Surprisingly, people are still taking colloidal silver, including this fellow, the latest inductee into the Halls of Smurfdom. (via Neatorama.)
Colloidal silver was one of those cure-alls that was particularly popular in the time leading up to the Millenium, when New Age beliefs met up with New World Order fears and black helicopters would descend from their hidden base (likely, that hole in the Arctic) and socialize medicine, or something. (You can take “colloidal” to mean kept in a suspension of water, so that colloidal silver is just silver particles dissolved in water, you can make it yourself, if you’d like to be blue too.)
Colloidal silver has some potential benefits, it is known to kill bacteria and keep drinking water potable. Of course, as a dietary supplement, thanks to our whacky laws, there’s no regulation to how it is prepared. Either way, if you take enough of it, you could develop argyria, where the silver permanently turns your skin blue.
I’ve always been surprised that colloidal silver was as popular as it was among the alternative/new age medicine crowd. Basically, you’re poisoning yourself with a toxic metal, although one that is “safer” than say lead or mercury. I remember attending a New Age fair some years back where they were selling colloidal silver at the same table where they also sold “colon cleansing” products thought to purify the body of toxic elements. Talk about mixed messages…or general cluelessness.
A few years ago, some far whacked blue — actually blue, not some sort of political designation — ran for senate in Montana as a Libertarian. Stan Jones was his name, and he still promotes the nonsense that turned him blue.
Well when you consider the side-affects of many anti-biotic medications colloidal silver is still very safe and effective. But, like you mentioned the lack of regulation leaves people with porrly made and potencially toxic products.
Well, when you consider there isn’t anything in the medical literature to support the claims that colloidal silver is an effective oral antibiotic, I doubt that colloidal silver holds up to antibiotics. At least, I haven’t found anything on PubMed addressing the issue. If you have data to share other than the stuff spouted by colloidal silver enthusiasts, please do.
Destroying bacterial membranes effectively on open surfaces, in culture and solution is one thing. Creating an effective oral antibiotic is another..