Uncovering Ancient Medical Clay Remedies and Advancing the Science with SierraSil
What might have cost over C$22,400* (in today's dollars, based on the price of gold October 18th) in the first century but now retails for just C$83.95?
Yes, we currently have a lot of inflation due to COVID supply disruptions, war and of course western governments printing massive amounts of money, but can you imagine something costing just a minute fraction of what it may have been in the time of Christ?
What am I writing about? I recently read Dr. Sera Young's book, Craving Earth and learnt much more about "understanding Pica, the urge to eat clay, starch and chalk". I wasn't interested so much in the starch and chalk, but I was interested in the history of the medicinal use of clay. The father of medicine, Hippocrates (460–377 B.C.E.) "is responsible for the first written record of geophagy", the practice of eating earth.
Dr. Young noted that in the first century AD, clay from the Greek island Lemnos was so revered that the harvesting was supervised by a priestess. Called terra sigillata (meaning stamped earth) it was literally worth its weight in gold because of its healing properties. According to Dr. Young, Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia "wrote about terra sigillata in several sections: how it could be used as an antidote to swallowed poisons and snakebites, as a treatment for dysentery, and to reduce inflammation around the eyes". As an aside, Pliny had a famous cousin, Pliny the Younger, who was a Roman Governor of provinces on the southern Black Sea coast and was notable for being a "pagan" documenter of the rapid spread of Christ followers and their willingness to be put to death instead of recanting their faith.
Dr. Young also notes that the Greek physician and father of pharmacology, Pedanius Dioscorides references this medicinal clay in his five volume book about medical materials referenced in Europe as De Materia Medica. In the Journal of Archaeological Science, Volume 57, May 2015, Pages 257-267 there is a paper investigating medicinal clays reported by authors of classical antiquity including those referenced by Dioscorides. The Paper's authors note that "Smectite clays, of which montmorillonite is one, have two important properties: the capacity to exchange cations like sodium, calcium, ammonia, potassium and magnesium and the ability to adsorb toxic elements like As, Pb or Ag as a result of their cation exchange capacity".
Dr. Young also wrote about many other clays medicinally used by the people of pretty much every continent (if I recall correctly) over the centuries, even in modern medicines available today. The use of these clays was often associated with maternal use. Unfortunately, she didn’t reference our hydrothermal mineral complex we trade named SierraSil®, but when she published her book, I don't think we were very well known, and still aren't. Never-the-less I hope to connect with Dr. Young if she is willing, but she is currently on sabbatical in the UK.
However, I am glad that you know about SierraSil. The research on our minerals has been described as a gold standard for health supplements by an industry association leader and as representing a pharmaceutical pathway by a Director of Natural Products Research Society of Canada. We have extensive safety studies, numerous clinical studies including what may be the largest single study on a proprietary natural joint health product in the world, a double blind, placebo control cross-over study in London Ontario. You can find it at this link and go to tab 4. We also have extensive data on bio-accessibility, bio-availability and that SierraSil, like the smectites in the Journal of Archaeological Science bind with and pull heavy metals from your body.
Now returning to costs, where I started this. Many Medical Doctors, after reviewing the science on our minerals and experiencing the results with themselves and or patients, have concluded that SierraSil is really inexpensive. This without knowing how valuable medicinal clays were in the first century!
Of course there are now more medicinal options, including many good herbs, one of which is in our Joint Formula Curcumin3™ (Canadian packaging only), but SierraSil still seems to be the most consistently and significantly effective natural product for sore joints and muscles, and perhaps also for chelating heavy metals.
I think it's fair to say that no other natural clay product has anywhere near the supporting safety and efficacy research as we do. We also want SierraSil to be accessible, so keen observers may note that even our capsules are lower priced than when they were introduced and our pet product is significantly less expensive than competing and possibly less effective alternatives (although the price has gone up).
Our goal is to help a million people (and their pets) with chronic aches recover joy and ability, to be healthier and more active. If you have sore joints or muscles, or perhaps concerned about heavy metals in your body, please consider trying our products. If you have tried our products, please share your experience with us. Our joy is hearing from customers, as I did this week from a few on the Canadian Prairies with lovely stories of how a senior, a carpenter and a podcaster all have better quality of life with SierraSil. Thank you.