Is Silver Good For You?

With all the talk about gold and other precious metals rising in value, one topic that has resurfaced lately is the possible health benefit of silver. Colloidal silver has been used in treating illnesses and wounds since the beginning of medical thought and theory. Paracelsus, a fifteenth-century alchemist, wrote about the healing power of silver in his famous medical tracts. Maybe he got the idea from Hippocrates, who wrote and taught that silver could prevent disease. This is why ancient people used silver-lined vessels for drinking water. Another benefit from this was that it kept the water tasting fresh.

Not that there are many ancient Greek writings on how fresh the water tasted out of silver-lined vessels. In more modern times silver has been used to fight off bacteria. American pioneers would drop a silver coin into their canteens to keep their water tasting pure. They’d also put a silver coin into milk to keep it fresh when they couldn’t keep it cold. Also, flatware was (and is, if you can afford it) made out of silver. This is because silver was thought to protect the body from illness.

Silver does have antibiotic properties. In one experiment, a scientist set out to prove this point. He injected some silver colloids (which are compounds of silver suspended in water or some other liquid) into a culture of a type of E.coli bacteria. The silver killed all of the E.coli within six minutes of contact. That is fairly compelling evidence that there is some truth to the idea that silver can protect us from disease.

But to what end? Prior to the wide release of antibiotic treatment, silver was used to treat infection. Antibiotics came along, and doctors stopped prescribing silver-based treatments. In the late nineties there was a resurgence of advertising via the internet; claiming that colloidal silver was some kind of panacea – that it could cure everything from malaria to leprosy and everything in between. In early 2003, Wired.com reported that there was a rise in the occurrence of argyria – a condition brought on by ingesting too much silver. The silver actually collects in the skin and turns it gray, blue, or purple. The condition is permanent.

Because of this, and the fact that ingesting too much silver can cause coma or even death, the FDA no longer allows producers of colloidal silver “remedies” to claim any sort of health benefit, although producers are allowed to call their product a “health supplement.” Some people swear by using silver supplements, like Stan Jones, a senate candidate who manufactured his own silver supplement when he was afraid that the year 2000 would bring an end to the availability of antibiotics. Sure, he’s sort of gray, but he claims that his health has been better because of his silver consumption.

On the other hand, Rosemary Jacobs is an argyria-sufferer who speaks out against the use of colloidal silver as a health remedy or supplement. She used some eye drops containing silver back in the fifties and her skin has been gray ever since. She saw the advertising that starting hitting TVs and computers at Y2K and decided to speak out. She started her own website to debunk the “snake oil” that turned her gray and she has done a lot of research on the contents of many of the “health supplements” that contain silver.

Perhaps it is best to be a little cautious when ingesting something that contains silver, unless you fancy being gray, blue, or purple forever, but Jones swears that he just took too much, that despite his unconventional hue that he would resume treatment in a heartbeat, if he was diagnosed with any sort of disease. Except argyria, of course.