-hour period the child had an average of about
seven involuntary full-body episodes, and a higher amount
of episodes with the other anomalies. In the subsequent
months the child was able to explain that during these
episodes, his arms or legs were moving by themselves and
he did not like that; on the contrary he liked the left-right
head shaking. When he had a strange smiling expression, he
denied he was smiling. During the period with maximum
symptoms (age 52 and 53 months) the child showed
increased tiredness and problems of loss of balance when
walking, running, playing, in moments when apparently he
was not having the episodes previously described. The
episodes were rare when the child was focused on a task he
liked.
A 40-minute video-EEG was done 3 days after the visit
at the emergency room and revealed epileptiform patterns
(spike waves in the left back area of the brain). Initial report
from the neurology department described them as focal
epilepsy. Five days later, an 18-hour video-EEG was done.
Reports from these two EEGs agreed. However, later
analysis of the video recordings done during the EEGs
showed that the spike waves events did not correspond to
any anomalous body movement. At this point the hypothesis
of focal epilepsy was discarded.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not show any
anomaly. Blood, urine, throat swab direct tests and cultures
were performed in order to investigate a hypothesis of
PANDAS. The tests did not reveal any sign of infection
(including Streptococcus Groups A, C, G), and did not show
anomalies with Anti-NMDA-Receptors.
Child neurologists from three different hospitals have
seen the child and the test results. They all agreed that the
child had one or more neurological disorders, and they
considered various diseases including epilepsy, PANDAS,

Tullio Grassi Childhood neuro-motor disorders treated with silica-rich mineral water: A…
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Holistic Health, January-June, 2019;5(1):70-72 71
complex tics, stereotyped movements, but they did not
confirm any of these diagnoses.
A change in the diet was introduced, replacing as much
as possible tap water with silica-rich mineral water, based
on positive results with this type of mineral water on various
neurological diseases.1,2 The mineral waters used for this
case were first the commercially available brand Carrefour
Eau d'Auvergne, that is no longer available, and second
Volvic, both with a content of 32 mg/l of silica (SiO2).
Family members administered the silicon-rich water as
much as possible, however when the child was at pre-school
or school (about 9 hours per day, on normal school days) he
continued drinking tap water. The child has maintained this
pattern of water intake to date. When the child started
drinking silica-rich mineral water he had also stopped
drinking infant formulas and started to have a more varied
diet. After two months of these changes in diet, the child’s
symptoms started to diminish. After eight months of this
new diet, the involuntary full-body movements were
reduced from the initial value of about 50 per week to about
5 per week (Fig. 1). A similar reduction was observed for
the other symptoms, including the chronic cough and
absence seizure frequency.
Fig. 1: Evolution over time of aluminum excretions and
episodes of full-body involuntary movements. EEG at 52
months of age showed epileptiform anomalies. Drinking of
silica-rich water started at 52.5 months. EEG at 64 months
showed normal results (no anomalies).
Several urine analyses were performed in order to measure
the amount of aluminum excreted. The results are plotted in
figure. The plot shows that the aluminum content of the
urine has decreased to a level below the detection capability
of the laboratory. This trend follows the decrease in the
neuro-disorders of the child. Another EEG was performed at
the age of 64 months and it was normal (no anomalies). The
child has never used any neurological drug, and he has not
used any drug on a regular basis.
Discussion
For this case, it has not been possible to formulate a clear
diagnosis based on documented diseases, and this has
motivated further investigations. Medical literature 4,5 and
clinical experience show that it is not rare to have
neurological disorders appearing in children around 5 year
of age, and gradually declining during adolescence. In this
case, the symptoms were greatly reduced within less than a
year. This relatively fast evolution suggests that aluminum
accumulation causes neuro-disorders and drinking silicon-
rich water can cure these disorders.
Aluminum has no useful role in human beings and
animals and is a known neuro toxic element.3 This case
report shows that aluminum was present in the body, and
implies that silicon-rich water facilitated the removal of
some of it. During this removal process, the child’s neuro-
disorders, chronic cough and EEG results improved.
Another implication is that the chronic cough of this case
seems to be of neurological origin,6 as the other common
causes (cold, gastroesophageal reflux disease) did not match
the symptoms.
