Colloids are nanoparticles of metallic elements suspended in pure water. The nanoparticles in our colloids are a few nanometers in diameter (a nanometer is a billionth of meter). These particles are so small they can only be seen by the most powerful electron microscopes available today. For instance, an atom of gold is about 0.288 nanometers in diameter, so the gold nanoparticles in our colloids are only about eleven times the diameter of a single gold atom. These particles stay suspended in pure deionized water and do not fall to the bottom. It is these suspended particles that make our elements true colloids.
Ionic gold and other metallic elements in ionic form are what some producers call their non-colloidal gold supplements. Ionic colloids are colloid salts that are dissolved in water. Products labeled as ionic gold are really gold chloride, also called chlorauric acid, a water-soluble gold salt. The reason you don't see gold chloride on the label or mentioned in the ads is that gold chloride is known to be potentially toxic to humans. Gold chloride has been known to cause peripheral neuropathy.