Anyone taking Diatomaceous Earth?
 

I've read online praises for food grade diatomaceous earth (DE). Silica, the main ingredient in DE, is touted as a cure-all. If you are taking DE:

What are your taking it for?
How much are you taking?
How long have you been taking it?
Does it work for you?

I've never heard of anyone taking it, although I may be surprised by answers that follow. I have heard of many people giving it to their pets and livestock, mixed in with food, as a worming agent. I guess if I had worms I might give it a try. Food grade is distinguished from non-food grade by being of a coarser texture. You can see some good pictures of DE at the Perma-Guard website: http://www.perma-guard.com/
The coarse texture causes this type of DE to kill anything with an exo-skeleton, such as garden pests, roaches, ants, etc. It is good to put some in your chicken's (and other poultry) dust bath area to keep down mites.

If this stuff is supposed to be a curative for humans I would like to hear about that, but it will be news to me.

BTW, if anyone is looking for a deal on DE, the best I have found so far, is thru Amazon. They have the Perma-Guard food grade fossil shell flour in a 50# bag. Shipped to me was a in mid $50s. Direct from Perma-guard the shipping was more than the product (at least to Georgia).

Arteries, one teaspoon twice a day, two months, I probably won't know for at least another four months.

It is a source of silica.

http://www.eidon.com/silica_article.html

DE is just as effective as eating sand, since chemically it's no different
The ONLY sites that praise it also happen to SELL it

Go ask this question down in the horse forum. :peep:

Try getting it at the local feed store. I bought a 50 lb bag of Perma-Guard food grade DE for $25.

I have not been able to find it locally. The last I bought cost $27 for 50 lbs., but it cost $28 to ship! :flame:

This is one of those debatable subjects. Some use it, some don't. Some studies say it works for some uses, but not others. Some studies say it does not help with internal parasites, but it may help dry out the fecal mater and help eliminate parasite eggs. The people that sell if of course promote it well.:shrug:

I guess you are looking for opinions. My opinion and $1 will get you a cup coffee at most places!:banana:

I use it. I mix with fluid and drink it myself. I am healthy and do not take it for any particular problem. I ate dirt as a kid and I guess I still do as an adult. This dirt is just cleaner! LOL

I feed it to my animals. I dust my animals with it. I sprinkle it in my animals housing. I use it for garden pest.

SPIKE

I understood de to be the skeletons of dead diatoms therefore almost pure calcium whereas sand is silica. I have used pool grade de in the garden to kill cutworms and slugs as the sharp skeletal matter cuts their hides desicating them. First time I've heard of anyone eating it.

Humans and critters have been taking DE for thousands of years. Deposits are on the land. DE is fossilized plants from the oceans and lakes. It looks and feels like flour.

All it is is 28 trace minerals.

NO ONE knows why DE works like it does. Those of us who feed and take it are just glad it works!

I've been taking DE for many years. Have been feeding it to my house pets and livestock for over 30 years. My critters haven't had any sickness, diseases, or vet bills all these years and I can't remember the last time I saw a doctor.
My large livestock free choice feed DE. I keep it in a feeder in a weather proof area. You can't over-dose DE. My house pets prefer DE mixed with something they like. I free choice feed so can't put it in their feed. They like raw eggs, I have poultry, so that's what I mix the DE in.

DE also deworms when the right amount is fed, so I've bought no commercial dewormers for my critters all these years.

The amount each person takes daily depends on why they're taking it. Some of us take a lot, some of us take smaller amounts.

Everything that breathes around here takes DE daily. You couldn't pay me enough money to quit using it!

DE is available at many feed stores.

There are different grades of DE. The industrial grade is used in many ways such as in swimming pool filters. It is treated and heated. When DE is heated, it becomes crystalline, up to 85% crystalline and can cause lung problems, cancer, even death.

This is why we use food grade DE. It's not fooled with and is less than 1% crystalline. The bag will say on the front FOOD CHEMICAL CODEX GRADE. If it doesn't, don't purchase.

World Minerals owns most of the DE deposits in the U.S. Their largest supplier is Perma-Guard, and that is the name you will see on bags of 100% food grade DE.

Prices vary across the country. I've seen those 50 pound bags sell from $15 to $55 dollars. Same bags, same stuff!! Where I'm presently at, it's $24.50

DE prevents, reverses, cures most "incurable" diseases.

Thanks for the great answer! How much do you take a day? I took 1 tsp. of Perma-Guard DE this morning as a preventative, because the FDA lists it as GRAS. I'm also going to put it on the animal feed. Thanks again.

