Not quite a household name, the use of silver in health and wellness dates back at least 6,000 years. Alongside many uses such as food preservation and wound healing, silver has been used for both the treatment and prevention of infections for centuries. Like many natural therapies, we are seeing a much-welcomed resurgence in the use of silver, not just in the integrative community but in the mainstream as well.
What is Colloidal Silver?
To begin, silver is an innately anti-microbial metal. It has been shown to be detrimental to over 650 harmful microorganisms. Its antimicrobial properties are seen at play in the environment and in the body.
Historically, silver bottles were commonly used to persevere food and beverages to prevent them from spoiling. Silver’s been used in water purification systems at NASA and it’s been used medically pre-dating ancient Egypt.
In fact, silver was widely and effectively used before the discovery and commercialization of antibiotics as we know them today.
Colloidal silver is a preparation of silver that takes nanoparticle sized silver molecules and suspends them in water. This creates an easily absorbable solution that has potent antimicrobial effects in the body.
Silver can be taken orally, gargled, applied topically, used as a nasal spray or nebulized. In holistic health, colloidal silver is used as part of many antimicrobial protocols and it can also be used prophylactically.
How Does Silver work?
Silver is an antipathogenic agent. It decreases the severity and duration of both viral and bacterial infections. There is also some evidence for its role in eradicating infections of fungal nature.
One of the more relevant and interesting characteristics of silver is that it has detrimental effects on nearly all pathogenic organisms it has been tested on.
There’s currently a large body of on-going research focused on understanding how silver works. We’ll likely uncover the secrets of silver on a much deeper level but in this moment, our current understanding is that colloidal silver works primarily through three distinct pathways:
- Silver is able to bind to proteins on the bacterial cell wall which through a series of complex steps, inhibits replication.
- It increases free radicals in disease causing microbes which essentially inactivates them and causes a combustion type reaction
- Although it is unclear how, silver enters the DNA of bacteria, which prevents the DNA from unwinding, thus making proliferation impossible.
Given that silver is used by profound organizations such as NASA, was a staple part of brilliant civilizations like that of ancient Egypt and has the father of modern medicine (Hippocrates) as an advocate, the science coming out on silver is validating, but the new discoveries and mechanism of action don’t make it any more effective or potent.
More important than how silver works to eradicate pathogens, is that unlike traditional antibiotics, silver doesn’t disrupt the body.
In addition to working in tandem with the body, silver is an integral part of the future of medicine because it solves the two major limitations of standard antibiotics. Let me explain:
The two limitations to antibiotics are that they are only effective against bacterial infections- not viral. Second, antibiotics don’t discriminate against bacteria.
Antibiotics kill all bacteria, good and bad. We need the good bacteria for healthy immune function. Silver is only harmful to bad bacteria and pathogens, while it leaves healthy cells and bacteria alone. It is also effective against viruses, which are a big deal in our current world.
How to Use Silver
As mentioned, you can gargle silver, nebulize it, take it orally, apply it topically or use it a nasal spray.
Depending what you are using it for, will depend on the way you use it. Always be sure to check with your health care provider but some of our favourite ways are:
- Apply it topically to wounds and burns to prevent infection and catalyze the healing process
- Use a nasal spray when you’re in areas with potential exposure to pathogens (ie- when flying) to reduce the risk of getting sick!
- Nebulize silver when you have any sort of respiratory infection such as a cold (PS- check our nebulizer here)
- Take silver orally when you have a stomach bug!
This list is of course not comprehensive, but serves to highlight the versatility of silver and how it can be used.
Safety Profile of silver
Modern science is now able to define the mechanisms of action of silver, helping even the most skeptic of minds adopt this idea of silver as a healing tool. An idea that some of the most brilliant minds in history have been behind for thousands of years.
But, Silver isn’t without controversy. The information in circulation raises questions about the safety. As already mentioned, silver is a substance that works with the body- not against it. Using silver encourages profound healing as it assists with rebalancing the internal environment.
The number one concern with silver, is that the particles stay in the body, where they accumulate and then actually contribute to disease processes down the line.
While this risk may be present in homemade, non-Nano particle solutions, a Nano-particle silver solution, which colloidal silver is has never shown to accumulate in tissues. Science is on this, and there are several research articles on this that show in doses beyond what anyone would ever need to take for extended periods of time, silver is always excreted and toxicity is a null point.
Not only is silver extremely safe with no real risk for toxicity, but one of the most promising features of silver is that it’s been shown to be effective in dealing with treatment resistance bacteria. This is because, the pathogens don’t build up an “immunity” to silver, like they do with conventional antibiotics.
Silver works in tandem with the body and several studies have confirmed even at doses higher than is needed- silver doesn’t kill the good bacteria like antibiotics do, preserving the gut microbiome which is an integral part of health!
Given the safety, efficacy and history of silver we predict it to become a staple in medicine cabinets everywhere- for more technical information or to stock up you can check out our favorite silver here!
Author: Lisa Kowalyk, CNP, B.Kin
Disclaimer: this article is for educational purposes and is not medical advice.