Potential sources of aluminum that the child was
exposed to were examined. Sources of aluminum reported in
literature are: tap water,7 infant formulas,8 other processed
foods,9 vaccines.3,10 Of these potential sources, tap water
from the house where the child has lived was tested and
showed a content of aluminum of 6.8 μg/l, which is well
within regulations and this content excludes tap water from
the significant sources of aluminum. The only processed
food that he had on a regular basis were infant formulas
(Aptimal brand). Mitkus et al.11 estimated the body burden
of aluminum during the first 400 days of life for infants on
formula diets and for a standard vaccination schedule, and
the estimates show that the burden of aluminum from
vaccinations exceeds that from dietary sources.11 The
child’s aluminum containing vaccinations were: Infanrix
DTPa-IPV+Hib (4 doses at 500 μg aluminum per dose),
Prevenar13 (3 doses at 125 μg aluminum per dose),
NeisVac-C Baxter (1 dose at 500 μg aluminum per dose).
The child was also vaccinated with Priorix (2 doses) but this
vaccine does not contain an aluminum adjuvant.
Aptimal First Milk powdered infant formulas have been
tested for aluminum and found to result in the ingestion of
124 μg of aluminum per day on average.8 Aptimal Follow
On powdered infant formulas were also tested and found to
result in the ingestion of 137 μg of aluminum per day on
average.8 Unlike vaccinations that are 100% bioavailable,
only 0.2% (0.25 to 0.27 μg) of the aluminum per day is
estimated on average to be absorbed by the gut from these
Aptimal formulas and made bioavailable to a child’s body.12
After four years on these infant formulas the child
absorbed approximately 390 μg of aluminum, while the total
amount of aluminum added to the child’s body by
vaccinations is estimated to be 2875 μg.

Tullio Grassi Childhood neuro-motor disorders treated with silica-rich mineral water: A…
Journal of Preventive Medicine and Holistic Health, January-June, 2019;5(1):70-72 72
Conclusions
The presented case suggests that aluminum can be a cause
of child intoxication. Moreover, it shows that silica-rich
mineral water can be used as a treatment for these cases.
Source of Funding: None.
Conflicts of Interest: None.
References
1. Exley C, Mamutse G, Korchazhkina O, Pye E, Strekopytov S,
Polwart A, et al. Elevated urinary excretion of aluminium and
iron in multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2006;12(5):533–40.
2. Davenward S, Bentham P, Wright J, Crome P, Job D, Polwart
A, et al. Silicon-rich mineral water as a non-invasive test of the
“aluminum hypothesis” in Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers
Dis 2013;33(2):423–30.
3. Shaw CA, Tomljenovic L. Aluminum in the central nervous
system (CNS): toxicity in humans and animals, vaccine
adjuvants, and autoimmunity. Immunol Res 2013;56(2–3):304–
16.
4. Gillberg IC, Gillberg C, Groth J. Children with preschool
minor neurodevelopmental disorders. V: Neurodevelopmental
profiles at age 13. Dev Med Child Neurol 1989;31(1):14–24.
5. Groth C. Tourette syndrome in a longitudinal perspective.
Clinical course of tics and comorbidities, coexisting
psychopathologies, phenotypes and predictors. Dan Med J
2018;65(4).
6. Niimi A, Chung KF. Evidence for neuropathic processes in
chronic cough. Pulm Pharmacol Ther 2015;35:100–4.
7. Rondeau V, Commenges D, Jacqmin-Gadda H, Dartigues J-F.
Relation between Aluminum Concentrations in Drinking
Water and Alzheimer’s Disease: An 8-year Follow-up Study.
Am J Epidemiol 2000;152(1):59–66.
8. Chuchu N, Patel B, Sebastian B, Exley C. The aluminium
content of infant formulas remains too high. BMC Pediatr
2013;13:162.
9. Sato K, Suzuki I, Kubota H, Furusho N, Inoue T, Yasukouchi
Y, et al. Estimation of daily aluminum intake in Japan based on
food consumption inspection results: impact of food additives.
Food Sci Nutr 2014;2(4):389–97.
10. Shardlow E, Mold M, Exley C. Unraveling the enigma:
elucidating the relationship between the physicochemical
properties of aluminium-based adjuvants and their
immunological mechanisms of action. Allergy Asthma Clin
Immunol 2018;14:80.
11. Mitkus RJ, King DB, Hess MA, Forshee RA, Walderhaug MO.
Updated aluminum pharmacokinetics following infant
exposures through diet and vaccination. Vaccine 2011 Nov
28;29(51):9538–43.
12. Yokel RA, McNamara PJ. Aluminium toxicokinetics: an
updated minireview. Pharmacol Toxicol 2001;88(4):159–67.
How to cite this article: Grassi T. Childhood neuro-motor
disorders treated with silica-rich mineral water: A case report.
J Prev Med Holistic Health 2019;5(1):70-72.