Many people take a diatomaceous earth supplement to cleanse and detox their bodies with an organic plant insecticide.
Yes, diatomaceous earth can do all this and more.
If you can work yourself up to downing a dusty gray powder, this supplement could be a game-changer.
Here’s the best selection of what’s on the market right now.
1. SilaLive Silica Supplement
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SilaLive is one of the few diatomaceous earth products out there that is actually marketed primarily as a supplement. This decision probably has to do with its composition: instead of pure diatomaceous earth, SilaLive offers a combination of “enhanced diatomaceous earth” and orthosilicic acid, another source of silica (the principle constituent of diatomaceous earth). The core question here is: do you believe that SilaLive’s enhanced diatomaceous earth and orthosilicic acid is absorbed better than standard diatomaceous earth? If you do, then it’s a good choice, but if not, go for the bulk food-grade powders that are also on the market.
2. DiatomaceousEarth.com Food Grade
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If you want to go big, look no further than DiatomaceousEarth.com’s biggest bulk offering. This hefty ten pound bag offers the best quality diatomaceous earth around. It’s food-grade, American-made, and certified and listed by the Organic Minerals Research Institute. What’s there not to like? The biggest flaw of this product is also ironically its best feature: its size. The massive ten pound bag could be a bit unwieldy if you only need a few teaspoons per day. Still, this is not enough to dethrone DiatomaceousEarth.com from the top position.
3. Harris Diatomaceous Earth Food Grade
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Harris Diatomaceous Earth is very solid diatomaceous earth product. As with most bulk food-grade diatomaceous earth supplements, it’s approved for both external and internal use. Harris offers a few perks with its diatomaceous earth supplement. First, ten percent of all of the company’s profits are donated to the local humane society in the company’s hometown. Second, the product is listed and approved by the Organic Minerals Research Institute, an association that approves organic food production materials. This provides an added layer of safety and purity when buying your diatomaceous earth–you aren’t just relying on Harris’ word that their product is pure, clean, and approved for human consumption.
4. Fossil Power Diatomaceous Earth
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Fossil Power might be categorized as a “premium” diatomaceous earth supplement. In exchange for the premium look and feel, the company guarantees a high quality product. The two main advantages of Fossil Power are that it is made in the United States, so the diatomaceous earth is locally sourced, and that its contents are listed by the Organic Minerals Research Institute. While this certification is mostly for fertilizers, insecticides and the like (which is yet another use of diatomaceous earth), it does help guarantee there aren’t any chemical contaminants in the mixture, which is important if you’re going to be ingesting this every day.
5. Aspen Naturals Diatomaceous Earth
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At a pretty good price and a nice middle-of-the-road package size (three pounds), Aspen Naturals is a great diatomaceous earth product for the casual or regular user. Hardcore enthusiasts will want to go for a bigger true bulk offering, but Aspen Naturals checks all the other boxes. One nice perk about Aspen Naturals is that the actual diatomaceous earth in the supplement is sourced in the United States, so there’s likely more oversight in the mining and manufacturing process.
6. Starwest Botanicals Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
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Starwest Botanicals makes a simple, straightforward, American-sourced, food-grade diatomaceous earth supplement. There isn’t a whole lot to detract from it, except perhaps the foil bag. It’s a lot easier to make a mess with a foil bag than a plastic tub, and the zipper-seals at the top aren’t always the greatest. Take off a few points for this but otherwise it’s an alright product.
7. Lumino Wellness Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
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Lumino Wellness markets their diatomaceous earth “for pets and people,” which might indicate that it’s a lower quality multipurpose product, but it is still approved as food grade, meaning it doesn’t have any harmful compounds at levels that could adversely affect your health. It’s a small package, which means it’s great for the occasional user who doesn’t need pounds and pounds of the stuff laying around the house.
8. ToxiClenz Wisdom of the Ages
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ToxiClenz makes their diatomaceous earth product specifically for one of the most trendy uses of this jack-of-all-trades compound, which is digestive cleansing. The company highlights the scientific literature on the uses of this food-grade diatomaceous earth, which include absorbing toxic compounds and bacteria inside the body. Now, whether this ability to absorb harmful compounds actually translates into better health is still up in the air, but ToxiClenz is banking on the answer to that question being “yes.” It’d be better if this product was certified by an independent lab, but it’s still not a bad choice. The tub is also nice and small, so it beats out the big, messy bulk bags if you’ve got a small kitchen.
