Activated Charcoal is a highly absorbent gritty black material that is commonly found in air and water filters. Activated Charcoal is created by carbonizing organic matter in a kiln under anaerobic conditions and activating the material with oxidizing gases like steam or air at high temperatures. This oxidative process erodes the charcoal's internal surfaces and increases its adsorption capacity by creating an internal network of very fine pores. Usually bone char, coconut shells, peat, coal, petroleum coke, and sawdust are the starting materials for making Activated Charcoal.

The medical uses for charcoal date back to the Egyptian Papyrus of 1550 B.C. During the time of Hippocrates (400 B.C.) physicians treated epilepsy and anthrax with charcoal. In the 1700's charcoal was often prescribed for bilious problems (excessive bile excretion). After the development of the charcoal activation process (1870 to 1920), many reports appeared in medical journals about Activated Charcoal as an antidote for poisons and a cure for intestinal disorders.

Modern research has validated most of the early uses for charcoal and discovered exciting new applications. This article will discuss the many important therapeutic uses for Activated Charcoal;
1. Universal antidote for drugs, chemicals and poisons.
2. Systemic clearance of drugs and intoxicants.
3. General detoxification.
4. Anti-aging and life extension.
5. Reducing cholesterol, coronary disease and arteriosclerosis.
6. Counteracting pathogens.
7. Intestinal complaints.

Activated Charcoal has the well-earned reputation of being a universal antidote. It can adsorb most organic chemicals, many inorganic chemicals and countless poisonous substances before they can cause harm. The table below lists different examples of the types of substances that Activated Charcoal can counteract.

How well Activated Charcoal really works in practical situations depends on several different factors:
1. The type of toxicant (its chemical structure and physical properties).
2. The amount and type of charcoal ingested.
3. The length of time from toxin ingestion to Activated Charcoal ingestion.
4. The contents of your intestinal fluids and intestinal transport efficiency.

As a general rule, a single large dose of Activated Charcoal should be taken as soon as possible after ingesting a poison. The amount of Activated Charcoal should exceed the toxic substance by a factor of eight (a ratio of 8:1). In other words, if you're poisoned with 5 grams of a chemical, you need to take at least 40 grams of Activated Charcoal.

Other researchers recommend different dosages. Some experts believe a 10 to 1 ratio is correct. Still other experts recommend a fixed amount of 50 to 100 grams.

I recommend ingesting a minimum of 50 grams of Activated Charcoal as a counterpoison, because ingesting large amounts of Activated Charcoal is harmless, and taking too little is ineffective. Besides, how often in the case of an emergency can you precisely determine the amount of the poison. The actual effectiveness of the Activated Charcoal will vary, so take more than you think you require.

Activated Charcoal should be taken within 30 minutes of ingesting the poison. The longer the delay, the less effective Activated Charcoal will be. On some poisons delaying more than 30 minutes decreases the effectiveness of the Activated Charcoal as an antidote by up to 60%.

The bottom line is plain and simple. Keeping Activated Charcoal in your medicine cabinet and taking it if you are poisoned could save your life, and money as well. It has been estimated that use of Activated Charcoal for treating poisonings could reduce the stay in intensive care from 3 or 4 days to one, saving over $100,000,000 in health care costs and preventing unnecessary disability and death.

Nowadays, Activated Charcoal is often used to clear drugs and intoxicants that can enter the body through the intestinal tract, and even by injection and other routes. The systemic clearance of toxic substances or detoxification by Activated Charcoal is accomplished by taking multiple daily doses.

Activated Charcoal shortens the time it take an intoxicant to leave the system and decreases the duration and intensity of symptoms. I have found that people who take Activated Charcoal after drinking alcohol or taking recreational drugs such as cocaine or amphetamines recover quicker. I recommend Activated Charcoal as part of a drug recovery program to ease withdrawal symptoms and reduce drug craving. Other nutrients that help are the neurotransmitter precursors: L-Tyrosine, L-Tryptophan, L-Phenylalanine, Choline and DMAE (Dimethylaminoethanol).

Even experts disagree on the best way of using multiple doses of Activated Charcoal to remove intoxicants. Most protocols are based on experience with drug overdosages. In actual clinical situations, the Activated Charcoal regimen is optimized to the patient. The doctor considers the type of toxic substance, severity of intoxification, digestive functions and electrolyte balance.

For mild overdoses and intoxification, I suggest up to 80-100 grams divided into 4-6 daily doses of Activated Charcoal until the symptoms are eliminated. Consult an expert who can optimize your regimen.

For a dangerous overdosage call your physician or hospital immediately.