DE is FOSSILIZED "skeletons" of Diatoms
It has NO calcium at all:

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

Pool grade is the most hazardous form because it's been calcined (heat treated) which changes the crystalline structure

That's not true.
That's sales hype


Not according to SCIENTIFIC studies

http://www.sheepandgoat.com/articles...parasites.html

Finally, an actual fact!!

LOL
At least pretend to be serious ;)

=== It has NO calcium at all:

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


There is a brand of DE, Red Lake, on the market. It is mixed with clay. I have never used it. I use Perma-Guard. It's 100% DE.

Calcium is one of the 28 trace minerals in Perma-Guard. PPM - 1300 / % composition - 0.1300

When I throw my hens eggs on the ground for the critters (pigs and poultry), if they don't hit a rock, they don't break. I then have to break them with my foot.

And I've never fed the poultry oyster shell!! No need. Plenty of calcium in the DE.

When my 93 year old mom fell, the doctor couldn't figure out why she didn't break anything. She looked up at him - all 4' 10 inches of her and 85 pounds - looked him in the eye and said, "that's because I'm taking the stuff you said wouldn't do me any good." She then walked away. Yep, DE has plenty of calcium.

.13 percent? Sooooo.... that's .0013, right. Yup.

Parts per MILLION. So out of 1,000,000 parts, 1300 of them are calcium.

More likely your mother has good genes. :)

We who use DE become preachers of the product. Hate to see humans and critters suffering when there's an inexpensive and safe fix.

The naysayers can try all they want to stop us from using it. A lot of folks would like to stop us -- doctors, nurses, hospitals, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies (yep, DE kills insects - except earthworms).

I'm 72, have no prescriptions, over the counter stuff, or even aspirin in my house 'cause it's not needed. My passion is riding my mule on tough mountain rides (he's 24).

Good genes?? Then there's millions of us around the world with good genes!! :o)

I know plenty of doctors and vets who take and feed DE, but they'll never tell their patients/clients about it 'cause they know they won't see them again.
Oath to heal or not, they say they have to feed their families. Sad, isn't it.

Any idea why it kills internal parasite worms, garden pests, all sorts of insects, but earthworms are immune?

I understand that DE only works when it is dry.

Therefore.........

DE does not "kill" intestinal worms in horses and dogs. It scores the eggs which in turn do not hatch.
At least that's my understanding.

1/10th of one percent is EFFECTIVELY "no calcium".

Not according to YOUR numbers, which say each pound of DE has 1/1000th of a pound of calcium

That doesn't make the claims factual, and could actually be used as possible evidence of DE's psychotropic qualities

More misleading sales hype from those who promote it's use in the garden

I personally don't care if you eat it, drink it , inject it, or sleep in piles of it.

I DO care that others are informed of the truth rather than the anecdotes.
Then they are free to make their own decisions.

You have to admit though, when you say things like this:

you lose ALL credibility

That is so tiny amount nothing would benefit from such a small amount. I wonder what a handful of nice clean sand would contain? LOL

That line about incurable diseases ruffled my feathers, too. Having a grandson who is a cancer survivor thanks to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, NOT diatomaceous earth, it is offensive that someone makes those claims.

It helps PREVENT worms by drying out the FECES once it leaves the body, and makes it harder for the eggs to hatch.
You can get the same effect much sooner by simply throwing it directly on the manure

DE passes UNCHANGED through the body, and is often used as a "marker" in testing due to that fact

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatoma...on_experiments

Whoops. No need. The party is here. :)

To clog them or clean them out?!? :nana:

I'm assuming you have some type of problem that you have been taking the DE for 2 months and you expect to know if it helped in 4 more months. Would you care to elaborate?

I've used DE on my animals. I still have some, but haven't used it for a while. I've seen and read all the claims that it can do that are to benefit an animal.

While I can see how DE (using it dry) on insects would work, I'm not so certain how it would work internally. It's supposed to work by "cutting" an insect and it therefore drys up. Most intestines are moist, so not sure how anything is going to dry up in there.

Not saying it doesn't - but it just doesn't seem it would make a difference for killing worms. Now the comment about it slicing the eggs, so they don't hatch . . . . now that could have some merit.

But I'm not so certain I would believe that DE is a cureall for EVERYTHING.

I went to the website to look around. Hmm.

The stuff they sell specifically to target insects has some interesting ingredients.

