Bentonite clay is formed from ancient volcanic ash that was once exposed to seawater, at which point it absorbed a whole lot of minerals. It's often sourced from ancient seabeds (that are now dry land), and its name comes from Fort Benton, Montana—the location of the largest known deposit of bentonite clay. It's also called montmorillonite clay since this type of clay was first discovered in France's Montmorillon region. bentonite clay mask
Bentonite clay is part of the "smectite" group of clay that's known for an ability to expand when exposed to a liquid. It's rich in minerals, including silica, magnesium, calcium, sodium, copper, iron, and potassium.
There are two types of bentonite clay, depending on the ratio of key minerals they contain: sodium bentonite clay and calcium bentonite clay. They have similar properties, with subtle nuances.
"Both kinds can be used for facial masking," says Samantha Story of Studio Britta, a holistic skin care clinic in NYC. "Sodium bentonite draws more toxins out of the skin, and calcium bentonite is gentler and provides the skin with more minerals. While both types have their benefits, I prefer calcium bentonite for facial masks or using a mixture of the two for more congested skin."
Calcium bentonite clay, particularly green calcium bentonite clay, is also the type that's typically preferred for consumption (in small amounts, of course) when used for detoxification purposes, as it seems to be a bit gentler on the body.
While it may be relatively new to you, there's evidence that some of the earliest civilizations used clay to treat everything from aches and pains to infections and food poisoning. In ancient Mesopotamia (5000 to 3500 BCE), for instance, it's believed that people used a number of natural substances, including clays, to make poultices—mixtures of clay and water (or other wet ingredients like tea) wrapped in thin cloth and applied to the body to relieve pain and inflammation.The benefits of bentonite clay.
Bentonite clay certainly has a history of medicinal uses, along with plenty of anecdotal accounts to suggest that it's effective for external and internal uses. But is there proof that it really works?
While human clinical trials are scarce, a few do exist, along with some impressive lab and animal research. It's important to note, however, that many of these findings need to be validated before they can become true recommendations. That said, here are some of the most promising potential benefits of bentonite clay to date:
1. It may help rid the body of heavy metals.
The basis for many of bentonite clay's proposed benefits is that it is highly adsorptive which makes it attract positively charged particles like a magnet, both when it's applied topically (that's why your face mask is so effective!) and when taken internally. What makes it so? The clay's particles carry a negative electric charge. Heavy metals, and free radicals are said to carry a positive charge, and some research suggests that negatively charged bentonite is able to attach to these substances and help remove them from the body.
Some animal research does seem to support this. Bentonite clay could help bind aflatoxins in the body when ingested and reduce their toxicity, according to several animal feeding studies. If you're not familiar, aflatoxins are a family of cancer-causing toxins produced by fungi found on agricultural crops such as corn, peanuts, cottonseed, and tree nuts. People can be exposed by eating contaminated crops, and research shows that aflatoxin exposure is associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.
In one study, adding bentonite clay to aflatoxin-contaminated corn partially restored pigs' liver function, and it did not impair their absorption of other minerals, and in another, rabbits eating an aflatoxin-contaminated diet experienced an improvement in reproductive function once their feed was supplemented with bentonite.
Bentonite may hold promise for countering the negative effects of heavy metals, too. Heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury can wreak havoc on our bodies, leading to everything from exhaustion to serious diseases. Too much cadmium, for example, has been linked to kidney disease, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease.
But in one study, feeding pigs montmorillonite clay (the same as bentonite clay) for 100 days reduced the concentration of lead in their blood, brain, liver, bone, kidneys, and hair. Similar findings were made with carp, too—exposing them to cadmium caused oxidative stress, but supplementing their diet with clay reversed oxidative damage to the liver and kidneys.
Of course, humans aren't animals, but the fact that bentonite clay has similar toxin-removing effects among various species—without compromising the absorption of other minerals—is certainly intriguing.
2. It may promote good digestion.
Anecdotes of bentonite's digestion-regulating effects abound, with people taking it to treat everything from acid reflux to constipation to bloating and gas—which kind of makes sense once you realize that kaolin (another type of clay) was once commonly used in stomach-soothing meds like Rolaids and Maalox.
In particular, bentonite clay may hold promise for people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In one small clinical trial, patients with constipation-predominant IBS who took 3 grams (a bit less than a teaspoon) of bentonite clay twice a day for eight weeks experienced improvements in bowel movements compared to a placebo group. No reduction in pain was noted, however.
It's not clear why exactly bentonite exerts positive effects on the digestive system, but some speculate that a reduction in IBS may be due to improvements in the health of the gut lining. There's also some evidence in animals that bentonite clay has anti-parasitic properties, which could potentially ease stomach woes. Benefits, like heartburn relief, have more obvious explanations—the minerals in bentonite clay, including calcium and magnesium, have acid-neutralizing properties.
All that said, however, there's still no clear consensus on whether we should actually be consuming bentonite clay.
3. It may help fight off serious bacterial infections like MRSA.
Serious bacterial infections like MRSA—a form of staph that's resistant to many forms of antibiotics—are no joke. It can cause problems ranging from skin infections and sepsis to pneumonia to bloodstream infections, according to the CDC. But bentonite clay may help where conventional medicine cannot.
Scientists at Arizona State University wanted to test out the antibacterial potential of smectite clay minerals (a group that encompasses bentonite clay) on a variety of bacteria that were both resistant and nonresistant to antibiotics. When they exposed this bacteria to the clay minerals in the lab, the clay exhibited antibacterial properties that were effective at killing MRSA, various types of E. coli, and Salmonella. While the researchers haven't pinpointed the mechanism by which clay kills bacteria, they do believe it holds promise for the development of treatments to fight antibiotic-resistant infections.