All That Glitters…

Today we’ll be examining colloidal gold supplementation.

This issue of 10almonds brought to you by the writer suddenly getting lots of advertisements for this supplement. It’s not a new thing though, and has been around in one form or another since pretty much forever.

Colloidal gold is…

• Gold, as in the yellow metal
• Colloidal, as in “very tiny insoluble particles dispersed though another substance (such as water)”

What are the claims made for it?

Honestly, just about everything is claimed for it. But to go with some popular claims:

• Reduces inflammation
• Supports skin health
• Boosts immune function
• Combats aging
• Improves cognitive function

So, what does the science say?

Does it do those things?

The short and oversimplified answer is: no

However, there is a little bit of tangential merit, so we’re going to talk about the science of it, and how the leap gets made between what the science says and what the advertisements say.

First… What makes gold so special, in general? Historically, three things:

1. It’s quite rare
2. It’s quite shiny
3. It’s quite unreactive

• The first is about supply and demand, so that’s not very important to us in this article.
• The second is an aesthetic quality, which actually will have a little bit of relevance, but not much.
• The third has been important historically (because it meant that shiny gold stayed shiny, because it didn’t tarnish), and now also important industrially too, as gold can be used in many processes where we basically need for nothing to happen (i.e., a very inert component is needed)

That third quality—its unreactivity—has become important in medicine.

When scientists need a way to deliver something (without the delivering object getting eaten by the body’s “eat everything” tendencies), or otherwise not interact chemically with anything around, gold is an excellent choice.

Hence gold teeth, and gold fillings, by the way. They’re not just for the bling factor; they were developed because of their unreactivity and thus safety.

So, what about those health claims we mentioned above?

Here be science (creative interpretations not included)

The most-backed-by-science claim from that list is “reduces inflammation”.

Websites selling colloidal gold cite studies such as:

Gold nanoparticles reduce inflammation in cerebral microvessels of mice with sepsis

A promising title!The results of the study showed:

❝20 nm cit-AuNP treatment reduced leukocyte and platelet adhesion to cerebral blood vessels, prevented BBB failure, reduced TNF- concentration in brain, and ICAM-1 expression both in circulating polymorphonuclear (PMN) leukocytes and cerebral blood vessels of mice with sepsis. Furthermore, 20 nm cit-AuNP did not interfere with the antibiotic effect on the survival rate of mice with sepsis.❞

That “20 nm cit-AuNP” means “20 nm citrate-covered gold nanoparticles”

So it is not so much the antioxidant powers of gold being tested here, as the antioxidant powers of citrate, a known antioxidant. The gold was the carrying agent, whose mass and unreactivity allowed it to get where it needed to be.

The paper does say the words “Gold nanoparticles have been demonstrated to own important anti-inflammatory properties“ in the abstract, but does not elaborate on that, reference it, or indicate how.

Websites selling colloidal gold also cite papers such as:

Anti-inflammatory effect of gold nanoparticles supported on metal oxides

Another promising title! However the abstract mentions:

❝The effect was dependent on the MOx NPs chemical nature

[…]

The effect of Au/TiO2 NPs was not related to Au NPs size❞

MOx NPs = mineral oxide nanoparticles. In this case, the gold was a little more than a carrying agent, though, because the gold is described and explained as being a catalytic agent (i.e., its presence helps the attached mineral oxides react more quickly).

We said that was the most-backed claim, and as you can see, it has some basis but is rather tenuous since the gold by itself won’t do anything; it just helps the mineral oxides.

Next best-backed claim builds from that, which is “supports skin health”.

Sometimes colloidal gold is sold as a facial tonic. By itself it’ll distribute (inert) gold nanoparticles across your skin, and may “give you a healthy glow”, because that’s what happens when you put shiny wet stuff on your face.

Healthwise, if the facial tonic also contains some of the minerals we mentioned above, then it may have an antioxidant effect. But again, no minerals, no effect.

The claim that it “combats aging” is really a tag-on to the “antioxidant” claim.

