The bactericidal properties of silver are known from ancient times. How effective are "grandfather" methods in the modern world? The time has come to dispel all doubts and myths about the benefits of silver water treatment.
Where did the belief about the benefits of silver water come from?
Ancient civilizations, such as the Phoenicians and Greeks, knew that the long-term storage of water and oils in silver containers retained the freshness of liquids. Some also realized that drinking from a silver cup was healthier than drinking from a copper or lead. Hippocrates, considered the creator of medical practices, crushed pieces of silver into powder and consumed it with water in order to obtain health benefits. In ancient times, the causes of disease were not understood, but years of practice yielded noticeable results that were recorded. In fact, many people, including the widespread use of refrigeration equipment and homogenization, used silver spoons and coins in milk to preserve it.
As people began to better understand that microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and mold, caused illness and food spoilage, more attention was paid to the detection and use of substances that killed them. Until 1938, when penicillin was discovered, silver solutions were used as disinfectants, especially for surgical instruments and laboratory equipment. Silver nitrate ointment was used to disinfect the eyes of newborns for many decades after the discovery of penicillin. Silver ionic solutions were used to disinfect drinking water at the International Space Station and the Russian Mir orbital station. WHO, in its sponsored Water Disinfection Guide, states that silver colloids are effective disinfectants for drinking water in third world countries.
Although evidence supporting silver’s ability to purify water and sanitize inanimate objects is abundant, its ability to kill pathogens in the human body is considered controversial and not well understood.
Getting silver water
The easiest way to get some disinfectant benefit from silver, as noted above, is to use silver utensils, as well as putting silver objects in vessels filled with water. But in this case, silver is released for a very long time (it takes at least three days to achieve the result) and the effect is insignificant.
Another method is the most effective - the use of an electronic ionizer or silver foil. The method allows you to quickly get silver water, as well as adjust the concentration of silver. The disadvantage can be considered significant energy consumption.
The third method is ambiguous - the use of colloidal solutions (sols) of silver. It is a suspension of submicroscopic particles of metallic silver in a colloidal base. Since its production is the least expensive, it is the most popular product in this category.
In the end, if you just want to conduct an experiment and try the effect of silver water on yourself, then you can buy it in a store or take in a church (holy).
The benefits and harms of silver water
Silver is a heavy metal, and in the periodic table is adjacent to extremely toxic cadmium. Belongs to hazard class 2 "highly hazardous substances", which also include: lead, cobalt, arsenic and cyanides. It is able to accumulate in the body.
This is the reason for the "health" of the use of silver among the people. We treat one, cripple the other.
Silver is not considered safe or effective as a medicine, whether it is in water or in another form. It does not have direct goals in the human body. The direct role of silver in the human body has been little studied. And although a person consumes about 7 micrograms of silver per day with food, this is not an important mineral for us, according to some manufacturers, for whom it is only important to successfully sell your product and make a profit. Moreover, silver is capable of blocking the processes of energy exchange at the cellular level, therefore it is referred to as cellular poison.
The main advantage of silvering water is its high efficiency and long-term disinfecting effect. For this reason, the use of silver can be justified in field conditions when the quality of water in natural sources is in doubt. And silver canned water in banks can be stored for years and even decades. But, on the other hand, there are other antiseptic agents, and to preserve water in banks, and put them on the mezzanine, it makes sense only for strategic purposes - in case of an apocalypse.
Silver, unlike its modern counterpart, the antibiotic, simply does not cause resistance or immunity in the organisms it kills. This point cannot be emphasized, as many people suffer and die from diseases as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections. At the same time, when drinking silver water, the beneficial intestinal microflora does not die, unlike the use of antibiotics, since silver is simply absorbed quickly in the upper gastrointestinal tract and spreads with blood throughout the body, killing pathogenic microorganisms. The silver concentration should be approximately 10-20 mg / l, at a dosage of 3 x 1 tsp / day.
The least toxic is metallic silver, the most in the form of silver nitrate.
At the same time, prolonged use in significant doses can cause irreversible serious health problems, including kidney damage and neurological problems such as cramps. And also lead to general poisoning and a specific disease of argyrosis, a condition in which silver salts are applied to the skin, eyes and internal organs, and the skin becomes ashen-gray. It is impossible to completely remove silver from the body at this stage. Many cases of agrigosis occurred before antibiotics, when silver was a common ingredient in nose drops. When the reason became obvious, doctors stopped recommending their use, and reputable manufacturers stopped their production.
It should be understood that you can not use silver preparations (drink silver water) for more than 14 consecutive days, just trying to get rid of the flu or runny nose.
For the reason that water is treated with chlorine in centralized water supply systems (that is, disinfection is already underway), the use of silver is impractical, meaningless, and if precautions are not followed, it is even dangerous. At home, it is better not to experiment with silver, especially if the family has small children. Silver water is contraindicated for them.
In general, the use of silver as an antibiotic has its obvious pros and cons. It is impossible to recommend it as a solution "from all diseases" or to supporters of a healthy lifestyle, but in exceptional cases it is indispensable as an aggressive means of disinfection.
