Ingestible activated charcoal is taking over social media as a cure-all ingredient. The porous element is said to attach to toxins and removes them from the body.
For several years, charcoal has been widely embraced by the oral care and skin care categories. Burst, Moon, Bite and Hello have harnessed it for whitening capabilities in their toothpastes, while detoxifying charcoal face masks have also been a mainstay in skin care for fighting acne, from heritage brands like Freeman and newer brands like Youth to the People. Briogeo also has an entire hair care line called Scalp Revival dedicated to the ingredient.
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Now, activated ingestible charcoal is all the rage for its body-detoxifying benefits: Think hangover cure and debloating. According to search data from Spate, charcoal receives 1.1 million average monthly searches, and searches for charcoal pills and charcoal capsules are up 9 percent year-over-year and 17 percent year-over-year, respectively. Searches show that consumers have multiple uses in mind for the capsules, including addressing heartburn, reducing bloating, whitening teeth and creating face masks.
Last month, Kim Kardashian also posted a cup of charcoal tea on her Instagram story causing additional buzz. Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s editorial site Poosh quickly responded with a “Charcoal Latte Recipe Inspired by Kim Kardashian” for readers, which includes coconut milk, activated charcoal powder, vanilla extract and pitted dates. Kourtney Kardashian Barker’s $18 smoothie in collaboration with Erewhon also contains charcoal.
Social media, natch, has embraced the ingredient as an ingestible for its supposed hangover-curing capabilities. Videos tagged #CharcoalPowder on TikTok have garnered 5.6 million views. Creators on TikTok have shown off capsules from brands like Nature’s Way and Nature’s Bounty, as they sit at the bar drinking or as they lay in bed after a night out.
“One of the reasons why it would work for a hangover or why in an emergency situation it’s used in toxicity or overdose in hospitals is because it binds to toxins…and it takes them out of the body,” said Bridgette Becker, functional health practitioner at The Ranch Malibu.
Though the ingredient has taken on a new life amongst consumers, it has been a go-to in traditional health care settings for treating poisonings.
“I usually prescribe it to my patients for mycotoxins, which is a mould toxicity, or if they have any tick-borne illnesses,” said Dr. Veena Verma-Dzik, ND, IAMA, a Connecticut-based naturopathic physician. Activated charcoal as a medicinal remedy can be traced back to ancient civilizations, as well.
While it can offer many benefits, ingesting the ingredient at a specific time is key.
“Because it works as a binder, you do want to take it away from any prescription medications, herbal medications, supplements, hormones, like birth control pills or thyroid meds. Generally, you want to wait about two hours away from taking those because it can interfere with their absorption,” said Verma-Dzik. “When you’re working around meal time, either two hours before or an hour after your meal is ideal.”
Plant-based nutrition brand Erbology offers a multiuse activated charcoal powder to support digestion, whiten teeth and exfoliate skin. Capsules can also be broken up and used topically or internally, as adopted by many TikTok creators.
Cymbiotika and The Ranch have been exploring the trend of activated charcoal through different ingestible formats, focused on the ingredient’s ability to remove toxins caused by modern environments.
“We’re at the point now where detoxification quite possibly is more important than nutrition because we’re subjugated to so many toxins,” said Cymbiotika cofounder and chief scientific officer Chervin Jafarieh.
Cymbiotika’s Activated Charcoal, $56, which comes in a lemon cream-flavored squeezable formula, can be taken on its own or mixed into a drink. While charcoal has been widely used in topical beauty, its internal benefits are even more potent.
“Toxins start to build up in your bloodstream, all of a sudden you have skin issues, you have discoloration, you have bloating, you have all these things and then you’re reaching for things that aren’t serving you because you’re trying to escape out of that,” said Jafarieh. “The internal is where the magic really happens.”
The Ranch has opted for a salt format in its Caviar, $16, which can be eaten on its own or sprinkled on food. The formula combines charcoal to detox the body with coarse black sea salt to provide additional hydration and nourish adrenals.
While charcoal is having a moment and more products come to the surface, overuse is a key concern.
“I typically don’t encourage people to use charcoal on a daily basis over an extended period of time,” said Becker. “It’s kind of like a medicine, but we should think of it that way, so using it a few times a week just to support your detox pathways is fantastic or if you are doing a little bit of a cleanse, it’s fantastic. But we don’t need to do it every single day.”