As for the “supports immune health” claim… Websites selling colloid gold cite studies such as:

Efficacy and Immune Response Elicited by Gold Nanoparticle- Based Nanovaccines against Infectious Diseases

To keep things brief: gold can fight infectious diseases in much the same way that forks can fight hunger. It’s an inert carrying agent.

As for “improves cognitive function”? The only paper we could find cited was that mouse sepsis study again, this time with the website saying “researchers found that rats treated with colloidal gold showed improved spatial memory and learning ability“ whereas the paper cited absolutely did not claim that, not remotely, not even anything close to that. It wasn’t even rats, it was mice, and they did not test their memory or learning.

Is it safe?

Colloidal gold supplementation is considered very safe, precisely because gold is one of the least chemically reactive substances you could possibly consume. It is special precisely because it so rarely does anything.

However, impurities could be introduced in the production process, and the production process often involves incredibly harsh reagents to get the gold ions, and if any of those reagents are left in the solution, well, gold is safe but sodium borohydride and chloroauric acid aren’t!

Where can I get some?

In the unlikely event that our research review has given you an urge to try it, here’s an example product on Amazon

Take care!

Yes, this is about the flower, especially white peony (Paeonia lactiflora), and especially the root thereof (Paeoniae radix alba). Yes, the root gets a different botanical name but we promise it is the same plant. You will also read about its active glycoside paeoniflorin, and less commonly, albiflorin (a neuroprotective glycoside present in the root).

It’s one of those herbs that has made its way out of Traditional Chinese Medicine and into labs around the world.

It can be ingested directly as food, or as a powder/capsule, or made into tea.

Anti-inflammatory

Peony suppresses inflammatory pathways, which thus reduces overall inflammation. In particular, this research review found:

❝Pharmacologically, paeoniflorin exhibits powerful anti-inflammatory and immune regulatory effects in some animal models of autoimmune diseases including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)❞

The reviewers also (albeit working from animal models) suggest it may be beneficial in cases of kidney disease and liver disease, along with other conditions.

Source: The Regulatory Effects of Paeoniflorin and Its Derivative Paeoniflorin-6′-O-Benzene Sulfonate CP-25 on Inflammation and Immune Diseases

Here’s a larger review, which also has studies involving humans (and in vivo studies), that found it to effectively help treat autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis, amongst others:

❝Modern pharmacological research on TGP is based on the traditional usage of PRA, and its folk medicinal value in the treatment of autoimmune diseases has now been verified. In particular, TGP has been developed into a formulation used clinically for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Based on further research on its preparation, quality control, and mechanisms of action, TGP is expected to eventually play a greater role in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. ❞

(TGP = Total Glucosides of Paeony)

Source: Total glucosides of paeony: A review of its phytochemistry, role in autoimmune diseases, and mechanisms of action

Antidepressant / Anxiolytic

It also acts as a natural serotonin reuptake inhibitor (as per many pharmaceutical antidepressants), by reducing the expression of the serotonin transporter protein:

Gut Microbiota-Based Pharmacokinetics and the Antidepressant Mechanism of Paeoniflorin

(remember, most serotonin is produced in the gut)

Here’s how that played out when tested (on rats, though):

Effects of Paeonia lactiflora Extract on Estrogen Receptor β, TPH2, and SERT in Rats with PMS Anxiety

Against PMS and/or menopause symptoms

Peony is widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to reduce these symptoms in general. However, we couldn’t find a lot of good science for that, although it is very plausible (as the extract contains phytoestrogens and may upregulate estrogen receptors while dialling down testosterone production). Here’s the best we could find for that, and it’s a side-by-side along with licorice root:

❝Paeoniflorin, glycyrrhetic acid and glycyrrhizin decreased significantly the testosterone production but did not change that of delta 4-androstenedione and estradiol. Testosterone/delta 4-androstenedione production ratio was lowered significantly by paeoniflorin, glycyrrhetic acid and glycyrrhizin❞

Effect of paeoniflorin, glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhetic acid on ovarian androgen production

(note: that it didn’t affect estradiol levels is reasonable; it contains phytoestrogens after all, not estradiol—and in fact, if you are taking estradiol, you might want to skip this one, as its phytoestrogens could compete with your estradiol for receptors)

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon 😎

Enjoy!