Pascalite revisited

[Guest guest]

OK, I know I've soapboxed on this before, but it came up again.

Awhile back I was staying at a guest in someone's house.

The man of the house was really in pain ... he said whenever

he ate fibrous foods his gut would act up, and so he

really had to watch his diet. I felt sorry for him, but didn't

want to get into all kinds of food theory, so I gave him my

travel bottle of Pascalite and said to try 1/2 tsp. a day and

see if it helped. That was 6 months ago ... I forgot all about it.

The other day he called and asked what was in the bottle. Seems

his gut problems are all gone. He stopped taking all the medications

he was taking, and takes the clay once every 3 days. But

he was running out, so he wanted to know where to get

more.

Anyway, we've been talking here about the potential dangers of

clays so I wanted to study it more. My own concern was that they

might interfere with absorption of food, because they adhere

to certain metals. Seems someone has studied that, and they CAN

interfere, but only if taken as a large part of the diet.

http://www.eytonsearth.org/bentonite.html

Also the same article talks about what the clays do to bacterial

counts. They are really, really good at killing bad bacteria. In another

article, they killed all the bad bacteria but only 25% of the good ones,

so they seem to be selective.

Another concern had to do with the high aluminum content.

Clay has aluminum silicates in it (though how much depends

on the kind of clay). But it is a very stable kind of formation ...

aluminum silicates are NOT the same as aluminum pots

and pans. They are more like glass. Your standard stoneware

also has aluminum silicates.

http://www.eytonsearth.org/claychemistry.html

http://www.digitalfire.ab.ca/cermat/material/925.html

Kaolin is pure clay mineral crystal of one part alumina and two parts silica

(also called China Clay). Most other clay minerals are derivatives of kaolin.

Kaolin particles are flat and comparatively the largest of all clay minerals.

They have a surface chemistry that gives them an affinity for water. The

attached water both 'glues' particles together and acts as a 'buffer' to

lubricate particle-against-particle movement in the plastic matrix.

Anyway, if the aluminum in clay is an issue, then we'd have to get rid of all

our clay pots too. Thing is, I don't think there is any good evidence that clay

causes aluminum build-up in people ... if it did, at the rate our ancestors ate

dirt (mostly accidentally, but enough to grind down their teeth in some cases)

they'd all have Alzheimer's.

In terms of lead, a given clay COULD have lots of lead in it, depending where it

was mined. But in general, clay is used to *leach* lead out of the gut, if

people with lead poisoning. It gloms on to lead and doesn't let it get absorbed.

I'd expect clays that are sold for medicinal use are tested for lead though (and

you can test them yourself if you want).

Just my 2 cents worth ... I'm going back to experimenting with it ...

-- Heidi Jean

[Guest guest]

>>>>>>>>>>> Another concern had to do with the high aluminum content.

Clay has aluminum silicates in it (though how much depends

on the kind of clay). But it is a very stable kind of formation ...

Thing is, I don't think there is any good evidence that clay causes aluminum

build-up in people ... if it did, at the rate our ancestors ate dirt (mostly

accidentally, but enough to grind down their teeth in some cases) they'd all

have Alzheimer's. -Heidi>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi Heidi, I bought a little 8 oz. bottle of Pascalite from

http://www.pascalite.ca/ Haven't received it yet but am looking forward to

trying out. Plan to read and research the angles you present here as I was

mostly concerned about the silica in the clay -- it might irritate the colon

walls because it's a kind of glass?

Anyway, a few months ago I recently had all my mercury amalgams removed

(quite safely!) and am eating things like wheat grass juice to help get any

residual metals out of my system. I thought the Pascalite might also help in

that area? AND I'm also a couple weeks into a 2 month parasite cleanse due

to a tropical bug and thought the clay might help rid me of the toxins I've

had to ingest... I wonder if I should wait until the end of the cleanse to

try the clay? Any advice would be appreciated as it's all new and it's just

been one crazy thing after another for me this year.

~Robin