Colloidal silver is a very effective home remedy, but it’s best used externally and never swallowed as it harms gut flora. More recent research has found that colloidal silver harms the brain.
What is Colloidal Silver?
Colloidal silver is one of the most effective natural antibiotics widely available to the public.
What’s more, colloidal silver is cheap and easily obtained at many health food stores. Some people make it at home. It consists of tiny silver particles suspended in liquid for use either externally or internally.
The remarkable antibiotic nature of silver has been known for centuries. In the early 1900′s, the founder of Searle Pharmaceuticals, Alfred Searle, wrote in his book The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease:
Applying colloidal silver to human subjects has been done in a large number of cases with astonishingly successful results…having the advantage of being rapidly fatal to microbes without toxic action on its host. It is quite stable. It protects rabbits from ten times the lethal dose of tetanus or diphtheria toxin.
In the 1970s, Dr. Robert O. Becker at Syracuse Medical University began to intensively research colloidal silver. He discovered that silver not only kills bacteria, but it actually killed bacteria that were resistant to all known antibiotics with no undesirable side effects.
Moreover, unlike prescription antibiotics, pathogens do not become resistant or immune to silver over time. It even has the ability to eradicate antibiotic-resistant microbes like MRSA.
This is because colloidal silver doesn’t poison the microbes like antibiotics do, but rather smothers them by adhering to their cell walls and inhibiting their enzyme production.
Internal Use of Colloidal Silver
Despite its stellar reputation as a natural antibiotic, I never swallow colloidal silver and don’t allow my children to ingest it either. I only use colloidal silver for externally based infections such as swimmers ear. Others I know use it to gargle with as a strep throat home remedy.
My reasons are fairly simple.
First of all, silver is a heavy metal that accumulates in the body over time, the same as lead, cadmium, and aluminum. Why would anyone knowingly consume heavy metals?
It never made any sense to me which is why I have always avoided consuming any silver solution including silver nitrates, ionic silvers, colloidal silvers, silver chlorides, and silver proteins.
The claim that colloidal silver is the only safe silver solution has never been at all convincing to me.
Dr. Kaayla Daniel PhD writes in her marvelous piece Mad as a Hatter: How to Avoid Toxic Metals and Clear Them from the Body:
Although the mental and physical problems from metal toxicity have escalated in recent years, our very language tacitly acknowledges the historic toxicity of certain metals: “Mad as a hatter” from the Civil- War-era’s crazed use of mercury sizing in hat manufacture, “gold fever” from the murderous greed of early prospectors, “lead poisoning” as black humor for “getting shot,” and, more recently, “get-the-lead-out” exhortations from trainers who would have us exercise long and hard in order to sweat out toxins and melt excess fat.
Certainly, occasional use of colloidal silver internally probably does no harm. This would including gargling with it to resolve strep throat without antibiotics.
Why risk it when there are plenty of natural antibiotics such as garlic, turmeric, cayenne, manuka honey, and oregano oil (oreganol) that are highly effective and present no metal toxicity issues?
Risks to Beneficial Bacteria
While the fact that silver is a heavy metal with accumulation in the body that is difficult to undo (and yes, it can permanently turn your skin blue if you get too much which happens with some forms of silver solution) is reason enough in my book to keep the colloidal silver for external use only, the biggest reason of all is to protect the gut microbiome.
You see, colloidal silver works not by poisoning microbes like antibiotics do, but by smothering them by adhering to their cell walls and inhibiting their enzyme production.
While colloidal silver’s unique method of killing bacteria is highly effective and does not lessen over time as microbes do not become resistant to it, it is not selective in the bacteria it kills.
In other words, colloidal silver can decimate beneficial bacteria in the gut just the same as pathogenic strains. Isn’t this exactly why conventional antibiotics are so problematic?
Reducing the population in the gut of beneficial bacteria is serious business no matter what the cause …natural or drug-based.
Dr. Martin Blaser MD of New York University’s Langone Medical Center who writes in the August 2011 edition of Nature, warns against harming the beneficial microbes in the gut:
Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease.
False Marketing Claims
Some colloidal silver manufacturers claim that their product does not harm beneficial microbes. Even some prominent alternative physicians deceptively claim it does not harm flora.
However, this information is usually a ploy to sell product and ignores the chemical realities of the metal’s effect on living organisms.
Silver Kills Microbes Indiscriminately
Steve Barwick, author of The Ultimate Manual on Colloidal Silver sets the record straight about this false advertising regarding colloidal silver:
But the truth is, colloidal silver does indeed act as a broad spectrum natural antibiotic. As such, if enough mineral silver reaches the intestinal tract it most certainly can kill off the friendly (i.e., beneficial) bacteria that thrive there.
