Bentonite Safety
Bentonite is a mineral known as bentonite clay or montmorillonite. Its main ingredient is hydrated aluminum silicate. Other components of bentonite are calcium, iron and magnesium. It dissolves easily in water and remains in the intestines. According to the "Natural Toxins Journal," bentonite is believed to bind and inactivate toxins and assist in their elimination.
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Cancer Risk
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The safety of bentonite depends on whether you breathe it in or whether you take it orally. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), it is deemed safe to ingest; however, if you breathe its dust, it can be harmful to your respiration system. The level of safety when breathing bentonite dust increases the smaller the dust particles are. According to the IARC, particles less than 5 microns are safe.
Respiration Effects
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The extraction of bentonite by miners may result in breathing in of larger particles, which is deemed as carcinogenic by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the IARC. Bentonite in cosmetics dust is too small to cause any adverse health effects, according to the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR).
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Ingestion Safety
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If you are pregnant and wondering if bentonite is safe to take, it is recommended that pregnant or nursing women and the elderly should avoid bentonite. However, experiments in which rats were given bentonite to test if it caused birth defects offered results that showed that no birth defects were caused. It is advised to not take bentonite two hours before or after nutritional supplements or medication. Even though there have not been short-term effects reported from taking nutritional supplements containing bentonite, there are no long-term studies of its safety in humans.
Dosage
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Doctors view staying in line with the dosage amounts on the label as critical, as with most mineral supplements. Bentonite is offered in liquid or powder form. It is most often found in colon cleanse products. You should drink plenty of water to avoid constipation and intestinal obstruction.
Safe Treatment Results
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Bentonite has a variety of uses, most of which involve the digestive and elimination system. People take bentonite orally in supplements and cleanse products for detoxification, constipation, to treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and bloating and gas. Reports from a blind, placebo-controlled study published in the medical journal "Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics" demonstrate that those taking bentonite felt significant alleviation of abdominal pain and discomfort, along with reduced symptoms usually experienced with IBS.
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References
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