9. Root Naturally Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
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Root Naturally offers a simple bulk diatomaceous earth supplement that is quite popular. It’s clearly marketed as a feed additive for animals, but that doesn’t stop people from using it as a supplement. And since the product is food-grade, there’s nothing wrong with that. There is nothing particularly exciting about Root Naturally, but there isn’t anything wrong with it either. While it’s not the best option out there, not everyone wants a giant ten-pound bag of diatomaceous earth sitting around your house or apartment, especially if you only use a teaspoon or two per day.
10. Daily Manufacturing Para-Min
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Daily Manufacturing takes a very interesting approach to diatomaceous earth. So far, this is one of the very few supplement companies that have actually packaged diatomaceous earth into a capsule-based supplement. Each capsule contains 100 mg of diatomaceous earth, alongside seven other herbal supplement extracts that are thought to be beneficial to your health. These include black walnut, ginger, cayenne, and wormwood, among others. Whether Para-Min makes sense for you depends entirely on a) whether you want these extra ingredients and b) whether you are okay with only 100 mg of diatomaceous earth per serving. A bulk powder supplement obviously allows for a lot more flexibility in the serving size.
Diatomaceous earth benefits and side effects
Silica, also known as diatomaceous earth or DE for short, is less well-known but rapidly gaining popularity among the more health-conscious segment of the population.
Currently enjoying a stint as the darling of the health supplement world is diatomaceous earth, which is about 80% to 90% silica. This mineral supplement has a strong following of loyal adherents who profess its powers to do many things, from warding off Alzheimer’s to preventing wrinkles.
Before we get to what it can and can’t do for human health, let’s sort out exactly what this mineral is, and where it comes from so you have an idea of what you’re dealing with if you decide DE is for you.
The “diatom” in the name of this mineral comes from diatoms, which are tiny algae that live in water. You can’t see them because they’re microscopic. When they die and become fossilized, their hard shells make up the bulk of what later becomes diatomaceous earth.
Because the resulting fossilized substance is highly porous, it’s been used for decades in all sorts of industrial applications from pool filters to dynamite. It’s even used as a mild abrasive in toothpaste and facial scrubs. In the food industry³(1) it’s used as an anti-caking agent in things like coffee creamer and seasonings.
A quick internet search will reveal that diatomaceous earth is a naturally-occurring rock dust that typically consists of a combination of these three things: silica (amorphous silicon dioxide), alumina and iron oxide.
The alumina and iron oxide are found in trace amounts…around 3% and 1%, respectively. Various sources say DE also contains any of the following as well: calcium, sodium, magnesium, titanium, boron, manganese, copper, and zirconium.
The reason for the discrepancy is that the chemical composition of diatomaceous earth depends on where it was mined.
Freshwater deposits of Diatomaceous earth in the US are mostly in the western states, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There, ancient lake beds supply significant amount of DE for industrial and food purposes.
Suffice it to say, when you’re exploring the health benefits of diatomaceous earth, you’re really looking into what silica can do for you. Therefore, many of the scientific studies cited in this article mention silica…amorphous silica, to be exact.
As you explore your options and consider whether taking DE is for you, you’re bound to run across some scary government warnings against amorphous silica. That’s because inhaling pure amorphous silica over prolonged periods can lead to respiratory problems. DE contains amorphous silica, but not in the form that’s toxic when breathed. You see, it must be crystallized through the process of calcination in order to become a threat to health.
OHSHA has issued guidelines and warnings on crystalline silica in workplaces where workers are exposed to the dust. It’s those who work in the milling process that are concerned with air quality.
When you purchase food grade DE as a dietary mineral supplement, unless you break open hundreds of capsules per day and snort them, you’re safe.
In fact, since DE has been used in the food industry for decades, we can cite studies dating back to the 1930s documenting the safety of ingesting DE or silicon dioxide as it’s called in the studies.
