# Re: Is eating silver food garnishes bad for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 18, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922 "2002-03-18T20:08:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Thurner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@John\_Thurner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Thurner)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922/1 "2002-03-18T20:08:03Z")
Re:[Is eating gold and silver food garnishes bad for you?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgoldfood.html) Given the usual thoroughness of the reports, I was a little suprised to see that SDSTAFF Ken didn’t mention argyria (silver poisoning) when talking about the safety concerns regarding the ingestion of silver. Granted, it’s hardly an issue if you’re talking about a garnish on cookies and cakes, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922/2 "2002-03-24T04:22:50Z")
> [@](#): > > Same story with silver, but it’s a little more reactive than gold. Normal stomach acids can act on it, and in a substantial amount (we’re talking two tablespoons or more), can cause nausea and/or vomiting. That’s not enough? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Thurner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@John\_Thurner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Thurner)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2002, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922/3 "2002-03-24T06:40:57Z")
Argyria isn’t quite the same as nausea and/or vomiting. It’s mainly a dermatalogical problem (it turns your skin blue or grey, sometimes in nodes, sometimes over the whole body), but it’s got a fairly long list of other potential symptoms, death being one of them. It’s caused by the gradual accumulation of silver in the body, not from a one time massive dose (which would probably cause you to vomit most of it out anyway). As I said, given the amount of silver taken into your system if you only eat it as a garnish, and even then only rarely, argyria isn’t really an issue, but the SD usually gives far more information than anyone actually asks for (but never more than anyone wants), so I was a little surprised that argyria wasn’t mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-is-eating-silver-food-garnishes-bad-for-you/98922/4 "2002-03-25T04:48:20Z")
[What argyria looks like](http://www.together.net/~rjstan/rose1.html).