Colloidal silver simply has no way of knowing a beneficial microbe from an infectious microbe. If the microbe is sensitive to silver, then silver will kill it whether it is a beneficial microbe or an infectious one.
Proponents of small amounts of colloidal silver taken internally say it won’t harm delicate gut balance. However, I choose not to take any chances given that many food-based natural antibiotics work just as well or even better for resolution of internal infections. This article details the best natural antibiotics to choose from instead of colloidal silver when an internal agent is required.
Why risk it where your delicate gut microbiome is concerned? Colloidal silver is a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
Just because it wasn’t obtained via prescription makes it no less of a risk to your delicate intestinal health.
Contraindicated on GAPS Diet
Due to its ability to upset the delicate gut balance and harm beneficial gut flora, colloidal silver is contraindicated on the GAPS Protocol for gut healing developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride MD.
Certified GAPS Diet Practitioners trained by Dr. Campbell-McBride recommend avoiding the ingestion of colloidal silver. This is necessary while attempting to rebuild the gut environment with beneficial microbes and healing/sealing the gut wall to put autoimmune disease in remission. L. D. Moore, a practicing GAPS Diet Practitioner, had this to say:
As a certified GAPS practitioner protecting the gut is the highest priority. I am SO careful at what my clients ingest that may destroy that delicate balance. I put colloidal silver in the no ingest bucket.
Do you take colloidal silver internally? Why or why not?
Wouldn’t it be better to use plant-based medicines such as garlic that have no risk in comparison, don’t build up in the body, act as food for flora, and are equally effective?
I’m interested to hear your reasons for this as my research tells me to just say no.
References
(1) The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease
(2) How to Avoid Toxic Metals and Clear Them from the Body
(3) The Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual
(4) Stop the Killing of Beneficial Bacteria
(5) Does Colloidal Silver Kill Both Good and Bad Bacteria?
Wow-
Here is a must-read article from Sweden’s Uppsala University Hospital on the dangers of silver use:
Total nonsense and not scientific. It is not about colloidal silver.
Since i happen to be Swedish, I have read all about the “scientist” behind this – Asa Melhus – She has a patent on “xylitol band aids” which are a competing product to silver band aids. She launched a “defamatory” campaign against silver band aids, and they are now prohibited in swedish pharmacies – but are still for sale in the rest of European Union. There is no other sources about “the toxic silver” than Asa Melhus. Please – “follow the money” in this.
Our most famous swedish childrens hospital named after the author of “Pippi Longstocking” – Astrid Lindgren Childrens Hospital – just wrote an informative article on how using silver bandages in burn wounds care reduced convalescence and saved 40000 SEK (4000 Euro) PER PATIENT.
This is the “toxic silver” Asa Melhus is talking about…
Article from “Karolinska Institute / Karolinska Hospital”
Google translate of the same
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.karolinska.se%2FSOMA%2FSoma1%2FArtiklar%2F20091%2FNummer-1%2FBrannpunkt-Solna%2FFakta-om-silverforband-och-brannskadevard-for-barn%2F&edit-text=
” Silver dressings have led to major improvements in the care of burned children and reduced costs by around 40 000 per patient.”
And – the patent in question – http://patents.justia.com/inventor/asa-melhus
Appropriately at the same time the “silver critique” emerged in Sweden…
Patents by Inventor Asa Melhus
Wound care product comprising a substance which inhibits the growth of bacteria in wounds
Application number: 20070141129
Abstract: Wound care product which comprises a substance which inhibits the growth of bacteria in wounds. The invention is characterized by the fact that the substance is xylitol. The invention also relates to the use of xylitol in wound care products and to the use of xylitol for producing a composition which has a growth-inhibiting effect on bacteria in wounds. The invention furthermore relates to a method for manufacturing wound care products which contain xylitol.
Type: Application
Filed: December 16, 2004
Issued: June 21, 2007
Inventors: Asa Melhus, Stefan Areskoug
Thanks, Silver User, for the info-
However, the discussion is not about if colloidal silver, or silver, is worse or better than using xylitol. I have no doubt that silver in any form is a metal with natural germ-killing properties and therefore topical use is appropriate when needed.
The question that should be answered is: how does a metal, which acts as a broad spectrum antibiotic, not be detrimental to the beneficial bacteria in the gut? Do you propose that silver can somehow identify different strains of bacteria and only target the ‘bad guys’? Are there any studies which reflect this paradox?
Also, your comment “follow the money” is a good one – colloidal silver costs pennies (dimes) to manufacture! Someone is getting very rich on distilled water and a few grams of silver!
Do your own research.
For the cost – you forget about training, cleaning of materials, purchase of silver and water, distribution – and – work hours? Taxes, IRS, the maniacs telling you about blue smurfs.. and so on.
That is why i dont buy colloidal silver – i make my own, for myself to use. I even give it away for free to friends if they want it.
You should probably read up on gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.