Looking at my can of fly spray, the two active ingredients are Pyrethrins and Piperonyl butoxide, and it is certain death on bugs. No DE needed. DOes DE work on insects without the addition of two other known insect killers?

And this line caught my eye:
On another page of the website, they say: How does it know to absorb the nutrients of life needed by the insect, but it does not absorb nutrients needed by the livestock? Truly a miracle product.

http://perma-guard.com/fossilshell.html

Sorta what I was thinking...

killing internal parasites by drying them out... or 'firming up' stools... if the stuff is so absorbent, why doesn't it absorb all it's going to absorb, in the mouth and stomach, before it gets to where the nasties are at?...

If I take DE, or any other whatever, daily, and have no problems with ailments... is it the supplements I take that's preventing me from having ailments, or was I going to be ailment free (ir)regardless?

Reckon if I were real wormy, and knew I was wormy, I'd give it a shot, maybe. And then take a worm pill...

That's some cold-blooded doctors. Watching those little kids dies, young mothers suffer and die, leaving a family motherless, watching a beloved grandparent slowly die before their time, watching a hard working father and husband die and leave the family without support. And all those doctors would have to do is mention DE and everyone would be cured. But nope, they gotta pay the mortgage and the country club fees. And not one doctor is brave enough to say we should all be taking DE daily to cure all ailments known.

Actually, I have heard of one doctor in the east. The alzheimer patients bothered him. He put them on DE. He's been so successful reversing the disease that he's continued.

Full blown AIDS reversed. Cancer, both in dogs and humans reversed.

I also take DE so I won't get what my family has put in my genes -- cancer, diabetes, macular degeneration, and who knows what else. After wearing glasses and contact lenses for over 50 years, I no longer need them for distance or near. Renewed my driver's license and there's no restrictions.

I've helped to introduce you to DE. Do as you wish. I love that my critters and I live without pain and I really love not having vet or medical bills.

I chain smoke 3-4 paks of ciggs. a day ,and I don't have worms therefore.........

We sell 100% DE at work. It is sold as a floor dry. It is not food grade I am sure, but maybe I should spread some of it around the chicken house?
Think I will pass on eating any myself.
A

If you are going to self medicate you must FIRST self educate, thanks for the info Rogo. Glad you are in good health, I will do my research.

All of you folks that have been eating DE, I'd like to know how many years you've been eating it.

There's no way I'd eat DE or give it to my livestock in their feed, not even to birds. I don't believe that it's effective against internal parasites.

Humans and animals digestive systems and organs aren't designed to eat silica and mineral materials in that form. It's damaging for the kidneys and the whole renal system and can contribute to the formation of kidney and bladder stones. People and animals already get pretty much all the silica they need in liquid form and in plant/meat foods that already have silica and other minerals assimilated into it.

.

I tried DE as a wormer, it was a catestrophic failure! Never again.

wow, adding another thing to the list not to discuss at cocktail parties...
no politics,no religion and no DE! lol

DE sure seems to be a polarizing subject, but I will weigh in with my humble opinion and experience.

I have used DE for close to 30 yrs in the garden, the house and with pets and livestock as bug control, am not sure about it killing worms internally, but I do know it works to keep the flies down and hornworms off my tomato plants..

We add it to all our animals feed, and if you have ever eaten a commercially made biscuit/pancake mix,
you have ingested DE.

I would never claim it to be a cure-all, but after reading some reports of it helping with joint pains, etc, I decided to try taking it internally to see if it would help.

After only a week of taking 1-2 tsp's a day, then working up to a tblsp or two, the pains in my joints were no longer bothering me enough to need pain relievers and after a month, I cancelled a planned visit to the Dr. for shots to ease the pain.

Placebo effect??
maybe, but I'd much rather be fooling my mind with something harmless, than needing to take pain meds and nasty cortizone shots to keep doing what I love...
working hard in the garden and taking care of all our animals.

And I chew and don't have worms either. LOL

I thought tobacco was a natural wormer? :)

Sometimes it is the simple things that work best, so I can't disagree with Rogo. I know someone who had high blood pressure and after taking DE, he has normal blood pressure and no longer needs a prescription.

Mine in bold:

I'm a believer. Some never will be. Some will say it's all lies without ever having even tried it for any of it's many uses. In the end, I believe any that have found it "harmful" were simply using the wrong stuff. All DE is NOT created equal.

I've heard that, too. Also, that it may help with dysfunctional thyroids. I should try it. My thyroid quit working years ago, so I have that little pill to take everyday for the rest of my life! Ugh!