During the winter months our immune systems take a hit for a variety of reasons.

One of the biggest reasons our immune health is affected has to do with how many people stop getting the recommended daily value of vitamin D-3.

Another, is we end up cooped up inside with others and consequently, we’re much closer to people who may be sick as the days get shorter, and colder.

Plus, the holidays contribute to compromised immune function. When we eat too much sugar, stay up too late, and imbibe more than we should it can impair your immune system’s ability to fight off infection.

And while my team and I have written extensively on how D-3 helps you maintain superior immune health, along with other ways to preserve immune function during the holidays…

The reason I wrote today’s article has more to do with a rare metal Dr. Lantelme and I (and other practitioners here at the clinic) recommend to help supplement  immune support.

It’s silver.

I’ve written about silver before, but today I wanted to talk a bit more about silver and how you can benefit from incorporating it into your wellness routine.

I do want to make note of a very important thing regarding silver.

It is not a supplement you want to take daily and you want to be careful not to take too much when you decide to supplement with it.

This precious metal can have adverse effects when taken for an extended amount of time or when taken in copious amounts

I don’t want you turning blue (a rare, but documented side effect for taking too much silver) or getting sick from silver, but I do want you to understand that silver can be used to help you maintain your health during peak sick season.

So, without further ado, here’s how to turn your jewelry into a disease-fighting guardian (I kid, you can buy silver at health food stores).

How Silver Helps With Your Immune Health

Silver’s an interesting supplement because it possesses one of the oldest known histories of medical use.

Before Jesus was even born, people used this precious metal for all kinds of things… but mainly to help keep bacterial and viral infections at bay.

Though they didn’t know how germs worked, the ancient Greeks knew that milk could spoil and that wine would age slower in the presence of silver. Today we know that the antimicrobial properties of silver are what help to impede spoilage of these two beverages.

Through research over the past 100 years we’ve been able to make multiple determinations about silver’s effectiveness at slowing down the growth of bacteria and viruses.

In the 1980s, a doctor by the name of Dr. Larry C Ford (of the UCLA school of Medicine) was able to show that silver was effective at killing over 650 different “disease-causing pathogens” after they were presented with a specific colloidal silver called “Advanced Cellular Silver.”

Since then there have been a myriad of studies to support Ford’s initial findings.

For instance, in 2013, researchers attempted to validate silver’s use as an adjunct to antibiotics to find out if silver + an antibiotic would help increase the effectiveness of the antibiotic alone for pathogen killing.

Their research led them to conclude that colloidal silver + an antibiotic led to the death of 1000 times more bacteria than antibiotics alone.

The study’s authors were renowned biologists from Harvard and Boston University, and who had an extensive background in antibiotic function and were worried that the growing resistance that antibiotics displayed to normal bacteria signalled the need for a complementary way to fight disease.

The researchers discovered that silver helps to make bacteria cell membranes more permeable and interferes with the cell’s metabolism, which ultimately allows for antibiotics to kill them more efficiently.

James Collins, one of the lead authors, said the following about how silver could help support immune health. “Both mechanisms could potentially be harnessed to make today’s antibiotics more effective against resistant bacteria.”

That same mechanism is what could allow your body’s own natural white blood cells (which are part of your body’s immune system) to knock out bacteria too.

Silver is also used in modern medical settings for helping to keep infections at bay.

Dr. Carl Moyer, who before his passing was the chairman of Washington University’s Department of Surgery, pioneered a technique where he used silver to help treat burn victims and help them heal faster.

After investigating 22 antiseptic compounds and not finding any that worked well without some risks, he turned to silver based on its historic use in medicine.

Using a 0.5 percent solution of silver nitrate he found it killed invasive burn bacteria and permitted wounds to heal. Importantly, resistant strains did not appear.

Today, a different form of silver is used than what Moyer first used, AND it’s in use in 70 percent of burn centers in America.

In fact, silver is so useful in medical settings that professionals use it in medical devices and health care products because of the antibacterial and antifungal action.

But, you’re reading this to learn about what it can do for your immune health, right?

Well, consider this.

Alfred Searle, who founded Searle Pharmaceuticals (which you now know as Monsanto), said the following, “Applying colloidal silver to human subjects has been done in a large number of cases with astonishingly successful results. For internal administration … it has the advantage of being rapidly fatal to pathogens without toxic action on its host. It is quite stable.”

And now we know applications of colloidal silver can really help you feel your best.

Colloidal silver is a solution that is extremely safe to use (see my notes above) for a short amount of time to help maintain solid immune function. And if you’re wondering, colloidal silver simply describes tiny particles of silver suspended in a liquid.

And colloidal silver has been tested and shown in some studies to help with your immune health.

In 2012, the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine published a study that showed ionic silver colloidal worked well as a “broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent against both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.”

And this effect is a pretty good sign of it being able to help you in the presence of pathogens. A little bit of silver at the first sign of a cough, or before you’re visiting sick family members, can make the difference between a good day and a bad week.

I plan on adding to this article in the weeks to come, but for now, just be aware that colloidal silver is a reliable option for helping to improve your body’s chances of fighting off colds and more!