Here is also a very good scientific article – http://www.nature.com/news/silver-makes-antibiotics-thousands-of-times-more-effective-1.13232
Sweden is trying to outlaw silver in favor of the pharma companies
Hi, my family does occasionally use colloidal silver. I found it is the perfect alternative to antibiotics for strep throat. I’m still considering all I read in your post and wondered do you have any suggestions for anything else that works well for strep?
If you are just going to gargle with colloidal silver and not swallow it, then this occasional use for strep would be a reasonable use of this product in my opinion.
We have killed strep very quickly with oregano oil. Drops directly onto the back of the throat/tonsils and capsules every couple of hours.
Excellent. thank you.
Silver does not accumulate in the body. Silver is a heavy metal, just like iron and copper. Heavy metals are just a term used to describe its weight. You are using it to scare people as “guilt by association”. There is actually chloride ions in table salt – and you know chloride is a deadly gas? Same thing – dont mix up the facts.
WHO and NASA individually says silver is excreted 90-99%, and it is impossible to overdose on correctly made ion silver made from distilled water and pure fine silver 99.9%.
Do not confuse silver salts as silvernitrate/chloride with ionic silver.
These are toxic, due to the nitrate/chloride – and also larger molecules.
Thanks!
/HB
Even if what you say is true (which it isn’t as a number of people with blue skin would tell you) colloidal silver is a highly effective germacide … for good and bad bacteria. Not good for maintaining healthy gut flora and long term health.
Thanks for your reply.
I want to start by thanking you for indirectly calling me a liar without any facts to back it up.
If you are referring to the “number of people turning blue” – meaning Paul Karason, or, Rosemary Jacobs – i can inform you that these two “famous blue-turners” did not infact use “colloidal silver” – contrary to common belief and media misconceptions.
Paul Karason used – as i mentioned before – silver-salt – namely silver-chloride.
He makes this from “dirty water” and table salt to increase parts per million.
This is not “colloidal silver” or “ion silver” – it is silver salt, which, as i said, is larger, and therefore gets stuck in the skin.
As for Rosemary Jacobs – she has her own website – http://www.rosemaryjacobs.com/ – where she writes that her taking nosedrops of “CSP” for four years, “at any time” – made her greyish.
This is not “colloidal silver” – CSP means “Colliodal Silver Protein”.
This is silver and organic compounds – that has extremely larger molecules (upper nano scale) than ionic or colloidal silver.
Please do not mix up silver salts, CSP with “colloidal” or “ion” silver particles, made using distilled water and electricity with no additives for acceleration.
Also – here are the reports i talked about.
WHO – who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/chemicals/silver.pdf
NASA – http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110014435.pdf
If you have any readers that actually HAS turned blue from correctly produced, store bought, colloidal silver ions – please write about that – because that would be fenomenal.
Regards
HB
Thanks for the clarification. I myself consider ingesting a heavy metal like silver of any particle size to be a dangerous undertaking and choose not to ingest it – ever. If some disagree … I wish them well. I have no doubt that many of the people using colloidal silver with abandon will eventually suffer health problems from it (or probably already are if using it regularly … from the gut imbalance issues from destruction of their gut flora from silver particles that *inevitably* find their way there).
Well – please note that copper also is a “heavy metal” – and far more dangerous than silver (as pure silver is non-toxic according to all known science, no alloys or salts included) and can cause grave hormonal issues if overdosed (or underdosed).
No serious research (please link to it otherwise) proves colloidal silver damages gut flora.
It is just not possible to ingest that amount of colloidal silver.
Please read this article from the most established scientific journal in the world – http://www.nature.com/news/silver-makes-antibiotics-thousands-of-times-more-effective-1.13232
Sure – they are questioning the safety – but that is related to a completely different area of use – namely as a “silver-coating” for a heart-transplant tube – not as “colloidal silver ions”.
Regards
HB
If there weren’t cause for valid concern, wouldn’t colloidal silver be ok for the GAPS Diet? Ingesting silver particles into the digestive tract via the mouth *inevitably* will result in some of these particles reaching the gut … harming gut flora due to the remarkable sanitization effect silver has on both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. How many? We don’t know precisely but likely varies from person to person. Given the HUGE effect a balance of healthy gut flora has on long term health, I for one am not going to take any chances, thank you. I’ll happily use another natural antibiotic without the risks. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23017226
I would imagine taking silver drops sublingually and not drinking afterwards for a period should be virtually the same as taking silver transdermally.
Interesting comment that you never ingest any heavy metals = so you and your family are also vaccine free?
Yes we are. Zero shots for us.
If (unbound) copper is scarier than silver, and silver is a copper antagonist, we would want to limit intake of silver. Lack of copper causes an increase in unbound iron (because copper chaperones iron) and we all know that excess free iron is bad news. This conclusion was taken from the Root Cause Protocol.