Very few health practitioners realize that Activated Charcoal is the best single supplement for enhancing detoxification. Detoxification is an on-going biological process that prevents toxins (from infectious agents, food, air, water, and substances that contact the skin) from destroying health. Chronic exposure to toxins produces cellular damage, diverse diseases, allergic like reactions, compromised immunity and premature aging.

There are 2 ways of using Activated Charcoal in a daily detox plan that I have found work well and recommend:
1. Use Activated Charcoal on 2 consecutive days each week. Take 20-35 grams each day divided into 2 or 3 doses. Take in the morning, at midday and before bed on an empty stomach. Avoid excessive calories or unhealthy foods on those days.
2. Take about 20 grams a day of Activated Charcoal in divided doses for several months. Follow Activated Charcoal usage by a 1 month break and resume the cycle. If you plan on using Activated Charcoal daily, consult your physician.

In addition to Activated Charcoal, the ideal detoxification prescription includes sauna baths, exercise, a special diet, and supplements (unsaturated fatty acids, vitamin C, niacin, proteolytic (protein digesting) enzymes, and a comprehensive multiple nutrient formula.

Dr. V. V. Frolkis, a famous Russian Gerontologist, and his colleagues have discovered that Activated Charcoal is a potent life-extending agent. Activated Charcoal has been found to increase the mean lifespan of older test animals by approximately 50% and their maximum lifespan by approximately 34%.
1. Activated Charcoal decreases the age-related increase in the brain's sensitivity to drugs and toxins.
2. Activated Charcoal keeps cholesterol and lipid metabolism under proper control.
3. The regular use of Activated Charcoal improves the adaptive functioning of essential organs (the liver, kidneys, and adrenals). That translates into better defense mechanisms.
NOTE: See Abstract below.

Microscopic tissue analysis shows that Activated Charcoal prevents many cellular changes associated with aging-decreased protein synthesis, lower RNA activity, atherosclerosis, and organ fibrosis. So the cumulative effects from Activated Charcoal are longer life and improved overall health. The recommended protocol for anti-aging and life extension benefits is the same as for general detoxification.

You can help your heart and circulatory system by taking Activated Charcoal. Activated Charcoal lowers the concentration of total lipids, cholesterol, and triglycerides in the blood serum, liver, heart and brain. In one study that was reported in the British journal Lancet on patients with high cholesterol, 8 gm.. of Activated Charcoal taken three times a day lowered total cholesterol 25%, lowered LDL cholesterol 41% and doubled their HDL/LDL (high-density lipoprotein/low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol ratio. Microscopic tissue examination studies have shown that a daily dose of Activated Charcoal may prevent sclerotic changes in the heart and coronary blood vessels.

To help your heart and blood vessels, I suggest the following: 12-17 grams of Activated Charcoal twice a day for 1 month under the guidance of a physician who can measure cardiovascular improvements and cholesterol levels.

Activated Charcoal reduces the activity of some viruses. So if you catch a cold or the flu, try Activated Charcoal. You may suffer less and heal faster.

Activated Charcoal also prevents the poisonous activity of many harmful bacteria in the human body by adsorbing the toxins and enzymes that they generate. Studies have shown that Activated Charcoal is an effective treatment for dysentery, cholera, and many infectious conditions of the digestive tract.

Activated Charcoal can be an effective adjunct to any regimen for the treatment of systemic Candida albicans infections.
1. Activated Charcoal adsorbs much of the toxins that Candida produces that otherwise would be absorbed by the blood and carried throughout the body. These toxins produce pathological changes in tissues and organs and interfere with proper immune function. Candida toxins cause allergic reactions and are responsible for the debilitating symptoms of Candidiasis.
2. Activated Charcoal suppresses the growth of intestinal-based yeasts.
3. Activated Charcoal counteracts the Herxheimer reaction - a severe, short-term exacerbation of Candida symptoms caused by the copious amount of toxins produced by dying yeast cells as a result of a successful treatment. The Herxheimer reaction is often so unpleasant that patients abandon treatment before completion. Activated Charcoal is one method for alleviating the symptoms of yeast die-off so people can continue their treatment and not suffer.

I suggest 20-35 grams of Activated Charcoal a day in divided dosages on an empty stomach until the problem is eliminated. The larger amount is taken for more severe situations.

Again, a reminder: do NOT take required medications within 2 hours of taking Activated Charcoal.

Activated Charcoal has been used by physicians since the last century to treat various intestinal complaints. Abdominal distension (bloating) and flatulence respond favorably to treatment with Activated Charcoal. Diarrhea caused by food poisoning, bacteria, nervousness and other factors is usually alleviated by taking Activated Charcoal. Some physicians have used Activated Charcoal to stop bleeding from ulcerative colitis and calm spastic colons.

