What is Activated Charcoal and why use it?

If you are interested in natural health, a bio hacker, already a customer of EMU Wellness, worked in an emergency room or just flipped through a health magazine or blog. You may have already come across Activated Charcoal. Or you may be reading about it for the first time here.

If you get uncomfortable gas and bloating, are doing a gut rebuilding or detox protocol, react to gluten and other foods, then activated charcoal is at least worth knowing more about.

Like anything we are not familiar with, it is natural to feel wary and want more information first. You may have already tried many things to feel better, is activated charcoal just another fad or detox gimmick and does it really work?

So lets unpack some of the known information on Activated Charcoal to help you with your decision of why to use it, or not, as part of your health habits stacking. Because yes, there is never just one single magic pill to good health.

Not at all. First uses date back to ancient Egypt and Hippocrates times. It has been used through history for preserving wood from rot, water treatments, adsorbing odors in smelly wounds and from within the intestinal tract, wound dressings and for treating a wide range of health complaints including epilepsy, vertigo, and anthrax.

It has wide and varied uses in current times where it can be found in fish tank filters, water filters, air filters and even absorbing venom from venomous snakes and toxic spider bites, including the Brown Recluse Spider.

Even in modern medical history, activated charcoal has been considered a 'universal antidote' as the most frequently used antidote of ingested poisons in hospitals across the world.

Any material with high concentration of carbon can be thermal treated at high temperatures to activate it. This process changes its structure and makes it more porous. The best grades of activated charcoal are obtained from the coconut shell and apricot pits.

It is also important it is washed well to remove previously adsorb substances and crushed into a fine powder to further reduce its particle size, thus increasing its surface area to adsorb substances.  The end result is a black powder that is often capsulated for less-messy use.

The preparation of a quality activated charcoal is important, which is why we prefer the bulletproof activated charcoal.  Four (4) bulletproof coconut charcoal capsules have about the same surface area as a football field!

Activated charcoal has millions of tiny pores that capture and bind (adsorb) to toxins, poisons, heavy metals, chemicals and intestinal gases.

Charcoal is not absorbed by the gut or used by the body, thus it carries the toxins out when eliminated so the body doesn’t reabsorb them.

1) As an emergency poison or overdose treatment

Hopefully you won’t need this and please call emergency services for any suspected poisonings or overdoses. However this may be one to keep up your sleeve.  As the quicker an antidote can be administered the better. A study has shown if 50-100 grams for an adult of activated charcoal is taken within 5 minutes of drug ingestion, it may reduce adsorption by up to 74%. Adborption rates reduce as more time passes. Please also note it may not be effective in all cases of poisoning.

2) As a way to help relieve intestinal gas and bloating

This is probably one of the main uses for occasional use of activated charcoal.

For example, when you know you will be eating out at a restaurant or at a catered event where the food doesn’t usually make you feel good. You can take two charcoal tables when eating. Or when travelling overseas or eating in unhygienic places.

It can also be used up to a couple of hours afterwards to help mop up the uncomfortable effects of exposure to gluten, or other foods that cause you issues.

Your symptoms may be:

• Nauseous,
• Heavy feeling
• Gassy or
• Bloated

People with IBS, Celiac, Colitis or Crohn’s may find relief using activating charcoal. However should still be working on root cause solutions.

Some people have found taking activated charcoal when drinking alcohol reduce the hangover effects.

Activated charcoal can also be used to relieve symptoms from other toxic exposures including mould and chemicals.

Keeping a bottle of activated charcoal handy in your bag and/or medicine cabinet is a simple thing to do for when you are feeling toxic.

• Catered events
• Eating out
• Travel
• Drinking alcohol

3) As part of your detox routine

Multi dose use of activated charcoal is use to enhance toxin elimination, rather than the single dose adsorption.

When we have giving attention to improving our health by for example:

• Reducing our sugary food and drink intake
• Reducing our breads, pastas, cakes and other refined carbs
• Increasing the amount of vegetables we eat
• Introducing fermented foods
• Taking herbal medicines or tonics.

Pathogen gut bugs that once thrived on our old diet are getting starved out. This is a good thing, however when these overgrowths of microbes, e.g. candida, die-off they release toxins which can cause you some uncomfortable die-off symptoms.

Toxins can put strain on our liver and kidneys as our body tries to eliminate them. Toxins can also trigger immune responses, skin rashes and inflammation.

We can feel:

• Lethargic
• Brain fog
• Itchy
• Headachy
• Unwell

This is where activated charcoal can be use as one of the easy detox tools to mop up the toxins and encourage easier elimination. Easing die-off symptoms or even helping you avoid them.

Activated charcoal has been know to include these benefits:

• May promote Kidney function by reducing the number of waste products they need to filter.
• Reduce body and breathe odors
• May reduce Cholesterol levels since it can bind cholesterol and cholesterol-containing bile acids in the gut, preventing the body from absorbing them.
• Reduce gas and bloating as mentioned above

Regular use of activated charcoal may help prevent cellular changes associated with our overly toxin-filled environment.

Activated charcoal is generally considered safe. However we are all individual, side affects for some may be nausea, vomiting, constipation and black stools.

If taking AC, it is important to be drinking adequate amounts of water throughout the day to prevent dehydration and help flush out the toxins. Magnesium baths can also help with this.

Main caution is that activate charcoal blinds to good things too, including:

• Nutrients from your foods
• Supplements
• Medications

Therefore it is important to:

• Not use charcoal for prolonged length of time if taking with food, so you don’t become malnourished.
• Don’t buy into any fad food products that contain activated charcoal like the black buns or charcoal smoothies.
• Take charcoal 2 hours after food and at least one hour prior (if taking as part of detox routine)
• Ensure any charcoal is taken at least 2 hours away from any Medications and Supplements.
• Consult with your practitioner about any possible reactions to the medications you are on.

I'm thankful to have found out about activated charcoal and always now have a container of coconut activated charcoal on hand when travelling and as part of my family's natural medicine cabinet. Like with everything, even when natural, use it with respect and tune into your own body to understand what works for you.