Bamboo Extract Benefits

Bamboo Extract is a new health supplement that claims to boost your skin, hair, and bone health by providing high levels of silica. Find out if bamboo extract actually works today in our benefits guide.

What is Bamboo Extract?

Bamboo Extract, also known as bamboo water, is a purified and condensed form of bamboo. It’s typically sold in the form of a liquid, although you can sometimes find it in a dried powder – like in capsule supplements.

The extract comes from the leaves and stalks of bamboo. It’s officially known as Bambuosa vulgaris. Bamboo is an edible plant that grows naturally throughout the tropics.

For years, bamboo has been eaten by animals – including pandas – and used by humans to make furniture. Today, however, scientists have realized that bamboo has some powerful benefits locked within its stalks and leaves.

Bamboo is one of the world’s best organic sources of silica. Silica deficiencies can lead to unfortunate health problems, including poor-quality skin and hair and an increased risk of wrinkles.

In days gone by, people would try to get their daily recommended silica intake through horsetail extract supplements. These supplements provide just 5% to 8% organic silica by weight. Bamboo extract, on the other hand, contains 70% organic silica by weight, which means it’s 10 times more potent than most popular silica supplements on the market today.

How Does Bamboo Extract Work?

As the body ages, we produce less and less silica. In fact, many people 40 years of age and older are silica-deficient and they don’t even know it.

Bamboo extract works by raising the body’s natural levels of silica. When your body gets its recommended daily value of silica, you can experience the following benefits:

— Healthier Bones, Teeth, And Nails
— Reduced Wrinkles And More Beautiful Skin
— Thicker, More Beautiful Hair

Many people notice after they turn 40 that they start to lose their hair or their skin starts to become noticeably more wrinkled. Obviously, some of these effects are expected as you age – but by taking silica supplements like bamboo extract, many people have been able to reduce the effects of aging on their body.

If you don’t like bamboo extract, then you can also get your silica from other dietary sources, including certain unrefined cereals, apples, cherries, almonds, oranges, fish, seeds, and oats.

The problem with getting your silica through these sources is that it’s a form of silica called alumina-silicate. This is not the most bio-available form of silica, which means people can get “tricked” into thinking they’re getting their daily recommended value of silica, only to find their body is wasting most of it.

Ultimately, bamboo extract is thought to be the most bio-available form of silica on the planet.

Nutritional Profile of Bamboo Extract

Some health supplements contain only bamboo silica (which means they’ve tossed away all of the other ingredients in bamboo). However, bamboo extract has some other benefits beyond its high levels of silica.

Here’s what its nutritional profile looks like in a 100 gram serving:

— 2.65 Grams Of Protein (Higher Than Most Other Plant Sources)
— 0.5 Grams Of Fat
— 2.50 Grams Of Sugar
— Eight Essential And Two Semi-Essential Amino Acids
— 90% Water Content

The numbers above are based on an average of 27 different species of bamboo. Some bamboo has as much as 5 grams of protein in each 100 gram serving.

Asian-Bamboo.com has the following to say about eating bamboo shoots:

“Modern research finds that the bamboo shoot has a number of medicinal benefits, from cancer prevention and weight loss to improving appetite and digestion. It is also low in sugar and therefore can be used for treating hypertension, hyperlipemia and hyperglycemia.”

Additionally, that site claims that bamboo shoots have exhibited anti-cancer properties in various studies:

“Japanese scientists recently discovered that bamboo shoots contain anti-cancer agents and making them a regular part of your diet effectively eliminates the free radicals that can produce dangerous carcinogens.”

If you want to enjoy all of the health benefits of bamboo, then you can buy bamboo water or bamboo extract. If you just want to enjoy the benefits of its silica content, then buy a bamboo silica extract supplement.

How to Buy Bamboo Extract

More and more nutritional supplement manufacturers have realized there’s a demand for bamboo. Today, you can walk into many health food stores and pharmacies and find bamboo extract supplements.

Typically, bamboo extract supplements are sold under names like “Bamboo Silica”.

Some supplements feature just bamboo silica, while others blend bamboo silica with other vitamins. A company called NutriStart, for example, makes a Bamboo Silica supplement that also includes magnesium citrate. Magnesium is another nutrient that plays an important role in teeth, hair, and skin health. Many people are magnesium-deficient because they don’t eat enough vegetables.

The NutriStart Bamboo Silica supplement is priced at $19.98 for one bottle. Each bottle contains 120 capsules.

Swanson Health Products also sells their own bamboo extract supplement. That supplement is priced at $6.99 for a package of 60 300mg vegetable capsules. If you buy that same supplement from Amazon, you can expect to pay around $20, so make sure you buy it from the official Swanson website.

These two supplements are the most popular ones on the market today. As bamboo extract becomes better and better-known, however, expect more nutritional supplement manufacturers to start selling bamboo water/extract supplements of their own.

Bamboo Extract is Environmentally Sustainable

One of the best things about buying bamboo extract is that you can feel environmentally conscious about your purchasing decision: bamboo is a highly renewable resource and it grows quickly throughout the tropics.

As more and more people realize that bamboo contains the world’s highest levels of organic silica, bamboo producers around the world will undoubtedly have to boost supply.

That means better economic growth for impoverished parts of the world – including Africa, where 4% of the forest cover is bamboo.

When many people hear the word bamboo they think of China and panda food. In reality, animals across the tropics eat bamboo, including mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

The New York Times recently said that bamboo could “provide a solution to a very serious problem: deforestation.” Every year, Africa loses forest cover equal to the size of Switzerland because 70% of the continent cooks over wood fires. Bamboo is one of the cleanest and most efficient fuel sources for fire. By planting bamboo across Africa, The New York Times believes the continent can boost its economy while also providing better fuel sources for people across the continent

Who Should Use Bamboo Extract?

Bamboo extract is the best source of organic silica on the planet today, containing approximately 70% silica. Silica has been proven to boost the health of our skin, nails, and hair. As the body ages, we need more and more silica to stay healthy, and many of us don’t get that silica from dietary sources.

With that in mind, bamboo extract supplements are a cheap and easy way for you to get your daily recommended value of silica and boost the health of your hair, skin, and nails.