Diatomaceous Earth (D.E.)

[happinesshill]

Has anyone here ever taken D.E. orally? (Diatomaceous Earth)
I bought some late last year and we have been taking it daily for months. It seems to really make your hair grow in thicker, your nails grow faster and stronger and any acne clears up (my son, who is 15, really noticed this!)
It seems to be amazing stuff. Just wondering if anyone else consumes it?

[Biciclista]

i didn't even know you could eat it!!

[happinesshill]

By the way, we take it in a little applesauce or some juice. It's not the best taste in the world. We've even started using it in tooth powder we make...1/2 jar of baking soda, 1/3 D.E. and 1/3 salt. It's not too bad.

It *HAS* to be food-grade. Some D.E. is silica which is toxic.

[Biciclista]

so what you are saying is that there is SAND in Diatomaceous earth (Silica) and the food grade would have (most of) the sand removed. Interesting.

[OakLeaf]

??? I thought diatomaceous earth WAS silica - the exoskeletons of diatoms. What else is it???

[Eden]

I gather you need to be sure to get food grade because of two reasons - one food grade comes from fresh water sources, no one explains why salt water sources are bad, but I would guess it has some sort of undesirable contaminants, and because non-food grade often has toxic substances added - so you wouldn't want to ingest the stuff that is sold for filtering pools.

Silica itself isn't toxic, thought it is drying and you can kill buggies that are sensitive to dehydration with DA and it does carry a warning about breathing it in - it is fine enough to cause silicosis (black lung disease).

I figure I probably eat enough dirt riding around here in the winter... I don't think I need to add any to my diet intentionally...

[SadieKate]

From what I know about DE, I certainly wouldn't take it long term. Yeah, there is foodgrade DE that is generally considered safe by the FDA, but I don't think it goes beyond that.

Foodgrade is mostly used as a de-wormer for livestock.

I was raised by a mother who did drug development in her early career and we were taught to treat the bug-killing powder with the utmost care.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

There was a huge controversial mess here a few years back when some developer decided he wanted to build houses on an abandoned diatomaceous earth mine.

[KnottedYet]

Has anyone here ever taken D.E. orally? (Diatomaceous Earth)
I bought some late last year and we have been taking it daily for months. It seems to really make your hair grow in thicker, your nails grow faster and stronger and any acne clears up (my son, who is 15, really noticed this!)
It seems to be amazing stuff. Just wondering if anyone else consumes it?

Everybody has worms. Lots and lots of worms. At the very least, everyone is carrying a full load of nematodes, most of which are benign. (got a dog or cat, you've probably got a few other interesting critters in your guts)

Worms absorb their nutrients from you and from your gut contents.

Kill off the worms by eating diatom shells (raining microscopic broken glass onto the worms, which slices them up and they bleed to death), and you suddenly get the benefit of the nutrients your parasites had been stealing from you.

Hence the happier hair, nails, and acne.

The DE didn't do it, it was the sudden absence of your usual worms and the resulting increase of nutrients available to you. (and the availability of resources your bodies had been spending to keep the worms down to a dull roar)

Once the worm population is diminished, stop taking the DE. If later you notice your body not coping well, it may be time to de-worm again. But I'd suggest doing it under the guidance of a doctor next time.

[lph]

Kill off the worms by eating diatom shells (raining microscopic broken glass onto the worms, which slices them up and they bleed to death), and you suddenly get the benefit of the nutrients your parasites had been stealing from you.

The stuff I learn here.

[OakLeaf]

But aren't the worms actually important to the immune system?

It sure is gross to think about though ...

[zoom-zoom]

The stuff I learn here.

Ha, that is exactly what I was thinking!

[TsPoet]

Ditto

Hmm. Makes me want to go and get a dewormer. Is that anything like that you can get from the health food store that is not DE?

I do give my two sweet doggies kissies from time to time.

You really don't want to, unless they are "overgrown" for some reason. And if they are, then there is most likely an underlying reason you should deal with, first.

[Tri Girl]

oh for goodness sakes- I had no idea there were worms living in my gut and eating my nutrients.
I'm glad I read this before the Super Bowl party- I think I just lost my appetite for all the junk food that will certainly be there... egads!

[Catrin]

oh for goodness sakes- I had no idea there were worms living in my gut and eating my nutrients.
I'm glad I read this before the Super Bowl party- I think I just lost my appetite for all the junk food that will certainly be there... egads!

I had no idea either...ewwwwww ... Not that it will stop me from eating - and I guess that I did know that already but try really, really hard not to think about it

TSPoet, why don't we want to "de-worm"? Is it simply because that is the way of things and it would interfere with the "balance" of the "flora and fauna" of our gut? I can't believe I just said that

[KnottedYet]

You can't really "de-worm."

Nematodes, in particular, are everywhere.

If we took away everything that was you, and left only the nematodes that infest you, there would be a 3-D shadow of you left... made entirely of nematode worms.

For the most part, your worms are benign. Sometimes you can get an over-growth, which will sap your energy and nutrients. Sometimes you can get some mean critters which will actually consume more than their fair share (pinworms, tapeworms, those evil worms that cause elephantiasis, etc.)

If you are pretty healthy, you have nothing to worry about from your worms.

Next lets talk about the mites that live in your eyelashes!