August
2007
It’s Shiny, But It’s Still a Scam
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I got a question last week from reader Barbara about colloidal silver supplements. For the record, this alternative health remedy is both ineffective and unsafe. It’s the latter that concerns me most, of course. A lot of the things we do for health are ineffective (homeopathy for starters; glandulars are another). Others are actually dangerous (the fat-free diet trend of the 90s that’s contributed to our metabolic syndrome epidemic). Colloidal silver supplements fall into the dangerous category.
Colloidal - a term for suspension of micro particles in liquid - silver is purported to treat or cure everything from acne to leprosy to AIDS to cancer to, most commonly, infection. Colloidal silver is touted as an all-purpose anti-viral, anti-bacterial therapy. Of course, those diabolical scientists have suppressed the truth about colloidal silver’s benefits. It’s the “natural antibiotic”! Going further, evidently Americans are suffering from a massive silver deficiency epidemic.
In truth, colloidal silver supplementation has zero health benefits and carries substantial risks. For all the talk about widespread growing resistance to antibiotics (a public health concern I cautiously share), a run of antibiotics to treat an infection is far superior to colloidal silver both in terms of efficacy and safety. Of course, the goal here is to boost your immunity naturally through a good diet, prudent supplementation and regular exercise, but everyone gets sick now and then. Colloidal silver isn’t the answer. Regular intake will result in silver “ash” deposits that can and do show up in unfortunate places like the eyes, skin and organs - permanently. (This condition is called argyria. Click here to see a picture of a bad case - but be warned that it’s very disturbing.) Moreover, silver is not an essential nutrient required by the human body.
Further Reading:
Top 10 Health Scams (hoodia, cellulite cream and more)
Source:
Colloidal Silver Products Fact Sheet (NIH)
Technorati Tags: colloid, colloidal silver, alternative health, antibiotics
Okay, no silver, but how about colloidal gold? Do they make a colloidal diamond supplement? Because I wouldn’t mind having glitter eyes.
It’s amazing how these things that do not just contain zero nutritional value, but actually have harmful ingredients in them, get passed off as being healthy and nutritional.
McFly…glitter eyes do sound nice, I will admit.
McFly,
Ha! What about platinum?
Heavy Metal Supplements. Not the music, but the contents themselves. If your stomach is filled with metals, you will eat less, but weigh more.
Not sure what this means, but I sure have shiny skin and a magnetic personality, err body.
Colloidal Silver and other nutritional treatments are one thing, but how about the really wild stuff that’s out there right now?
Examples for weight loss: Slim Slippers (control your weight by walking on magnets, with the aid of reflexology), caffeine tights(of all things), caffeine sun screens. You think nutritional supplements are often a “stretch?” I just wrote a blog piece on these alternative methods for weight loss. Incredible. Off the wall, and out of the ball park.
[...] The Colloidal Silver Scam [...]
I’ve been making & taking Coll Silver now for approx 2 years & haven’t been sick one day in that time. I’ve also made it for friends who’ve had great results similar to mine.
Once the silver is produced it must be filtered to remove excess silver.
Mark, the ammount of evidence that points towards silver being excellent for just about most things is fairly staggering. I’ve used it on warts, for dental hygiene in a gel. I’ve used it also on cysts & friends have used it too with quite outstanding results from either feelings of being better than they’ve been in a long time. A friend took a couple of litres & had a chest infection made well after 3 lots of antibiotics didn’t do a thing.
No doubt you have a different slant on these things which I’m quite interested in hearing.
Regards,
Steve Martin.