We have been in awe in the quality of research coming out of teh Czech Republic regarding the health benefits of the alumina silicate zeolite, clinoptilolite. The Czechs have conducted a long awaited comparison of two processing techniques. It should be noted that Panaceo Inc of Villach Austria sponsored this study.
Basic study groups
- (n = 10): I (received drinking water);The control, to which all other treatments compared with p<0.05 considered the threshold of significance. The rats were on these treatments for 12 weeks after which various body parts were ICP-MS analyzed for heavy metals.
- (n = 10): TMAZ;a standard tribomechanical micronization
- (n = 10): PMA zeolite;the patented 2x activated protocdol
- (n = 10): colloidal silica (Ludox AS-40). from Sigma Aldrich USA
All of these rats were healthy females.
A previous study
A previous study [2] compared clinoptilolite from Austria processed with two different techniques
Tribomechanical activation involves teh tribology concept of interaction of surfaces in relative motion, or in other words, friction activation.

Panaceo Mechanically Activated zeolite uses kinetic energy to add surface charges. Addition of medical oxygen is also involved in the PMA process. [2] TPMA is a double activation that uses “multiple high-speed particle collision through whirlwinds that are generated by seven circular rows of blades fixed on two counter-rotating discs, wherein the counter-rotating discs are arranged such that the particles have to pass all seven circular rows of blades by centrifugal force. The velocity of the blades is 145 m/s. The above-described activation process is executed two consecutive times (‘double-activation’). It is aimed at increasing the particle temperature and particle collisions, giving rise to new surface properties described in more detail in Kraljevic Pavelic et al.[2]
compound | Si/Al ratio (EDS) | Stomach pH sol, 30 min | B.E.T. surface area m2g− | pore dia,nm | AlCl3 intox brain | AlCl3 intox plasma | AlCl3 intox liver | AlCl3 intox bone | healthy brain |
zeoA | 1.0 | 5.1 | 3 | 997 | ↑ | ↑ | ↓ | ↑ | ↑ |
TMAZ | 3.5 | 1.5 | 29 | 997 | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
PMA | 3.5 | 1.5 | 29 | 374 | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
PMA-02 | 4.9 | 1.5 | 31 | 258 | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ |
While not presented in this post, colloidal silica made a good showing
Following up
How might PMA clinoptilolite be marketed to humans who want to eliminate their body’s load of heavy metals and arsenic? Only lead and aluminum are shown in this post. These authors did not look at mercury of dental work infamy.
Alumina, does it get into the rats?
According to the authors, previous studies show that it does not. [1] One interesting thing to note is that there are comparitively high levels of aluminum in the small and large intestines. In TMA activated clinoptilolite treated rats the serum, but not the blood, levels of aluminum were slightly less. The PMA clinoptilolite and colloidal silica (L) treatments almost doubled the amount of aluminum in the serum but not the blood. Some of this is hard to explain given that serum is blood minus cells and clotting factors. Also of interest is that these treatments decrease the aluminum in the femur.

Ludox Colloidal silica honorable mention
Alumina silicates are found in many mineral deposits. Colloidal silica resulted in a very noticeable decrease in aluminum in the femur but not most of the other organs examined. Other metals and metalloid (aresenic) examined in the PMA study did not follow this pattern.
Lead, skipping other heavy metals
Many times authors will report statistically significant changes that don’t seem to be that great percentage wise. In the case of lead the PMA clinoptilolite decreased lead in the large intestine by over half. Lead in the kidney was increased by about 50%

Conclusions?
The authors attributed many of the encouraging results from activating detox pathways from the intestine. Elimination of toxic metals and metaloids would be an interesting additional followup of this very interesting mineral.
References
- Dolanc I, Ferhatović Hamzić L, Orct T, Micek V, Šunić I, Jonjić A, Jurasović J, Missoni S, Čoklo M, Pavelić SK. The Impact of Long-Term Clinoptilolite Administration on the Concentration Profile of Metals in Rodent Organisms. Biology (Basel). 2023 Jan 26;12(2):193. PMC free article
- Kraljević Pavelić S., Micek V., Filošević A., Gumbarević D., Žurga P., Bulog A., Orct T., Yamamoto Y., Preocanin J., Peter R., et al. Novel, oxygenated clinoptilolite material efficiently removes aluminium from aluminium chloride-intoxicated rats in vivo. Microporous Mesoporous Mater. 2017;249:146–156. doi: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2017.04.062. [CrossRef]