I received this a few days ago: “The heart has its own brain, 40,000 neurons, it's a major discovery.” The question: is it proven?
Yes. It is proven.
But it is not a recent discovery.
And above all, what nobody says is that there is a direct link between this “little brain” of the heart and organic silicon — a trace element I have been working with for more than 20 years.
Let me explain.
40,000 neurons in the heart. Discovered in 1991.
The researcher's name is J. Andrew Armour. A Canadian neurocardiologist. In 1991, he published his work: the heart has a nervous system of its own. Not a nerve passing through. A real network, complete and autonomous, with around 40,000 neurons.
He calls it “the little brain on the heart”.
In this network, you find:
- SENSORY NEURONS: they pick up what is happening in and around the heart.
- INTERNEURONS: they process the information on the spot.
- MOTOR NEURONS: they adjust the rhythm and strength of the heartbeats.
Exactly like the brain. In miniature.
And that is why a transplanted heart keeps beating on its own. Its little brain takes over.
Stronger still: 80% of the fibres of the vagus nerve run from the heart to the brain. Not the other way round. It is the heart that speaks. It is the brain that listens.
So when the elders said “listen to your heart”, they were not wrong. They were describing a physical mechanism. Science has confirmed it. With a delay of 5,000 years.
Saint-Exupéry wrote this in The Little Prince: “One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
TCM has been saying it for 5,000 years: the Heart houses the Shen
The Huangdi Neijing is the founding text of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It sets out two principles:
心主血脉 — “The Heart governs the Blood and the Vessels.”
心藏神 — “The Heart houses the Shen”, that is, consciousness, the spirit, mental clarity.
In the law of the Five Elements, the Heart is associated with the Fire Element. Fire also governs the blood vessels, the tongue, the complexion and joy.
Where Armour describes a cardiac neural network that dialogues with the amygdala and the hippocampus, TCM speaks of a Heart that houses the spirit. It is the same territory. Seen from two different angles.
Organic silicon and the cardiovascular system: what the research says
I'm going to stop here for a minute. Because things need to be said.
Western medicine is very good at emergencies, at surgery, at trauma. Nobody disputes that. If I break a leg tomorrow, I go to the emergency room. Not to my kitchen.
But when it comes to the terrain, to the energy of the living body, to the root cause — there, it has not been trained. Doctors studied anatomy on dead bodies. Not on living ones. The energy of the living cannot be seen on a corpse. So it was not studied. And what has not been studied, we do not know how to see.
As a result, Western medicine learned to treat the symptom. With a chemical drug that neutralises or cancels the problem. But it does not go looking for the origin.
We do the opposite. We look at the terrain. We look at the energy. We look for the cause. And we work on the raw material of the body. Not on the symptoms.
It is not opposed. It is complementary. But it is different. And that is exactly where organic silicon comes into play.
The heart needs supple vessels
The heart does not work alone. It pushes blood through a network: aorta, arteries, capillaries. And that network needs to be supple.
The wall of the arteries relies on two proteins:
Elastin is special. It forms at birth. After that, it is almost never renewed. Its half-life is 40 to 70 years. So the elastic fibres in your aorta today are, to a large extent, the ones you were born with.
With age, these fibres fragment. The aorta stiffens. Blood pressure rises. The heart works harder.
And this is where organic silicon comes into play.
Organic silicon: present in healthy arteries, absent in diseased arteries
The work of the American researcher Edith Carlisle in the 1970s showed something that is never mentioned. Here it is:
The healthy aorta is one of the tissues richest in silicon in the human body. Along with bones, tendons and the trachea. Far more than the liver, the kidney or the spleen.
And: the silicon concentration in the aorta decreases with age. The more atherosclerosis progresses, the lower the silicon. As if the aorta, by losing its silicon, were losing its structure.
In animals supplemented with silicon, the researchers saw that the elastic fibres of the vascular wall remained intact. Often even thickened. Compared with non-supplemented animals.
Silicon is not an accessory trace element.
It is a structural component of the artery wall. Just as it is of the skin, the bones, the cartilage.
MMST organic silicon: the Duffaut formula, 1957
The only silicon that works is organic silicon. Not horsetail silicon. Not nettle silicon. Those two are plant silicas, and they are absorbed at 15% at most.
The true organic silicon is monomethylsilanetriol (MMST). A formula developed in 1957 by Norbert Duffaut, a chemist at the University of Bordeaux. Taken up and developed later by the pharmacist Philippe Voisin. Absorption: 80%.
It is this formula that we have at Laboratoire Géomer. At 1,200 mg/L stable. Nobody else does it in a complete holistic range built around TCM.
