Comparing Colloidal Silver Products – Important Info

Below you will find two tables comparing colloidal silver products. A couple of notes before you begin:

• The particle size distribution and zeta potential reports are in pdf format and require the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader plug-in installed in your browser, you can download it free from the Adobe web site. Click on the Acrobat Icon below to obtain the Acrobat Reader free.
• In the tables below, a click on the product name will bring up the complete lab analysis for the products shown. The top part of the lab analysis page indicates the properties of the product according to the manufacturer. The bottom of the page contains the results of applying a standard suite of tests to determine the physical properties of the colloids. Not all tests can be performed on all the products. Specifically, the protein-based products cannot be tested for zeta potential. See Determining Properties for technical details about how the laboratory analysis is performed.
• The tables below compare two critical metrics. Column 2 of first table compares particle surface area, which is the most important measure of effectiveness. The table is organized in ascending values of particle surface area. The second table evaluates metal content.
• The second table is arranged in ascending order of percent of labeled value by product grouping. Eventually, we hope to test all products that either claim to be colloidal silver or are colloidal silver.

Comparison Table: Particle Surface Area

The effectiveness of a colloid is predicated on particle surface area, therefore particle surface area is the single most important metric for comparing colloidal products. The Comparison Table below provides a detailed comparative analysis of products based on the particle surface area.

In the booklet “Silver Colloids” Professor Ronald 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.”

In this context, effectiveness is defined as the ability of the colloid to interact with its environment, just as in the world of chemistry, where surface area determines how well substances react with one another. For a more complete discussion of the rationale for comparing colloidal silver products using particle surface areaas a single valued metric see: Comparing Colloidal Silver Products.

• • This table is presented in ascending order of particle surface area (column 2) to provide an easy means for direct comparison among the various properties associated with particle surface area. Data from the product reports is compiled into a table so the reader can compare products based on costs and particle surface area.
  • Product Name:   These are the colloidal silver products listed in the Product Reports. Click on the product name in the table below for the complete lab analysis.
  • Particle Surface Area: In the table below, Column 2 (Particle Surface Area) provides the best means for a direct comparison of the various products. Column 2 (cm 2/mL) is particle surface area insquare cm per mL from the Product Report.
  • Efficiency Index: Column 3 Effective surface area per unit of concentration. Particle Surface Area (cm²/mL) per ppm X 1000. This value relates how efficiently surface area is generated per unit of concentration (ppm).
  • Comparing Cost: Column 5  (Cents/cm²) is the Price in Cents per square cm of particle surface area.
    Column 7  (cm²/$)  is square cm of particle surface area per dollar of cost.
  • Comparing Quantity: Column 6  (Normalized mL) shows the quantity of the colloid in mL required to provide a constant particle surface area. The values are normalized.

Click here for European Product Reports (US Reports Below)

Higher Values are Better  Lower Values are Better

Notes:

Percent of Metal Content Table

In the table below, the Metal Content indicates the accuracy of product labeling. A value of 100 percent means the label accurately describes the metal content of the product. Values near zero indicate that the product contains very little or none of the metal content indicated on the label.

Values that are significantly above or below 100 (highlighted in red) indicate the manufacturers inability to adequately control the concentration (ppm) of the product. This could be the result of poor quality control or the lack of capability to measure concentration.

Percentages shown in red are less than 75% or greater than 150% of the labeled silver content.

>>> These products contain little or no silver (less than 2% of labeled value). <<<

Why are so many products shown in red?

It seems clear that some companies are not properly measuring the silver concentration in their products. There is a common misconception that silver concentration can be determined by measuring the electrical conductivity. This erroneous belief is fostered by the companies that sell “colloidal silver” generators to the home hobbyists and also sell TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) meters that they claim can be calibrated to measure ionic silver content. TDS meters measure the electrical conductivity of the solution, not silver content. Any substance that increases the electrical conductivity will cause the TDS meter reading to increase. This may or may not have anything to do with the ionic silver concentration. The products shown above that contain little or no silver all have electrical conductivity values that indicate the presence of water soluble salts that would increase the TDS reading without silver being present. We speculate that these companies are relying on such measurements in an attempt to determine the silver content. Electrical conductivity cannot be used to determine silver concentration.

Accurate determination of silver concentration requires the use of either an atomic absorption/emission spectrometer or a mass spectrometer. Most laboratories use either atomic absorption or atomic emission spectrometers because they are less expensive than a mass spectrometer (ICP/MS). The measured values reported on this web site were made using an atomic emission spectrometer, specifically an Inductively Coupled Plasma/Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP/AES). See Determining Properties for technical details about how the laboratory analysis is performed by CSL.

