Silver Colloids

Silver is known for its metallic importance since ancient times. It is well known that silver is harmless to human body. Its usage ranges from silver vessels to teeth filling. Silver Colloids is another addition to its vast list of utilities. In layman terms, colloidal silver is very fine particles of pure silver, suspended in water. The particle size is in the order of nanometer. In fact, a colloidal silver particle is about 60 times smaller than a red blood cell. The total silver content is expressed as milligrams of silver per liter (mg/L) of water which is numerically the same as parts per million (ppm). Silver concentrations usually range from 20 ppm to 1500 ppm.

Our ancestors were using silver as protective shield from bacteria. This is reflected by their use of silver vessels to keep water fresh. The American settlers used to put silver dollars in their milk to hinder its spoilage. In Ancient Greece, Rome and Macedonia , silver was used extensively to help control many immune challenges. Hippocrates himself, the Father of Medicine, used silver and taught that it promoted tissue repair. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, people started understanding the importance of colloidal silver and there after its use became widespread. Cost was the only factor limiting its use. Later on, as antibiotics became available, silver colloid was left behind with the new wonder drugs being far cheaper and easier to produce.

Recently, there has been a revolution in the technology producing colloidal silver. It is possible now to produce far more superior silver colloid, at a far more reasonable cost than previously possible. This revolution in silver colloid could well see science go full circle, as antibiotics become more and more out of reach and unable to cope with the new range of superbugs such as MRSA that are sweeping the globe and eventually being replaced by their own predecessor, silver colloid.

Colloidal silver has antimicrobial properties and is used on external wounds and burns to prevent infection. It is also supposed to be a beneficial nutritional supplement and a powerful antibiotic. Recently colloidal silver has been discovered to have a powerful positive effect on the immune system when taken internally. However, intake of its large quantities leads to a condition called Argyria, in which skin turns permanently blue-grey.

The antimicrobial property of colloidal silver is attributed to its silver content and can be explained accordingly. Although silver is harmless to human beings it is deadly to a culture of bacteria of a virus. It doesn't kill bacteria or a virus but when a particle of silver comes into contact with these living beings it inhibits their ability to reproduce. It does so by disabling the oxygen metabolism enzyme found in single celled organisms such as bacteria and fungi, as well as the enzyme found in most viruses. This causes the pathogen to die/stop replicating so that the immune and lymph systems can eliminate them from the body. Therefore, ingestion of colloidal silver into human body inhibits the growth of disease. This mode of action is such that resistance cannot develop as it does for antibiotics, meaning that it is safe to use year round without worrying about causing pathogen mutation. It has been shown to be effective against more that 650 disease-causing organisms, including Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria and the fungus Candida albicans. Recent researches have shown that colloidal silver can be effective in knocking out an acute sinus infection. The best part is that it has no negative side effects.

The external uses of colloidal silver range from fighting fungal infections of the skin or nails to promoting the healing of burns, wounds, cuts, rashes, and sunburn. It can be used on toothaches and mouth sores, as eye drops, and as a gargle to fight tooth decay and bad breath. It can also be used as sterilizer and can even be sprayed on air-conditioning filters and air ducts and vents to prevent germs from growing.

There are plenty of brands available in colloidal silver market, but not all are equal. Care should be taken to ensure that it is manufactured by electro-colloidal process. Another determining factor is the particle size, which should not be bigger than 0.005 to 0.0015 microns in diameter. Also, it should not contain chemicals, proteins, artificial stabilizers, additives or food coloring. The color of the solution should be natural clear yellow color or golden yellow color. Products with darker, especially black, gray, brown and murky colors should be a strict no-no. The consistency of the solution should be like water. A thickness in the solution is an indication of artificial additives, stabilizers, proteins etc and should be avoided.

As stated earlier, consuming excess quantity of colloidal silver may lead to Argyria, an extremely rare condition causing a permanent discoloration of the skin. While it is not known how Argyria occurs, it is thought that silver combines with protein, forming complexes that deposit in the skin and are processed by sunlight (as in traditional photography). It is always advisable to moderate the consumption of colloidal silver. In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) has banned over the counter sales of colloidal silver products claiming therapeutic value, or their advertisement as providing health benefits.

The effectiveness of colloidal silver as medicine has raised interest in it research most recently, probably because illness causing organisms do not seem to build up a resistance to colloidal silver the way they do to pharmaceutical antibiotics. Antibiotics are becoming less effective as resistance to them grows. Thanks to eye-opening research, colloidal silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine .