Reader\'s Digest Canada - 04.2020

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VER THE LAST little while,

social-media feeds have been

flooded with stranger and

stranger food and wellness trends. The

most notable of them may well be

shared images of goth-black ice cream

infused with activated charcoal, which

appeared a couple years ago.

It turns out this was just one par-

ticularly photogenic moment for the

increasingly ubiquitous ingredient. At

your local drugstore, you’ll see acti-

vated charcoal in cleansers, shampoos,

deodorants and toothpaste—in brands

both big-box and boutique. And while

the ice cream made the biggest splash,

you’ll find it in other foods, too.

“The whole ‘detox’ trend put char-

coal in the spotlight,” says registered

dietitian Abby Langer. While she says

there’s no scientific evidence to sup-

port the claimed health benefits of such

diets, we still fall for them.

In which products is activated

charcoal found—and what

is it, exactly?

Over the last several years, Japanese

and Korean beauty rituals have

BYRebecca Philps migrated over to the North American

It’s showing up in

toothpaste, shampoo and

even in our food. Here’s

what it really does.

Is Activated

Charcoal

Actually Good

for You?

reader’s digest

18 april 2020

HEALTH