What is Colloidal Silver?
Colloidal silver may be defined as: the suspension of ultra-fine silver particles in a colloidal base. The purer solutions of colloidal silver are known as true colloidal silver solutions and are just comprised of pure water and pure silver. In true colloidal silver, a major proportion of the silver content obtains in the form of silver particles. True colloids will typically contain between 50 to 80 percent particles. As silver particles are larger than those found in standard water solutions, true silver colloids should not be clear like water. This is because the larger particles in true silver colloids block light from passing through the solution, making it appear darker. Due to the high cost of production, true colloidal silver products are the least prevalent type of colloidal silver on the market.
Colloidal silver is distinct from Ionic silver. Ionic silver is comprised of mainly positively charged silver atoms. Colloidal silver, on the other hand, is comprised of particles, the 80% to 90% of which are not in an ionic state. A particle in an ionic state is just one that has more protons than electrons, protons being positively charged and electrons being negatively charged.
History of Silver and Colloidal Silver
Silver has been used medicinally as far back as 4000 B.C. Eastern Persian records specifically mention the practice of placing water in silver vessels; the ancient Babylonian and Greek civilizations were also recorded silver's anti-biotic properties. Furthemore, before the rapid inflation in the use of antibiotics, silver compounds were used to prevent infection in World War I.
In the 1880’s the process of using silver in medicine was refined when colloidal silver was first created. It was found that its smaller silver particles provided a far safer and more effective alternative to the primitive silver medicines previously used.
Early Research
At the turn of the century scientists discovered that the body's most important fluids are colloidal in nature; i.e. suspended ultra-fine particles. Blood, for example, carries nutrition and oxygen to the body's cells in this form. Prior to 1938 colloidal silver was used by physicians as a mainstream antibiotic treatment and was considered to be "high-tech". Production methods, however, were costly. As a result, during the emergence of the pharmaceutical industry, colloidal silver research was set aside in favour of faster working but potentially toxic and dangerous drugs.
The Food and Drug Administration today classifies colloidal silver as a pre-1938 drug. As such, these products may continue to be marketed as long as they are advertised and labeled for the same use as in 1938, and as long as they are manufactured as before. The best known pre-1938 method currently utilised is the elctro-colloidal process. Through the electro-colloidal process electrolysis reduces the silver to its smallest possible particle, achieved by the silver losing an electron. This smaller particle allows for safer and more frequent consumption of colloidal silver, thereby trumping the silver rich predecessor that could lead to cases of Argyria if consumed too frequently.
Contemporary Studies
While studying regeneration of limbs and spinal cords in the late 1970s, Robert Becker, M.D., author of ‘The Body Electric’ discovered that silver ions promote bone growth and kill surrounding bacteria. The March 1978 issue of Science Digest in an article, "Our Mightiest Germ Fighter," reported: "Thanks to eye-opening research, silver is emerging as a wonder of modern medicine. An antibiotic kills perhaps a half-dozen different disease organisms, but silver kills some 650. Resistant strains fail to develop. Moreover, silver is virtually non-toxic." The article ended with a quote by Dr. Harry Margraf, a biochemist and pioneering silver researcher who worked with the late Carl Moyer, M.D., chairman of Washington University's Department of Surgery in the 197Os: "Silver is the best all-around germ fighter we have."
Historical Uses of Colloidal Silver:
Dr R Becker found that low silver levels lead to frequent illness. He concluded that silver is a critical factor in the strengthening of the immune system and destruction of bacteria and virus’. He notes - "What we have done was rediscover the fact that silver kills bacteria, a fact which had actually been known for centuries. All of the organisms we tested were sensitive to the electrically generated silver ion including some that were resistant to all known antibiotics. In no case were any undesirable side effects of the silver treatment apparent.”
It was found that it is impossible for single-celled germs to mutate into silver-resistant forms, as happens with conventional antibiotics. Therefore no tolerance to colloidal silver ever develops. Moreover, colloidal silver does not interfere with other medicines that may be being taken. Inside the body, silver forms no toxic compounds nor reacts with anything other than a pathogens oxygen-metabolising enzyme.
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