Nanoparticles of silver, found in e.g. dietary supplements, cosmetics and food packaging, are worrying scientists. A trailblazing study from the University of Southern Denmark shows that nano-silver can penetrate our cells and cause damage.
Antibacterial Benefits
Silver has an antibacterial effect and therefore the food and cosmetic industry often coat their products with silver nanoparticles. Nano-silver can be found in:
- Drinking bottles
- Cosmetics
- Band aids
- Toothbrushes
- Running socks
- Refrigerators
- Washing machines
- Food packagings.
Cellular Changes
“Silver as a metal does not pose any danger, but when you break it down to nano-sizes, the particles become small enough to penetrate a cell wall. If nano-silver enters a human cell, it can cause changes in the cell,” explain Associate Professor Frank Kjeldsen and PhD Thiago Verano-Braga, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Southern Denmark.
Together with their research colleagues they have published the results of a study of such cell damages in the journal ACS Nano.
The researchers examined human intestinal cells, as they consider these to be most likely to come into contact with nano-silver, ingested with food.
Free Radicals in Cells
“We can confirm that nano-silver leads to the formation of harmful, so called free radicals in cells. We can also see that there are changes in the form and amount of proteins. This worries us,” say Frank Kjeldsen and Thiago Verano-Braga.
A large number of serious diseases are characterized by the fact that there is an overproduction of free radicals in cells. This applies to cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Kjeldsen and Verano-Braga emphasizes that their research is conducted on human cells in a laboratory, not based on living people. They also point out that they do not know how large a dose of nano-silver, a person must be exposed to for the emergence of cellular changes.
“We don’t know how much is needed, so we cannot conclude that nano-silver can make you sick. But we can say that we must be very cautious and worried when we see an overproduction of free radicals in human cells,” they say.
Dietary Supplement
Nano-silver is also sold as a dietary supplement, promising to have an antibacterial, anti-flu and cancer-inhibatory effect. The nano-silver should also help against low blood counts and bad skin. In the EU, the marketing of dietary supplements and foods with claims to have medical effects is not allowed. But the nano-silver is easy to find and buy online.
In the wake of the Uiversity of Southern Denmark-research, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration now warns against taking dietary supplements with nano-silver.
“The recent research strongly suggests that it can be dangerous,” says Søren Langkilde from the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR).
Source:
Journal Reference:
- Thiago Verano-Braga, Rona Miethling-Graff, Katarzyna Wojdyla, Adelina Rogowska-Wrzesinska, Jonathan R. Brewer, Helmut Erdmann, Frank Kjeldsen.Insights into the Cellular Response Triggered by Silver Nanoparticles Using Quantitative Proteomics. ACS Nano, 2014; 140220105558007
DOI:
10.1021/nn4050744
Good information, but what are some recommendations to avoid such things as refrigerators, toothbrushes, and band aids? Are there some products in these categories that do not feature nanoparticles of silver?
I am 71 years old and have been using colloidal silver for 19 years, the doctor says my blood test and body functions are as close to perfect as anyone could have. I went from having bronchitis all the time to not even a cold since I started taking colloidal silver.
Thank you for your testimonial! I believe you.
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is maintaining databases on commercial products containing nano-materials:
http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/ehs/
They also have prepared numerous papers on the subject. I have no idea if their papers are accurate or objective (I haven't looked at them) but I do know that nano-metal materials can have wildly different properties from "bulk" metals of supposedly the same compounds. I would view nano-silver with a great deal of concern.
The nutraceutical supplement ACETYL L CARNITINE (in small doses and under physician prescription) looks to be NEUROPROTECTIVE AGAINST SILVER NANO-PARTICLES , as we can read in the article published in the journal "Frontiers in Neuloscience" (2015 – Frontiers Research Foundation – Switzerland) , with the title :"EFFECTS OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES ON HUMAN AND RAT EMBRYONIC NEURAL STEM CELLS" , by the authors Liu and colleagues (from the Division of Neurotoxicology – F.D.A.-U.S.A.) , where we can read that :
" In the present study, embryonic neural stem cells from human and rat fetuses (gestational day-16) were used to determine whether silver nano-particles are capable of causing developmental neurotoxicity. Silver nano-particles inducing neurotoxicity was further confirmed. CO-ADMINISTRATION OF ACETYL-L-CARNITINE, AN ANTIOXIDANT AGENT, EFFECTIVELY BLOCKED THE ADVERSE EFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH SILVER NANO-PARTICLES EXPOSURE."
Nanosilver is the same as colloidal silver: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110131133005.htm
people have been using colloidal silver for many years with no ill effects.
I seriously thought I was losing my mind. I could not remember things. My short term memory was non existent. I stopped all of my prescription drugs. Now I am back to normal as far as my mind goes. I do have a new disease. Neuropathy. I am trying to figure out how to treat it without drugs.
You sound like me Barbara, I take ALC capsule ( one in pm) daily alpha lapoic acid, stops the neuropathy cold. It's in my feet ( I am not diabetic) found this remedy on Mayo Clinic web site years ago
My father took a lot of colloidal Silver for years, and is now in my care with advanced dementia. Correlation? Or coincidence? I would love to contribute to the research!
Well, my mother has demencia and has never tried colloidal silver. Thats why I posed the queation to see if it may actually help her.
Alpha lapoic acid actually pulls the metal and silver from your body correct? My dentist and Dr. Had me take it when I had my old fillings removed.
Yes, Alpha Lipoic Acid is a chelator of heavy metals and your dentist was correct in directing you to have your silver fillings removed; HOWEVER, bitewings should've been taken to ensure all specks of metals were removed; then you should follow a protocol on proper chelation. One should not just randomly take ALA; if procedure is not followed, it can be distributed in other areas of the body, namely the brain, and end up doing further harm. Please check out the findings of Andrew Cutler on proper chelation of mercury, specifically, but heavy metals, in general.