The photocopier anecdote
Last week, the technician who looks after my photocopiers here in Fumay called me on my mobile. About something else, originally. He had already heard me giving advice over the phone. And he had been taking Organic Silicon Vitalis for mobility concerns. He is retired and plays tennis regularly.
At the end of the call, he says: “Alain, by the way, since I started drinking your silicon every day, I feel much better.”
That's it. That's all. A sentence at the end of a call, said just like that, with no solemnity. And it is this kind of feedback that we have been hearing for more than 20 years. Not miracles. Not promises. Just people who, after a few weeks, say: I feel better.
My ritual: 30 ml of Silicium Vitalis every morning
Me, I drink 30 ml of Silicium Vitalis every morning. Every single morning. Otherwise my guts are a mess.
I chose the Vitalis rather than the Forte because it is enriched with chestnut ellagitannins. It is a very powerful natural free-radical scavenger. It also supports the intestines — which research increasingly calls our “second brain”.
So there you have it: between the little brain of the heart (40,000 neurons) and the second brain of the gut (100 million neurons), there are two places in your body that are not merely mechanical organs. They are nerve centres. They talk. They sense. They decide.
And organic silicon, for its part, supports the connective tissue that houses them both.
In summary
- The heart has 40,000 neurons. It has been proven since 1991 (Armour).
- TCM has been saying it for 5,000 years: “The Heart houses the Shen”.
- The healthy aorta is one of the tissues richest in silicon in the body.
- This content decreases with age. And with disease.
- Organic silicon takes part in the synthesis and stabilisation of collagen and elastin. And therefore in vascular suppleness.
- The original MMST formula dates from 1957 (Duffaut, Bordeaux). 80% absorption. Against 15% for horsetail or nettle.
- At Laboratoire Géomer, we guarantee 1,200 mg/L stable. In a complete range built around TCM. Nobody else does it.
There you go. You know the essentials.
To go further on organic silicon, the science behind it and the Duffaut–Voisin lineage, go and read our complete 2026 guide to MMST silicon.
Frequently asked questions
Does the heart really have its own brain?
Yes. The neurocardiologist J. Andrew Armour demonstrated it as early as 1991. The heart has around 40,000 neurons organised in an autonomous network: this is the heart's intrinsic nervous system (ICNS). It communicates with the brain via the vagus nerve — and 80% of this communication goes from the heart to the brain.
Which organic silicon should you choose?
Organic silicon in the form of monomethylsilanetriol (MMST). It is the only form absorbed at 80% by the body. Plant silicas (horsetail, nettle) are absorbed at 15% at most. At Laboratoire Géomer, the Silicium Forté and the Silicium Vitalis are at 1,200 mg/L stable. Nobody does better in a complete holistic range.
What dose of organic silicon per day?
Loading protocol (first 30 days): 3 × 25 ml per day. Lifelong maintenance: 25 to 30 ml in the morning on an empty stomach. To be taken in a plastic or food-grade stainless steel cup — never in glass or bare metal, as silicon reacts with these materials.
What is the difference between Silicium Forté and Silicium Vitalis?
Same MMST, same concentration (1,200 mg/L), same quality. Silicium Vitalis is enriched with chestnut (Castanea sativa) ellagitannins — a powerful plant-based free-radical scavenger that adds an antioxidant dimension to pure silicon. For people who want a more protective formula against oxidative stress (ageing, exposure to toxins), Vitalis is the one to choose.
Scientific sources
- Armour JA. Potential clinical relevance of the « little brain » on the mammalian heart. Exp Physiol. 2008;93(2):165-176. View on PubMed →
- Armour JA. Cardiac neuronal hierarchy in health and disease. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2004;287(2):R262-R271. View on PubMed →
- Skibska A et al. Silicon in prevention of atherosclerosis and other age-related diseases. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024;11:1370536. See the study →
- Jugdaohsingh R, Pedro LD, Watson A, Powell JJ. The decrease in silicon concentration of the connective tissues with age. Bone. 2015;75:40-48. View on PubMed Central →
- Carlisle EM. Silicon: a possible factor in bone calcification. Science. 1970;167(3916):279-280. View on PubMed →
- Tsamis A, Krawiec JT, Vorp DA. Elastin and collagen fibre microstructure of the human aorta in ageing and disease. J R Soc Interface. 2013;10(83):20121004. See the study →
This article is intended for educational purposes. It does not constitute medical advice or a therapeutic recommendation. Laboratoire Géomer food supplements do not replace medical follow-up. Anyone with a cardiovascular condition or a risk factor should consult their doctor before changing their lifestyle or their supplementation.
Alain Ledroit
CEO, Laboratoire Géomer, Reiki Usui Master,
creator of the ARK Quantique Process®