the look—there’s no scientific evidence
for the “detox” action it promises.
“It’s not going to hurt you,” says
Langer, “but it’s not going to have the
effect you might think it’s going to
have, so what’s the point? Especially
when you’re paying a premium for a
bunk ingredient.”
Health Canada spokesperson Marie-
Pier Burelle has a more positive take:
“Products that contain activated char-
coal are considered to have benefits
that outweigh the risks associated with
them, when they are used as advised.”
Ultimately, you can’t get sick from,
or ingest too much, activated charcoal.Is there any proven use
for this stuff, then?
In the emergency room, doctors some-
times feed an activated-charcoal paste
to patients who have been poisoned or
are overdosing on prescription medica-
tion. If it’s done quickly—ideally within
minutes but up to an hour after inges-
tion, while the poisonous substance is
still in the stomach—the paste prevents
the body from absorbing it.
So yes, activated charcoal might save
your life. However, everyday users
should know that it doesn’t bind with
ethanol or alcohol, so it won’t magic-
ally erase the effects of late-night
imbibing. Also, be aware that it doesn’t
discern between the bad and the good:
it will bind with blood-pressure medi-
cation and birth-control pills and flush
them through your system, too.Black Magic
Despite a lack of any hard scientific
evidence, companies have rushed
to release a variety of activated-
charcoal products that promise an
equally wide variety of benefits.
Charcoal face scrubs
BKIND, a Montreal-based maker
of skin-care products, offers a
purifying face scrub that includes
activated charcoal, claiming the
ingredient “cleans your pores
deeply, fights acne and leaves a
matte finish on your skin.”
Charcoal toothpaste
Crest’s 3D White toothpaste
is just one of a plethora of
activated- charcoal dental prod-
ucts on the market—including
floss and brushes—and
promises the ingredient will
“gently whiten” your teeth.
Charcoal pizza
Pizza Nova offers a crust dubbed
Carbone, Italian for “charcoal.” The
Canadian franchise claims that the
dough’s “lighter and airier texture”
make it easier to digest.
Charcoal antiperspirant
To promote its charcoal-
infused antiperspirant for
men, Dove hedges its
bets, suggesting only
that the popular ingredi-
ent is “known to act like
a natural purifier.”reader’s digest
20 april 2020