A few years ago if you even mentioned colloidal silver, you would instantly start to get this amazing story about a crazy looking blue man. The story goes that he turned that way from using colloidal silver. So, is that true?
In a word, no.
There is a man who looks like Papa Smurf that has made the rounds of the talk show circuit. People have been talking about him for years, citing his case an example of why you shouldn’t take popular natural remedy colloidal silver. One website published this year, says that it is all a hoax.
“The Blue Man story became a major media disinformation event which was produced by a public relations firm and paid for by a pharmaceutical interest. The purpose of this campaign was to scare the public away from using colloidal silver products.“
Turns out the man’s name is Paul Karason. That’s him right there! Well, how did he get to be so blue?
The website offers this analysis, “ The fact is that Paul has a condition called argyria that turns the skin a blue-gray color. He got this condition by taking his homemade silver compound that was mostly a highly concentrated ionic silver solution. When he prepared the solution he believed he was making colloidal silver. He was not making colloidal silver. To make the solution even more dangerous, he added salt to the brew and then used electrolysis to make a high concentration of silver chloride with large particles which is well known to cause argyria. He further applied the compound to his skin causing him to become an internal and external photographic plate. To finish himself off, he used a tanning bed to “fix” the silver in his body. The moral of the story is to know the difference between true colloidal silver and ionic silver or silver proteins, and don’t try to make either at home! (True colloidal silver cannot be made at home.) “
If you do use colloidal silver, I recommend using nano-colloidal silver that you buy in your health food store. Not some dangerous crap you make in your bathtub which is not even colloidal. If you really want to check out an effective praoduct – you can take a product like Black Earth Silver from the Food Movement which also includes humic acid, fulvic acid and over 70 trace minerals.
But nano silver is really interesting. According to one group of researchers in China, writing a meta-analysis (synthesis based on previous studies) “Recently, Nano Silver Particles have become of intense interest in biomedical applications because of their antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activity.5,6“
Research done in Mongolia (inspired by the healing elements found in the the ‘Black lakes’ throughout Asian mountain ranges) also showed that colloidal Silver and Humic Acid (found in the Humates in the Black Lakes traditionally used for healing) had a synergistic effect. Research published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology found that “the toxicity of [Silver Nanoparticles] to a bacterial model (Shewanella oneidensis MR-1) decreases most significantly in the presence of sulfur- and nitrogen-rich NOM. Our data suggest that the rate of AgNP aggregation and dissolution in aquatic environments containing NOM will depend on the chemical composition of the NOM, and that the toxicity of [Nanocolloidal Silver] to aquatic microorganisms is controlled primarily by the extent of nanoparticle dissolution.”
But if you do ask the medical mainstream about silver, they probably won’t talk to you about research on NSPs. They’ll say stuff like the NIH website says :
- Silver has no known function or benefits in the body when taken by mouth.
- Silver is not a nutritionally essential mineral or a useful dietary supplement.
- People may be exposed to silver, usually in tiny amounts, through air, water, and food, and in certain activities such as jewelry-making or soldering.
Well, thanks, that’s a really great idea! Instead of a health supplement I will just suck on a soldering gun for a while. Or focus on the tiny amounts I get in the air. How’s that working for you?
Meanwhile, if you check in with a natural-oriented doctor like Dr Josh Axe, popular internet guru, he will tell you that it is very beneficial. In addition to the research I mentioned earlier, he also talks about successful use of colloidal silver in treating pneumonia, sinusitis, pink eye and other conditions.
“You may come across many warnings about it causing an irreversible condition called argyria (when people turn blue). However, this is caused by misuse not of true colloidal silver, but through other cheaper products marketed as colloidal silver, such as ionic silver or silver protein,” writes Dr Axe.”
“One point to consider is that, because colloidal silver is such a potent antibacterial agent, you should be sure to supplement with probiotics during use to be sure that you maintain a proper balance of microflora.”
Because based on research on the microbiome and mood, if you don’t – you may wind up feeling blue. But if you buy a reputable colloidal silver you won’t be turning blue.
Botanical Nutrition 