Is Activated Charcoal Messing With Your Medications?
There’s a potential side effect to the charcoal trend
The activated charcoal fad has followed a predictable trajectory. It started as an innocent Instagram trend with ink black ice cream, smoky lattes, and charred croissants. Then came the juices, supplements, and claims that charcoal detoxifies your body.
But as the trend proliferates, scientists are warning that consuming activated charcoal could interfere with your medication. The whole point of activated charcoal is to soak up and stop the effect of drugs in your stomach. Emergency room doctors and toxicologists regularly use it to treat overdoses and poisonings. Charcoal isn’t a discriminating detoxifier either; it will adsorb vitamins, minerals, and medications alike. This includes antidepressants, birth control pills, over the counter painkillers, anti-epileptics, beta blockers and anti-arrhythmic drugs, medications for diabetes, and even steroids from asthma inhalers.
“It’s essentially a pseudoscientific application of a remedy that’s used in real medicine,” says David Kroll, a professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver. “You name the chemical and charcoal’s been used to at least partially adsorb it after someone commits an overdose or is otherwise poisoned.”
