Colloidal Silver is a field of nutrition that is loaded with hucksters and wrong science that misleads people. Colloidal silver in proper form can do wonders. In the wrong form, it is close to useless, thus the variance in clinical studies. No matter what, if you use colloidal silver, you want it to work! In this article, we want to explain what effective colloidal silver is. The principles here apply to both internal and external use of colloidal silver. (Just remember thatSilver Skin is for external use only.)
Bioavailability
Silver is a noble metal which means that it does not readily combine to form compounds. Fortunately, the biological activity of metallic silver nanoparticles does not require that the silver combine with biological or any other material in the body. Its action is one of being a catalyst, and as such it remains unchanged from its original form.
Silver nanoparticles, which are the predominant form of silver in true colloidal silver products, do not dissolve nor are they metabolized in the human body. They enter the body as silver nanoparticles, they circulate in the bloodstream and then leave the body and always remain as silver nanoparticles. They perform their catalytic action while in the form of silver nanoparticles. Their effectiveness being determined by their particle surface area.
Bioavailability is the amount of unchanged drug that reaches the systemic circulation. It pertains to how colloidal silver particles are absorbed into the bloodstream after being ingested. We know that silver nanoparticles are absorbed in the first few feet of the small intestine and their presence can be measured about 15 minutes after ingestion. The silver concentration of nanoparticles in the blood serum will continue to increase for about 3 to 4 hours after ingestion and then start to taper off.
True silver colloids reach the bloodstream unchanged in form meaning they are truly bioavailable. Ionic silver does not reach the bloodstream unchanged because the silver ions are converted into silver chloride. This means that the bioavailability of ionic silver is zero since none of the silver ions arrive unchanged in systemic circulation.
The definition of bioavailability only concerns the amount of substance that reaches systemic circulation. It does not have anything to do with the ability of the substance to be metabolized by the body, or being water soluble or combining with biological tissue. These are important to remember because so much has been written that claims that silver nanoparticles are not bioavailable. If they were not bioavailable, they would not enter the bloodstream.
The properties of the dosage form (which partly depend on its design and manufacture) affects drug bioavailability. The physiologic characteristics and comorbidities of the patient also affect bioavailability. Absorption rate is important because even when a drug is absorbed completely, it may be absorbed too slowly to produce a therapeutic blood level quickly enough or so rapidly that toxicity results from high drug concentrations after each dose.
Causes of Low Bioavailability
When a drug rapidly dissolves and readily crosses membranes, absorption tends to be complete. However absorption of orally administered drugs is not always complete. A drug may be metabolized (first-pass metabolism) before it can be measured in the blood. Many drugs have low oral bioavailability because of extensive first-pass metabolism.
Low bioavailability is most common with oral dosage forms of poorly water-soluble, slowly absorbed drugs. Slow or incomplete absorption often leads to variable therapeutic responses.
Insufficient time in the GI tract is also a common cause of low bioavailability. If the substance does not dissolve readily or cannot penetrate the epithelial membrane (eg, if it is highly ionized and polar), time at the absorption site may be insufficient. In such cases, bioavailability tends to be highly variable as well as low. Age, sex, activity, genetic phenotype, stress, disease, or previous GI surgery can affect drug bioavailability.
Reactions that compete with absorption can reduce bioavailability. They include complex formation (eg, between tetracycline and polyvalent metal ions), hydrolysis by gastric acid or digestive enzymes (eg, penicillin and chloramphenicol palmitate hydrolysis), conjugation in the gut wall (eg, sulfoconjugation of isoproterenol), adsorption to other drugs (eg, digoxin and cholestyramine), and metabolism by luminal microflora.
Ionic vs Nanoparticles
The most widely used general index of absorption rate is peak time; the slower the absorption, the later the peak time. However, AUC is the most reliable measure of bioavailability. AUC is directly proportional to the total amount of unchanged drug thatreaches the blood system. Our high AUC levels support the methods we use!
We want the silver to reach our blood stream in a form that is effective. The particle surface area of colloidal silver is what directly determines the ability of the colloid to do its job. The higher the particle surface area the more effective the colloidal silver. A larger value of particle surface area increases the reactivity of the colloid.
In the booklet “Silver Colloids”, Professor Gibbs wrote “The size of the particles in the colloidal silver suspensions we use for health purposes is very important. Particle size controls the surface area and therefore the effectiveness of the colloidal silver suspension.”
Particle surface area is the single most important property of colloidal silver! Some companies selling silver products will advertise very high values of silver concentration. They say that higher ppm concentrations are more effective but that is simply not true. The silver has to be in correct form or it will do little good. Colloids that are mostly ionic silver will have a low particle surface area since most of the metal content is in the form of metal ions not nanoparticles. Colloids that have the highest percentage of their metal content in the form of nanoparticles will have the highest particle surface area.
Colloid particle surface area increases as the particle size decreases. The highest particle surface area is achieved when there is a high concentration of nanometer or sub-nanometer sized particles. While this is the desired result, it is also the most difficult to achieve. Colloids containing high concentrations of large particles as found in silver protein products will have low particle surface area.
Bioavailability Effectiveness (Say that 3 times fast)
Bioavailability of colloidal silver expresses the extent to which the colloidal silver arrives in the bloodstream unchanged in form. Silver nanoparticles are what provide the particle surface area entering the bloodstream unchanged to provide the high bioavailability.
Products that are mostly ionic silver have low bioavailability. Silver ions cannot enter the bloodstream unchanged because they combine with chloride in the body and form silver chloride.
It is the combination of small particle size and high particle concentration that produces the high particle surface area and high bioavailability for maximum effectiveness in a colloidal silver product.