Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
We are going to cover charcoal in this article. Charcoal is
used as a heat source for grilling foods and used in creating metals. But that
isn’t the kind I’m writing about. Did you know charcoal can have medicinal
value? Egyptian records from 1500 BC show they used activated charcoal to
absorb odors from infected wounds.
There is a difference between charcoal for grills, and
activated charcoal for medicine. Activated charcoal is still the same burned
wood, coconut shell or peat, but it has also been treated with oxygen. The
medicinal charcoal is very porous and nonpolar, allowing it to bind toxins and
odors from gasses or liquids that are 1000 times its weight. It is tasteless
and odorless, yet still very black.
Today, activated charcoal is used in cosmetics and medicine.
You have probably seen the toothpastes with charcoal in them, and the antiaging
creams advertised with charcoal, or sponges and fabrics for cleansing the skin.
I haven’t seen any evidence in the cosmetics claims except for the use with teeth
cleaning. I can attest that it does work for teeth cleaning.
Most people know activated charcoal is used as a poison
antidote. Charcoal traps harmful chemicals and toxins in its pores, a chemical
process called adsorption. Once trapped, they are ushered out the GI tract
causing you no more harm. It works throughout the entire GI tract, from mouth
to rectum. It is said to reduce the amount of toxins by 60 percent or more.
What people fail to realize is that many upset stomach and
diarrhea events are really caused by the infecting bacteria releasing toxins
that your body reacts to control. By taking charcoal at the first signs of
illness, many times you can reduce the severity or even completely eliminate
the causal toxins, thereby making you feel better.
Dosing for this purpose would be to drink at least 100 grams
in a water slurry of 2-6 ounces. Then take 50 grams every 2-4 hours until
symptoms subside. Depending on how sick you are when you start this process,
you may lose some of the dose by vomiting due to the existing illness. If this
occurs, you will have to judge for yourself how long it stayed down, or didn’t,
and take new doses accordingly. If you vomit the initial dose within the first
20 minutes, redo the initial dose. If it is longer than 2 hours, just take the
follow up doses of 50 grams every 2-4 hours.
Activated charcoal comes in capsules and in bulk, and it is
sold a lot of places. For making the slurry drink, bulk is better. For carrying
on vacation just in case of emergency, capsules will be easier to transport.
However you buy it, just try to find the source it is made from. It should be
from as natural and organic as possible to avoid contaminants.
There is also an activated charcoal product that contains
sorbitol. That actually works as a laxative, eliminating the toxins more
quickly. This product is meant for acute poisonings and detox situations. Do not
use this if you have diarrhea already.
Also, some of you may be thinking that there is a time when
inducing vomiting is necessary. The most
recent studies show that most poisoning cases are better off using charcoal
than inducing vomiting.
There are also
poisons that you never want to induce vomiting for such as: strychnine, alkalis
(lye), strong acids, kerosene, fuel oil, gasoline, coal oil, paint thinner, and
cleaning fluids.
There are really no side effects to taking charcoal during
acute treatment of problems. There have been some side effects that are noted
with longer term use; but they are nominal such as pain or swelling of the stomach.
Also, your vomit or stool will be black after taking charcoal.
One last thing to keep in mind is that you should not take
it at the same time as other medicines, especially heart medicines or cancer
drugs. It should be obvious that if charcoal adsorbs chemicals, it will also
adsorb drugs you may need to stay alive. Ideally take it an hour before or two
hours after taking the medicine.
Clearly charcoal has potential to improve your well-being.
It is not magic but can be very helpful when used correctly.