Many people don’t know much about colloidal silver, including how it came about, safety issues, and how to buy and use it. That’s why we thought we would take a few minutes to help clear up these issues.
1. What Is Colloidal Silver?
Colloidal silver is marketed as a dietary supplement in the form of a suspension that contains silver particles and silver ions. Silver is a natural mineral element found in water (tap, spring, ocean), mammalian milk, mushrooms, and whole grains. It has been used medicinally for millennia.
2. How Has Silver Been Used Over Time?
In ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, and other locations, for example, silver was used because of its antimicrobial properties. Jump ahead several thousands of years and silver was still used as the antimicrobial of choice before antibiotics were discovered. For example, silver nitrate was used for skin ulcers and wounds in the 1800s, and silver wires were used as sutures in 1852.
The existing literature shows that Colloidal silver was already used in the 1890s. During World War I, silver was used for infections. However, when antibiotics entered the scene, the use of silver declined. As early as in the 1960s, Johnson Space Center already used silver ions as their water purification system of choice to preserve the purity of the water during missions. In 2015, NASA approved a silver-based water purification system on the International Space Station.
Among the most recent dietary supplement silver products for ingestion on the market, is a product representing the ultimate refinement of colloidal silver. This formulation is referred to as Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol which is basically a mixture of silver ions and silver nanoclusters. Silver Hydrosol is composed of 99.999% pure silver and USP grade pharmaceutical purified water.
3. What Is Silver Hydrosol?
Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol is composed of silver nanoclusters that have an approximate particle size of 0.8 nanometers, which is extremely small and actually the smallest particles available–Particle size is an important criteria when considering product safety and bioavailability.
4. What Should You Look for When Shopping for a Form of Colloidal Silver?
If you’re in the market for a colloidal silver supplement, there are four things you should look for. Let’s review them.
- You want a product that provides a high ratio of positively charged silver. Positively charged silver ions are the form that the body can use, so the higher the percentage—as close to 100% as possible–the better.
- The purity of the supplement, especially for silver, is pivotal to its safety. You want to look for a supplement that uses silver that is no less than 99.999% pure. You also should look for a supplement that has been made in a GMP Certified facility and has been bottled in dark amber glass. GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) is a system for ensuring that products, such as supplements, are produced consistently and controlled according to specific quality standards.
- Particle size does matter when it comes to a silver supplement. The smaller the silver particle, the easier your body can convert it from an inactive state to a positively charged bioactive one. Smaller silver particles also have more surface area and they are better absorbed and excreted than the larger ones.
- The final factor you should consider when purchasing colloidal silver supplements is PPM (parts per million). Labels on silver dietary supplements reveal the total silver concentration, yet you want to know the bioactive silver concentration.
5. How Safe Is Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol?
Bio-Active Silver Hydrosol is safe when used as directed. According to Jeffrey Blumer, MD, PhD, and director of the Center for Drug Research, “silver supplements are entirely harmless to humans.”
