Activated Charcoal Uses That You’ll Wish You’d Known Sooner
Activated charcoal might be a mystery to some, but this versatile substance has become a superstar for many households. Activated charcoal can become your best friend when you have a stomach bug, when you’re detoxing, or if you have high cholesterol. From emergency medicine to chronic conditions, activated charcoal has remarkable abilities, which is why I always have some in my apothecary. In this article, we will look at the various uses of activated charcoal that you’ll wish you’d known sooner.
What is Activated Charcoal?
Did you know that activated charcoal and charcoal for your barbeque are very different? Activated charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen at a high temperature. This process makes the charcoal porous, which allows it to absorb small particles in your body.
Once you take activated charcoal, it is not absorbed by your stomach. The structure allows the powder to attract the toxins and gas from your system. It will then bind with the toxins and pass through your system.
Benefits and Uses of Activated Charcoal
Filters out Undigested Toxins
Activated charcoal is effective for removing toxins that come from Urea. This is the main byproduct of protein digestion. Activated charcoal helps your kidneys filter out toxins that sit in your body.
Helps Remove Trapped Gas
Activated Charcoal powder helps disrupt intestinal gas. A 2012 study shows that people with excessive gas took 338 mg of charcoal three times a day. Research showed that these people had less gas after taking it.
The amount of activated charcoal you should take depends on your needs. Also, it’s recommended that you ingest it at least 30 minutes before your meal.
Water Filtration
Activated charcoal not only filters out your body; it can do the same to water. It has been proven to remove up to 100% of the Fluoride in 32 unfiltered water samples.
Fights Diarrhea
A 2017 study shows that activated charcoal can help prevent bacteria and drugs from being absorbed into the body by trapping the toxins on the surface. Taking it has been shown to help stop diarrhea and allow your body to bind the contents in your stomach.
Oral Hygiene
Activated charcoal has been used in many different oral hygiene products due to the benefits it has, such as: detoxing, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal.
Some people claim that it does help whiten your teeth, but there is not enough evidence to prove this theory.
Cleans the Skin
Activated charcoal has been added to skin products across the globe for many years now. If you are on a lot of medication, your skin can get clogged up because your body is trying to get rid of the excess medicine in your system. Activated charcoal helps clear the skin from these toxins and prevent skin infections.
Keeps You Smelling Fresh and Clean
Activated Charcoal has been added to deodorants because the industry has found that charcoal helps absorb foul odors and harmful gasses and is safe to use under your arms, in your shoes, and even in products that are placed into your refrigerators to help keep them smelling fresh.
Helps Heal Skin Infections
As a holistic health practitioner, I have used alternative remedies and ingredients to help my clients heal their issues and problems. It has antibacterial properties, which help clean wounds and heal damaged tissue.
Here‘s how to make a DIY anti-inflammatory charcoal poultice.
Helps Flush Your Kidneys
If you suffer from kidney disease, your body cannot remove the excess phosphorus in your body. Unfortunately, you can get other health complications if you do not remove phosphorus.
Research has shown that oral activated charcoal helps your body flush out your kidneys and removes the excess phosphorus in your body. This will give your kidneys time to heal and help prevent further complications.
Reduces Cholesterol
In the past, studies have shown that small amounts of activated charcoal help to reduce the high levels of bad cholesterol, also known as LDL. Recent studies have yet to be done to prove that this is still true; however, natural healers have been placing activated charcoal in their remedies to help people reduce their cholesterol and have seen positive results.
Note: Activated Charcoal should not be taken long-term without a doctor’s consent as it can absorb certain enzymes in chronic medications.
It is also important to note that your stool is rather dark once you ingest activated charcoal; this is completely normal.
Activated charcoal is also safe to give to your pets if you believe they have been poisoned. The recommended dose of activated charcoal in small animals is 1 to 5g/kg of body weight orally. Once you have given them the dose, take them to the vet immediately.
For most of the issues we listed above, you can simply take an activated charcoal tablet or capsule as directed to help you heal your body. Below, is a tonic that I often recommend to my clients to help them manage diarrhea and stomach cramps.
DIY Anti-Diarrhea Tonic
This is a remedy that I constantly give to my clients to help alleviate the effects of stomach flu, gastro bugs, and more. If you are suffering from diarrhea, you will need the following:
- 150g/ 5.3 oz of activated charcoal powder
- 1 tbsp fresh mint/ 1 tsp dried mint
Steps
Simply boil some water in the kettle. Place your mint and activated charcoal in a glass and pour the water over. Wait five minutes for everything to infuse. You can remove the mint leaves if you want, or you can drink your tonic with the leaves still in the glass.
The mint helps relieve stomach cramps, while the activated charcoal will absorb the bug in your system.
Thank you so much! I recently felt like I was poisoned and this article is a godsend.
There appears to be different types (coconut/bamboo) is one better than the rest? Is there a proper dose that should be taken as they seem to range from 600mg to as high as 1200mg. Also you state “should not be taken long-term” what is considered long term – I am not on any chronic medications mostly vitamin/mineral supplements.