Activated Charcoal is the best intestinal deodorant available. Taking Activated Charcoal counteracts decomposition products from food (such as beans) that cause flatulence and diarrhea. Individuals with malodorous stools should reach for Activated Charcoal capsules. Travelers to foreign countries would be wise to pack Activated Charcoal. In my opinion, Activated Charcoal is the most practical way to effectively counteract food poisoning.

To alleviate intestinal disorders with Activated Charcoal, I recommend the following: as an antidote for food poisoning, take 4-12 grams of Activated Charcoal 3 times daily; for other intestinal complaints, take 4-10 grams of Activated Charcoal twice daily.

Toxicology studies have proven that Activated Charcoal is basically harmless. Ingesting high dosages does not interfere with sleep, appetite or well being - or cause major problems. There are several undesirable effects of using Activated Charcoal that can be avoided by complying with the following directions.

Activated Charcoal is highly adsorbent; when it is ingested at the same time as medication, supplements and foods it may decrease their absorption and utilization. Therefore, always allow 2 hours before and wait 2 hours after using Activated Charcoal to eat, take supplements or swallow medication.

Activated Charcoal has a natural tendency to cause constipation. That can be counteracted by taking small amounts of Cascara sagrada bark, a mild herbal laxative, with the Activated Charcoal.

Finally Activated Charcoal harmlessly blackens your stools. Although black-gray stools look strange, they can be used to calculate your bowel transit time. Just measure the length of time from taking Activated Charcoal to the appearance of darkened stools.

Numerous companies manufacture Activated Charcoals, each of which can have different adsorptive capacities. Different source materials and manufacturing procedures give each brand of Activated Charcoal it's own pore diameters and internal volume that determine its adsorption capacity.

The U.S.P. (United States Pharmacopoeia) standard for Activated Charcoal specifies an internal surface area of 1000 m²/g (square meters per gram). Recently, several companies have begun manufacturing Super Activated Charcoals, with up to 3 times the internal surface area per gram and far greater adsorption power than standard Activated Charcoal. For example, Super Char (available from Gulf Western) has an internal surface area of 3000 m²/g. Actidose Aqua (Paddock) has a surface area of 1600 m²/g. In this article, all the recommended dosages for Activated Charcoal are based on the standard of 1000 m²/g. If you can obtain a Super Activated Charcoal, use proportionately less.

I prefer capsules because they are convenient and non-messy. Activated Charcoal tablets are not effective - they take too long to disintegrate and release the Activated Charcoal. Activated Charcoal powder is the best way to quickly ingest a large dose, but unfortunately it is messy, tastes like a Charcoal briquette, and blackens your teeth, gums and tongue.

I have developed a special Activated Charcoal preparation called Absorb for the Age Reduction Corporation. Absorb contains a Super-Adsorption Activated Charcoal, a small amount of the herb Cascara sagrada (to counteract Charcoal-induced constipation), and 13 primary Homeopathic cleansing remedies. Absorb is encapsulated in oversized capsules, for rapid disintegration and so fewer capsules are required than with other Activated Charcoal capsules.
NOTE: Absorb is NOT available anymore.

"The effect of repeated courses of enterosorption upon the mean and maximal lifespan and some functional and metabolic indices was determined in 28-month old Wistar rats. Significant increase of mean and maximal lifespan of old rats was noted at certain regimens of enterosorption. The experimental animals demonstrated less marked age-related structural and ultrastructural changes in the liver, kidneys, myocardium, intestines, pancreas, as compared with control animals. Enterosorption leads to a reduction of pentobarbital-induced sleep, decrease of content of cytochrome P-450, blood cholesterol and triglyglycerides, cardiac and cerebral tissue cholesterol, total lipids, liver cholesterol and triglycerides. Enterosorption was found to increase the RNA and protein biosynthesis in the liver, kidneys and adrenals of old animals."

"Thus, the data presented suggests that the enterosorption has a potent effect upon an aging organism. This notion can be supported by the enterosorption-induced changes in lifespan prolongation, structural and ultrastructural changes, shifts in protein, and RNA biosynthesis and in lipid metabolism, in the content of microsomal enzymes, and so forth. This work substantiates the need for a further search for regimens of enterosorption, and combination of it with other effects, aimed at lifespan prolongation. Currently, the question remains whether the described enterosorption effects are related with the sorption of the known or suppsosed metabolites, or with the changes in the content of some physiologically active substances and subsequent regulatory transformations, or with both. The main thing is the experiments with enterosorption persuade that altering the humoral environment of an organism may affect the rate of aging, the biological age of animals, and thus their lifespan."