With that, we can move on to why people choose to ingest DE, and what they say it does for them. Then, we’ll see how that compares to what the science is telling us.
Benefits
Bone Health. Perhaps the most significant and exciting use for DE is in the area of bone health.¹ The National Institutes of Health tell us of research published in a health and aging medical journal showing the effect of silicon on bone health, one of the most crucial aspects of elder care we know of today.
In this study, it’s mentioned that several minerals are important in the diet for preventing osteoporosis, a disease which results in reduced bone mass and/or the body’s difficulty in recovering from fractures. Currently, we know for a fact that Vitamin D and calcium help along these lines. Minerals like magnesium, potassium, and fluoride also contribute to health bone mass.
Now, the scientific community is showing interest in the importance of silicon, which happens to be the third most prevalent trace element in the body after zinc and iron.
Doctors used to think that Silicon simply washed away in the urine (refer back to those studies from the 1930s from a few paragraphs ago and you’ll see evidence of this). Starting in the 1970s, however, research showed that silicon deficiencies resulted in health issues, mainly in the areas of connective tissue. Since then, much research has been conducted, the results of which suggest that silicon is important in the diet, specifically for bone health.
Blood Cholesterol. The positive effect of diatomaceous earth on the the blood cholesterol of humans has been known for almost twenty years now.4
Dating back to the late 1990s, a study was performed on 19 people who were given diatomaceous earth for 8 weeks. Each of these people had a history of high cholesterol, by the way. After taking 250 mg of DE three times a day, their serum cholesterol was reduced by a significant amount. Even four weeks after they stopped taking the DE, their cholesterol levels remained lower.
But the benefits of DE didn’t stop there. Researchers also found that low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were reduced (also a good thing). In addition to that, triglyerides were reduced as well (again, that’s good).
If you look around, you’ll see claims of DE acting as a detox agent. This is explained by the fact that the shapes of the molecules are ragged, thereby acting as both scraper and sponge to absorb toxins (or, from the list previously cited…drug residue, pesticide residue, etc.
The shape of diatomaceous earth molecules are indeed jagged, which is where the cleansing theories may originate. The idea is that the jagged edges slash at toxins adhering to internal areas of the gastrointestinal system, and the porous quality of DE absorbs those toxins and carries them out of the body in the urine.
Farmers have been especially interested in using DE’s jagged edges to naturally remove internal parasites from their sheep and goats. Several studies have been carried out, but to no avail: none showed that DE had any beneficial effect in this regard.
The studies also showed no improvement in anemia either. There go a few DE claims.
But we still have better bone health and lower cholesterol levels to attribute to DE, which thankfully is available in supplement form from any drugstore. Just make sure it’s from a quality manufacturer that’s governed by quality standards and preferably in the US. Since there are significant DE deposits in the US, of food grade quality, this shouldn’t be a problem.
And if you’re looking for a new supplement to add to the daily regime, DE isn’t a bad way to go.
Side effects
Although there are no side effects reported from taking diatomaceous earth, rare irratation can occur in the nasal passages by breathing in the powder.
Also, one needs to be careful on how they use diatomaceous earth. If you look at Amazon reviews, testimonials claim it as an all-around “mineral superpower” that helps lose weight, improve focus, cleanses, detoxes, joint health, anti-aging, etc. Be careful of these claims.
Nowhere in the world is the market for mineral supplements stronger than in the United States. That would include big hits such as iron and calcium pills as well as chromium, selenium and silica.
Recap
There’s enough evidence to suggest diatomaceous earth does good things for the body. Not satisfied with improved bone health, lower cholesterol or any of the other science-backed benefits of this mineral supplement that are sure to arise soon, they feel the need to proclaim its status as a miracle pill that cures absolutely everything.
As you can see from the studies cited here, there’s a lot going on the field of nutrition research in the medical arena. Diatomaceous earth is promising in several ways. Keep an open mind about taking diatomaceous earth as a dietary supplement, but also remember to keep your eyes open to the facts and not the myths.
https://bodynutrition.org/diatomaceous-earth/
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