Yes I take mesosilver. And absolutely would take a plant base with no build up. Must admit though that however it works, it knocked out a chronic like cold I kept having and haven’t had one stick since, 6 months at least. And I took rather larger amounts too. I bought a gallon and did more than half in a months time, I think about 4 table spoons sometimes twice a day. Now just a cap full or not at all. I was tired.
So what is/are the ideal replacements? Thanks, love your work.
I agree with Victor and think this is a very misinformed post based on a stated predijice that without evidence the writer “felt” it was wrong. Please show the evidence that Coloidal silver harms beneficial bacteria?
Thank you Sarah for that great article. It really clarifies the controversy surrounding colloidal silver. I like to use silver gel for minor skin cuts and burn, although I used it once for a major cut (I had cut the tip of my left thumb while cutting vegetable, a big slice I must say) with great success. Even the nerve damage came back to normal after a few months. But my absolute favorite go to remedy is iodine Lugol’s solution. Iodine is antiviral, antiparasitic, antibacterial, antifungal and absolutely promote a healthy gut flora. If you want to know more about iodine: http://iodineresearch.com/
Thanks for this information filled article and all the discussion. I’ve never used any silver product as I have a sensitivity to metals and just dismissed because of that little voice that said don’t go there. I’ve avoid a lot of antibiotics over my 5 decades and fortunately rarely get sick. As for surface injuries I’ve found activated charcoal poultices as my first line of treatment, especially for all sorts of bites has been effective and heal without any infections. I believe the foundations of maintaining good health are the basics, quality foods, sleep, play/recreation, meeting spiritual needs, etc. The longer you live that way the stronger you underlying body health becomes. Even in cold, flu season, working in the medical field I don’t do anything different unless I have a tremendous exposure at work combined with a stressor in my life. Than I may up the fermented foods, make sure I get my sleep or simply call a friend and enjoy a cup of green tea together or a do a extra exercise session..
Yes, this is a very wholistic approach which should work without a doubt.
Hi Sarah, Your article is great and exactly the logic behind why I no longer give colloidal silver to my family or take it myself internally. I used to, but came to the same conclusion as yourself — there are so many other effective products that don’t have such a massive risk. I also don’t feel it is my right as a parent to play around with this on behalf of my children. Like you, I have some on hand for external use. The idea that size/quality makes a difference is erroneous and I get so tired of hearing it. There are plenty of normal people who took good quality silver who have ended up with skin problems. Personally I found this lady’s story very compelling : http://www.rosemaryjacobs.com/rose2.html
Thank you for all your articles Sarah. They are all very helpful. An interesting thing happened to me a couple of years ago. After having a large tooth extraction I developed an infection in the gum. I used a good brand of colloidal silver just putting one teaspoonful in my mouth and holding it in the infected area for a few minutes. I did this only a few times over a couple of days. It cured the infection but then I noticed a slight blue tinge above my upper lip which has never gone away. I don’t know if anyone else has had this happen but I have been very wary of using it ever since.
One good use I have found for it is that when I buy a large bottle of organic apple juice with no preservative in it I add one teaspoon on CS to the bottle after opening and it stops it from going bad and makes it last a couple of weeks as I don’t use very much.
My husband has been battling sinus polyps for the last several years. The ENT Dr. is now saying surgery. We’ve been searching for a natural way to get these things. Everything we’re told and everything we’ve read says they don’t know what starts them or how to get rid of them for good. But the Dr. keeps saying, “They’re fungal.” Isn’t that a clue?? Would the CS have any effect on them? We’ve tried oregano oil nose spray. Didn’t faze them. Hubby is using a good sinus irrigator now and he’s putting CS (Silver Sol) in the solution with the water. A capful, irrigating twice a day. He also just started with essential oils (breathing them up his nose) – frankensense, melrose, clove and sacred frankesense, in that order. We are also concerned about the two root canaled teeth he has in his upper jaw…right where the worst of the polyps are at…but the Dr. refuses to entertain any notion that dental stuff could be involved. Any other way to utilize the CS besides what he’s doing with the irrigator?
Anita,
I was diagnosed with sinus polyps as a teenager (I’m not early 40’s). My mother asked about removing them and the doctor responded that it was no use as they will just grow back. If it is fungal in nature then please get your husband to start consuming kefir, kombucha and fermented veggies. I have had “sinus infection” after “sinus infection” for months at a time. I figured that they were probably fungal related (as evidenced that when I tried the GAPS diet all my sinus issues went away, unfortunately finances prevented me from finishing the diet to its healing end), and I started consuming all 3 of those daily. In two days all my sinus “infections’ started clearing up, not to have returned since! This was a year ago. Go to “Cultured Foods for Life” to find recipes and stories.
Blessings,
Kerri