Diatomaceous Earth – It’s not food!

So let’s move on to another self proclaimed wellness blogger. This time it is by Lee from Supercharged Food and the blog post “Fighting the family worm disaster with diatomaceous earth.”  Yes Lee proclaims we can eat diatomaceous earth powder to treat worms. Yes, eat D.E to treat internal worms – threadworms to be precise, “and because it is a food it is safe for adults and children”. Well they are her words not mine, so please don’t shoot the messenger.

So being my curious self, I decided to buy this fancy-packaged, overpriced mined dirt, but rather than trust the claims of the seller, I decided to do my own bit of private-eye work, and this is what I found.

Now, for starters, I have never heard of this stuff, so I wanted to know exactly what this Diatomaceous Earth is? Well according to the National Pesticide Information Centre, (trust me it explains diatomaceous earth in a plain and simple manner) – yes it is a pesticide. Don’t worry I will refer back to that “food” claim later.

So what is Diatomaceous earth? Well diatomaceous earth, also referred to as diatomite, it is made up of fossilized remains of diatoms, which is a type of hard shell algae. These fossil remains now occur as mineral deposits, consisting mostly of silica, which is also known as silicon dioxide. The use of DE includes but is not limited to: making of cement, glass, optic cables, paper, packaging, insecticides, metal polishes, explosives, glass, water filtration, and it is also known to be used as an anti-caking material in animal feed, as well as in the process of making beer and wine. Feel like throwing-up yet? Not yet? Good, you will later……

The FDA has listed Diatomaceous earth to be used only as a food additive, permitted in feed and drinking water for animals. In doing so, the FDA has made strict conditions that diatomaceous earth does not contain lead of not more than 15 parts per million, arsenic of not more than 20 parts per million, and fluorine not more 600 parts per million. If you are thinking what I am thinking, then you are right, food grade diatomaceous earth contains, lead, arsenic and fluorine, to name a few. Supercharged Food also loves to boast that “my naturopathic grade, diatomaceous earth also…. contains 15 minerals that are beneficial to your overall health and wellbeing”. So bear in mind people, when you decide to add that scrumptious looking grey insoluble concoction to your green smoothie, just remember you could also be consuming lead, arsenic and God knows what else. Mercury perhaps? You may even be getting that extra side serve of copper you have always wanted? Or how about some extra titanium? Well you will just never know what or even how much of these “extras” you will get as it is not even mentioned, nor how much.

Anyway, let’s move on to the next claim, it also states throughout the post and in the comments section of the said post, “Our diatomaceous earth has been approved by Foods Standards Australia.” Yet the only information I came across is that Food Standards Australia only approves diatomaceous earth for the use as a processing aid. I would also like to point out that Food Standards Australia is quite specific that processing aids must not be added to food. So much for being a food, and to be precise it’s a mined rock. Yes people we are going back to year twelve geology class here.

For those who have puked then feel free to read on, if not then I suggest you throw up now, to save the humiliation of getting puke all over your attire. The post also states “Diatomaceous Earth is a brilliant first step alternative to over-the-counter drugs” …. yes they are counter claiming that it is now a drug (DE is highlighted with a link so you can buy the product). Yes these wellness bloggers just love to spill dirt just to get you to buy, buy, buy. The paragraph states “Diatomaceous earth is one of the best natural, food based anti-parasitic medications.” Then, further down the post it states, “One tablespoon of diatomaceous earth taken by an adult, once a day for seven days, can be extremely effective for killing parasites.” Now, not only does this raise a lot of eyebrows, it is outright dangerous for a wellness blogger without any training in medicine or pharmacology to claim diatomaceous earth is a medicine, and then recommend a dosage for killing human parasites. Considering that I have spent hours scouring the internet – (yes I’m guilty – Dr Google to the rescue) medical journals, university libraries, spoken to medical professionals, as well as university professors, I could not find one iota of evidence that states that diatomaceous earth is a safe and effective medical treatment for killing parasites in the human body. What people don’t realise is that a parasite disease killed over one million people globally in 2013. And I can guarantee you that diatomaceous earth will not save you from a certain death.
Parasite infections require different medical treatment, depending on the parasite, and in extreme cases some may even require surgery. For more information on parasitic infections and the different types, you can click here.

However, I did find a small amount of evidence that D.E might have the potential to be used in agriculture for treatment against parasites and insects. Results are mixed, and of course further research is required. Information can be sourced here,  here,  here, and here

So what do I do with a parasitic (worm) infection? Well first I’m going to trust my pharmacist, yes the ones who are actually trained in pharmacology  and hopefully the good old Chocolate Combantrin – yes I love chocolate sorry Vermox you just don’t cut it this time around. If that fails, my good old trusted GP,  well he is not that old. As for the fancy overpriced package of D.E, well I decided to use that for what it was intended to be used for, that is as a natural pesticide, and hopefully I will not see a cockroach, spider or a creepy crawly for months.