I've not tried silica before for my gut, but have heard from others that have, that it helps with nails and hair apparently. Hope it works out well! Let us know how it goes. My hair seems to be thinning a bit so at the least it might help me out on top.
On future reseach on natural products, such as silica, here in the US we are going through a change in how funding is handled. Many cities and states are hurting badly financially. Overall, to many policial financial promises have been made, and as a result funding to Universities for research projects is being cut.
A popular natural food researcher in the University city I live in, Dr. Chris Masterjohn, recently wrote about the problem along with how he was addressing the issue. In some respects good to see he was trying to find answers in order to continue his research work.
"Fundraising for the Research Lab I'm working In"
http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2013/05/fundraising-for-research-lab-im-working.html
Sadly also from a medical perspective, most in the medical field tend to care little about diet and nutrition. In medical school, of all the years spent learning medicine typically only a couple weeks are spent on studing nutrition.
I've seen a few write ups on this, but recall this article by Dr. Pauline Chen about her time spent in medical school.
"Teaching Doctors About Nutrition and Diet"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/health/16chen.html?_r=0