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Activated Charcoal Products: Real Deal or Hype?

GearNoir

GearNoir

“The Disney Princess’s Apprentice”
The missus has become a regular user of activated charcoal products, mainly a face mask her company sells and various products for teeth. My eldest son, who has celiac disease, has taken charcoal pills to help draw out contaminants when he accidentally ingests gluten. I’ll admit, I was pretty skeptical about such things when they first started popping up (especially those glue masks that were ripping off people’s faces).

Besides my son taking the pills and it seeming to help, I’ve been trying an activated charcoal toothpaste with my wife which appears to be working decently. Most of you will perhaps have noticed the yellow streaks on some of my teeth, this is due to a type of fluorosis, or having too much fluoride when I was younger (it was a big thing with dentists, don’t know if it still is). Over the past few weeks, my teeth have whitened some and some of the yellowing has actually muted a bit. It’s not a miracle cure, but it certainly does something positively I think.

What have you all tried? What has been your experience or research in the area of charcoal products?
 
Well, back in the day if you took too many pills or certain poisons we'd shove a big tube up your nose and fill your stomach with activated charcoal to adsorb as much as we could. Don't know if that's still the preferred treatment. Yes, it is adsorb, not absorb in this case.

I'm always skeptical of things for the outside of the body meant to help the inside of the body however. I don't know what they claim, but anything that reports to remove toxins through the skin, ugh. If that really worked we could do away with all this silly dialysis we use and such.
 
Having worked in the health field (animal and human ...at different times) I can confirm that activated charcoal does have the ability to bind with a number of toxins, thus having a true and valid purpose. I am inclined to be a disbeliever in using activated charcoal to protect against gluten exposure, only because I am not aware of anything that proves gluten is effectively bound by activated charcoal. My understanding is that activated charcoal can/does bind or trap chemical toxins (drugs and possibly those toxins produced by food born pathogens) but gluten is not a simple chemical and is probably poorly "trapped" by the charcoal ... or at least its not trapped as well as a chemical might be. There are numerous studies that suggest filling the stomach with activated charcoal is better at treating overdose than gastric lavage (sucking the contents from the stomach and flushing it clean) ....so its power to bind/trap then carry the toxic substances out of the body is very well documented.

As far as its use in skin care or for teeth I think it is more likely its benefits come from something other than its binding with or trapping toxins. Even very fine powdered activate charcoal will be abrasive so it no doubt has the ability to scrub tooth surfaces in a way other agents might not. Activated charcoal is essentially inert so using it on skin would at a minimum result in no irritation other than that caused by its abrasive nature. To the extent that stains in/on teeth are caused by chemical contaminants I would not be surprised if the charcoal was able to bind with and allow the stain to be brushed away. I am inclined to disbelieve it has a "soothing" effect though.

You often see bentonite clay (or some other fancy clay with similar properties) used in conjunction with activated charcoal. The clay is negatively charged and is able to absorb or surround any number of things. Word is that the clay's negative charge allows it to bind with and trap toxins as well. It is not uncommon for people to consume small amounts of bentonite clay daily strictly for the purpose of trapping funky stuff. Because bentonite clay contains a number of different minerals I think it is possible for it to bind/trap more than what activated charcoal can BUT I have never seen clay used in place of charcoal in the emergency room.

Anecdotally I have observed MANY animals with digestive issues of unknown origin be rendered "cured" following a barium series (xrays done after barium (another inert compound) has been given to allow better identification of gastric function in the xrays). My theory is that whatever was causing the trouble is bound and flushed or pushed out during the procedure and/or the filling of the bowels with an inert substance allows a period to recover.

I have made a shampoo bar (and shave soap) using added bentonite clay and charcoal and am generally pleased with how gentle the soap is. I don't know if the clay and charcoal do anything specific but the shampoo bar makes my head happy and DOES seem to calm my skin when it is unhappy. Yardley makes a similar clay and charcoal soap that is labeled for use on sensitive skin. Perhaps the benefit is in how it traps toxins and irritants within the soap (or skin mask etc) making for a less irritating product.
 
You bring up an important point about the abrasiveness of it. I would personally be concern about wearing down the enamel on teeth using it on a regular basis.
 
NurseDave said:
You bring up an important point about the abrasiveness of it. I would personally be concern about wearing down the enamel on teeth using it on a regular basis.
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This was my thoughts too and I enjoyed reading @CBLindsay information but everything here suddenly is deeper thinking than I'm up to.......
 
Great info and thoughts guys, thanks for sharing!

NurseDave said:
You bring up an important point about the abrasiveness of it. I would personally be concern about wearing down the enamel on teeth using it on a regular basis.
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Yes, the tube recommends no more than 3 times a week at most.
 
I get coffee stains on my teeth. I open a capsule of activated charcoal in my mouth and brush with it 4-5 times a year. The whitening effect is very noticeable.
 
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