Once again thank you so much for all of your helpful information – I would be lost without my daily dose of “Nicole Apelian” you are amazing!
Hello Bonnie,
My observations and results seen in customer and client feedback, show the most success with more widely used brands that derive Activated Charcoal from coconut origin. Natures Sunshine have been on the market for years, among many others found in Australia and NZ. Doses vary with manufacturer standards for caps or tablets size per Country. Always follow the guidelines as stated on the label, and use your Qualified Professional (Naturopath, Herbalist, Pharmacist) for prescribing your individual needs as you may be on meds, diet, allergy or detox programme or even have sensitivities. I personally use activated charcoal and found it very soothing and settling, also adding Slippery Elm powder to assist with healing and repair of the gut and bowel lining.
In Good Health
Arnie N.
Recommendation ~ I’m new to this, (I’ve always thought you’d have to be careful which one you use) I’ve used Activated Charcoal for soap makings and I order it from the soap supplies. With this one, is there a recommended website to order from for consumptions? Thank you in an advance!
Hello! How does one know what kind and how much to take amd for how long for example cholesterol? Kidney cleanse? Toxins removal?
Off and on over the years I have attempted to buy activated charcoal with no success. When I would ask at the drug stores or hardware store they seemed oblivious as to what it even was. I don’t recall if our health food store ever had it, but it no longer matters as it went out of business.
Joanne, Activated charcoal can be purchased at any pet store or fish shop. It is used to filter aquarium water.
Natures sunshine products sells activated charcoal capsules. Directions on bottle. Or look on amazon
Never get the book , I’ve twice
Sorry, didn’t mean to add my vote to Gloria Garay’s statement, but I don’t know how to get rid of it. Just letting you all know that I love Nicole’s book. It’s very informative, and I use it a lot. Thank you Nicole. Highly recommended.
Reading the recipe above the 150g/5.3 oz of charcoal seems like a whole lot.
Is this correct?
Would this help with lichen sclerosis?.
And if so, what form to use it, vaginally.
Don’t know if that would work well vaginally! But it certainly would be messy!!
I have a lichen issue in my genital area and have found that natures sunshine products has a product called “Silver Shield Bioguard body and hand cream” that repairs sores, itching and pain overnight! Love it for any skin irritation. Hope you find it as useful as I do. Good luck
Do you have the research about the removal of fluoride please. I would like to read it as I always thought that nothing can remove it 100% And would it be from just ingesting?
Each year we buy at least a pound of activated charcoal to have onhand since we use it frequently, it can be literally a lifesaver and has been over here.
First example: about six years ago I was bitten by a brown recluse spider, by the time I noticed that bite on my hip three days later I already had a baseball-sized red swollen ring around the center of a dime-sized circle of black dead flesh. To make a long story short, I used 1/3 activated charcoal (for healing), 1/3 bentonite clay powder (to draw out poisons), and 1/3 psyllium husk powder (to keep my poultice hydrated and working) mixed with enough clean water to make a putty before forming a 1″ thick “disk” that was twice the size of the spider-bite wound. Changed out the contaminated used putty-disk three times a day for three weeks before I was completely healed without a scar. THIS IS WHAT I DID: I am not trying to convince anyone else to do anything like that. Just do your own research from scratch before deciding what you want to do in a situation that may be deadly if you do the wrong things.
Another use that was a big deal over here: earlier this year I slipped on ice and landed flat on my back, somehow badly sprained my right wrist in the process. I was mostly OK (thankful that I hadn’t broken my back!) but knew it was bad… then woke up at 2am screaming in agony, husband packed it again in packets of frozen peas but my wrist and hand had already turned yellow, blue, with parts turning almost black. I just threw up since it hurt that bad, by then my wrist and hand looked like a balloon! Threw up a couple more times from the pain. Packed it with more frozen peas for two more days… then finally through the haze I got the idea to just use activated charcoal and psyllium husk powder made into a putty (no bentonite clay needed since there weren’t any poisons or infections involved… it was just a tendon and muscle injury). We pack my entire hand, wrist, and elbow in that putty — and it worked much better than even ice as a pain reliever. It was also better than ice for reducing the inflammation within days! It really was a horrible sprain with a lot of tissue damage that took almost nine months to completely heal, that said, during those early horrible days of pain it turned out that FOR ME charcoal putty worked much better than even ice for pain relief and for reducing extreme swelling.
Am I trying to convince anyone of anything regarding activated charcoal and all of it’s uses? NO. Just do your own research from scratch. Do it before sickness or injuries while making your own decisions at all times, period. I’m just describing two examples of why we always replenish our stores of activated charcoal here on this property every year, and keep quart jars of it in every room in our house just in case. For the record we buy Starwest brand on Amazon each year… although we also know how to make our own outside in our firepit if push comes to shove. But, at currently $24 per pound we still elect to buy it all “pretty” and ready to go off of Starwest. It never goes bad.
Can this drink and other remedies be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge?
Is there a recipe to make a deodorant from activated charcoal?