Colloidal silver is a term that covers a variety of products. However, when you’re looking to purchase colloidal silver, it’s important to know what you’re getting and how the benefits may vary depending on what’s actually in your shopping basket. We’ve broken down the three most common products sold as ‘colloidal silver’:
True Colloidal Silver
In order to assess if a silver product is true colloidal silver, the concentration of silver in nanoparticle form must be determined independently of the concentration of the silver ions present. Since most silver products contain both nanoparticles and ions a method of separating the ions from the nanoparticles was developed so that each component of the product could be determined. At the time this work was being conducted no definitive method had yet been established to separate silver ions from silver nanoparticles.
A true colloidal silver of silver NP’s has low reactivity in the human organism, ionic solutions are highly reactive. Silver ions will combine with free chloride ions found in the human organism in about 7 seconds.
Many of the products available on the market today called colloidal silver contain low particle concentration and often of very large particle size, together with a high ionic content. A true colloid containing over 50% particles and of a mean particle size of less than 10Nm is a massively more effective in antimicrobial activity.
Ionic Silver
Ionic silver is a more common supplement when compared to colloidal silver. It is a solution of silver ions and water. The solubility of silver ions is due to the missing electron. It is the outer electrons of an atom that determine its physical properties. The solubility of ionic silver means that it can pass through a membrane without leaving any residue behind.
Silver Protein
Also known as “mild silver protein,” silver protein products are made of metallic silver particles suspended in a polymer protein solution. While various polymer binders may be used, gelatin, an animal-derived protein, is commonly used. Gelatin is a natural long-chain molecule of indefinite length (polymer). Other natural polymers, such as casein, which is derived from dairy products, are sometimes used. Natural protein polymers derived from grains may also be used.
While synthetic polymers are technically not proteins, they are long-chain molecules of indefinite length. They will produce the same generic type results as protein-polymer molecules when used as an additive with silver particles. Therefore, we classify any product that uses a polymer additive as a “silver protein” type product because of the close similarities in the result regardless of whether a synthetic or natural polymer is used.
True silver colloids have tiny particles whose size is measured in nanometers (nm), from about 1 to 100 nm (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). However, the particles in silver protein products are often larger, typically being in the range of 100 to 10,000 nm — or up to 1000 times larger than a typical silver colloid.
Closing thought
It’s important to know more about the products you are buying. The different products sold under the colloidal silver name will have varying results. We always look to break down our product information and ingredients, and it’s important that whenever you look to make a purchase you investigate thoroughly. The results will be worth it!
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