When an FDA laboratory determines metal concentration they use either and ICP/AES or an ICP/MS whose readings will match very closely the values that are indicated on the lab analysis pages.

Potentially dangerous ionic silver products – those containing nitric acid!

Ionic silver products which have a low silver concentration while at the same time have high electrical conductivity will generally have a low pH value (acidic). These products will quite often be found to have a high nitrate (NO3) concentration as well. This unique set of properties generally indicates that the process used to produce the product involves arcing a high voltage AC current through the air to the surface of the water. Since air is 80% nitrogen, the high voltage arc through nitrogen produces nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which combines with the water (H2O) to form nitric acid (HNO3). This method is considered bogus in the extreme and produces a product that may contain significant amounts of nitric acid and is therefore potentially very dangerous to ingest. This ill advised process was developed experimentally in the early days of colloidal silver research and was adopted by some manufacturers who apparently did not have the requisite knowledge to understand that they were making nitric acid. Unfortunately, this method is still in use today by some producers who refuse to acknowledge that they are producing a potentially dangerous product.

How to Spot Products that Contain Nitric Acid

When the total silver concentration (ppm) reported on the lab analysis page indicates a value that is far below the value on the product label, carefully read the lab analysis and look for the following:

1. High values of electrical conductivity– ionic silver products that do not contain nitrate or some other form of contamination will typically have a conductivity reading expressed in micro-Siemens (uS/cm) that is approximately equal to the silver ion concentration in ppm. While not an accurate determination, a rule of thumb is, a 10 ppm product will have about 10 uS/cm of electrically conductivity. Interestingly, it is this rule of thumb that formed the belief that electrical conductivity could be used to measure ionic silver content. If the uS/cm value is significantly above the measured total silver concentration value, then it is safe to suspect that nitrate or some other form of contamination is present.
2. Low pH values– pH values below 7 are acidic, values above 7 are basic and exactly 7.0 is neutral. Products containing nitrate (NO3) will be acidic and typically have values between 1 and 4. An acceptable pH value would generally be considered to be in the range of 6.5 to 7.5.
3. No silver particles present– nitric acid will dissolve silver particles so no silver particles will be present in products that contain nitric acid.
4. Presence of nitrate (NO3) – When a nitrate determination has been made for a given product the value of NO3 expressed in parts-per-million (ppm) of nitrate will be included on the lab analysis page.

At the moment, not all lab analysis pages have nitrate test values shown. We plan to perform the nitrate tests on products that have positive indication for items 1 to 3 above. The nitrate test results will be added to lab analysis pages when they are completed.

Notification of Results

Each manufacturer whose product appears in the tables and reports on this web site has been notified by e-mail and provided with a link to the detailed laboratory analysis of their product. At time of notification the producer may dispute the findings of our laboratory with regard to the determination of the measured values. The lab personnel are more than willing to discuss the results of our analysis should any company whose products are reported here choose to take issue with our laboratory procedures, suitability of equipment used, calibration standards, or experience of the laboratory staff. Not a single lab analysis has been disputed as of this date.

Not a single lab analysis has been disputed as of this date, and manufacturers cannot claim ignorance about the contents of the products they are selling.

Recourse for Consumers

Some of the products tested contain such a small fraction of the labeled value (see Metal Content chart above) that those products would generally be considered to have misleading and/or deceptive labeling by the Consumer Protection Department of various state governments. The sale of these mislabeled products is clearly a violation of the state consumer protection laws as well as a violation of the Federal Trade Commission regulations. If you have purchased one of these products, you might want to consider filing a complaint with the consumer protection department of the state where the manufacturer is located. You also might want to consider sending an e-mail to the producer and ask them why they continue to sell a product whose label misrepresents the contents of the bottle.

Donate a product for testing – Products that are commercially produced and sold to the public may be donated by for testing; the test results will be published on this site. Products donated for lab analysis and inclusion in our reports must be in a new factory sealed bottle to avoid the possibility of contamination. The scientists at the Colloidal Science Laboratory, Inc. will perform a uniform set of analytical measurements and report the results in the standard format as shown on the Commercial Product Report pages of this site. The lab analysis is done on a time available basis by laboratory personnel. Products submitted for analysis will not be returned. Products for analysis can be submitted to this address.

Related Information

• How to Compare Colloidal Silver Products
• Particle Surface Area and Effectiveness
• Bioavailability of Colloidal Silver
• The Truth About Ionic Silver
• Myth of Monatomic Colloidal Silver
• The Truth About TEM Images of Ionic Silver Solutions
• The Truth About Silver Protein Products
• The Truth About Colloid Particle Size
• Bogus Scientific Claims Made for Colloidal Silver Products
• Visit the Colloid Forum where users share information.
• Find colloidal silver products on the internet

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