Activated charcoal isn’t anything new. Old medical books and historical accounts report it’s been used as far back to the times of Hippocrates and Pliny. Hippocrates used charcoal for treating anthrax. Back then, they burned willow bark in a way that the willow bark became porous and all the oxygen was removed from it.
Activated charcoal is more absorptive than regular burnt wood by about four times. Now activated charcoal is commonly made from hardwood trees or coconut shells but also other substances are used such as petroleum coke, sawdust, peat, coal, and bone char. It’s important to obtain activated charcoal from coconut shells or natural sources.
Activated charcoal is commonly used in shower filters, water filters and in air filters.
Activated charcoal is carbon – and it’s 100% alkaline. On a molecular level, the spinning electrons make activated charcoal highly electrical, putting out a negative ionic charge. The negative charge attracts positively charged substances such as toxins and poisons like a magnet.
Charcoal grabs up to 2000 times its weight in toxins. One teaspoon of this black gold has a surface area of more than 10,000 square feet. This one property of activated charcoal pulls toxins and poisons out of your body through the process of adsorption, detoxifying it. Activated charcoal even pulls out toxins deep inside your body and carries them out of your body via the colon.
13 Different Ways To Use Activated Charcoal
Below are 13 different uses of activated charcoal:
1. Toothache Relief
Add a little water to a half teaspoon activated charcoal and apply to the tooth and the surrounding gum when you have pain associated with a tooth.
2. Gas and Bloating Relief
Intestinal gas can make you look pregnant – and it certainly makes you feel bad. Taking a few capsules of activated charcoal with water will help within minutes. Follow with a few extra glasses of water.
3. Spider Bites Neutralized
Specifically, if you are bitten by a brown recluse spider, apply a paste of activated charcoal and water externally to the area. Then take one teaspoon activated charcoal in a glass of water one to two times daily until the situation subsides.
4. Snake Bite Venom Neutralized
Emergency medicine specialists use activated charcoal to neutralize snake venom. To treat snake bite, a poultice is applied to the bite and activated charcoal is also added to water to drink internally.
5. Lower Cholesterol, Reduce Heart Disease and Reverse Hardening of the Arteries
Activated charcoal normalizes abnormally high cholesterol levels, which can contribute to heart disease. It also normalizes fat metabolism. And it’s more effective than cholesterol-lowering medications, resulting in 35% lower levels of cholesterol and 41% lower LDL cholesterol. The dosage for these types of results was 8 grams three times daily.
6. Prevents Hangovers
Although alcohol isn’t absorbed by activated charcoal, there are additional toxins in the alcohol – and in your body. Once these are removed, your blood alcohol level will be lower.
7. Teeth Whitener
Activated charcoal absorbs coffee stains on your teeth as well as other stains and bacteria. It helps remove plaque on the teeth, which is acidic.
8. The Ultimate Poison Control Substance and Universal Antidote
If you suspect a case of food poisoning, drug contamination in your food or beverage, or accidental ingestion of poisons, think of the chemical properties of activated charcoal and how it absorbs toxins up to 2000 times its own weight. In a glass of water, add a teaspoon of it, stir and drink.
What poisons will charcoal work for? Here’s a beginning list:
[one_half_first]
- mercury
- arsenic
- venom
- toxins created by bacteria such as the E. coli
- endotoxin
- warfarin
- gasoline
- strychnine
[/one_half_first][one_half_last]
- aspirin
- morphine
- opium
- amphetamine
- cocaine
- barbiturates
- Prozac
- Tylenol
[/one_half_last]
Activated charcoal works on a lot of different poisons but it’s not 100% effective for these toxins:
[one_half_first]
- ethanol
- alcohol
- cleaning agents that are alkaline (lime)
- lithium
- methanol
- ethylene glycol
[/one_half_first][one_half_last]
- cyanide
- mineral acids
- ethanol
- iron
- lye
- petroleum
[/one_half_last]
9. Drug Addiction Help
If you’re addicted to harmful drugs, you’ll need more of a long-term cleansing with charcoal and other detoxifying foods.
10. Itchy Skin
If the itchy skin is due to an insect bite, get your activated charcoal poultice out and apply it. Here’s a second way to make it: Mix ¼-1/2 teaspoon charcoal with ½ tablespoon coconut oil and apply to the skin where the bite is. Repeat as needed until itching is gone.
If itchy skin is due to allergies, taking activated charcoal internally will start to adsorb toxins and reduce the level of them in your body. A high level of toxins will always cause a lessening of allergies.
11. Infections and Wounds
Activated charcoal has antiviral properties. It also prevents the toxins from bacteria from causing damage in the body. Activated charcoal is effective against cholera, dysentery, and digestive tract infections. It is also great against systemic yeast infections such as Candida and prevents the waste products from these infections from causing negative changes in the organs and tissues.
Food poisoning infections may be helped substantially by taking activated charcoal. The dosage is 20 grams two to three times daily. If you’re planning on traveling, don’t leave home without it, especially if you are going to a foreign country.
Acne is caused by a bacteria. Acne also responds to activated charcoal. Make a mask of ¼ teaspoon activated charcoal and 2 teaspoons aloe vera gel and apply to your face. After it dries, rinse it off completely.
12. Gangrenous sores and burns
In gangrenous sores, there’s a bad odor associated with the bacteria causing the gangrene. In severe burns, there’s an odor associated with the dead flesh. Add charcoal to a salt shaker and sprinkle it on the wound every time you change the bandage.
13. Extends Lifespan
Animal studies show that regular use of activated charcoal extends lifespan by about 34-40%. It decreases the sensitivity of brain tissue to drugs and toxins. The liver, kidneys, and adrenals function better from the regular use of charcoal.
It also prevents decreased protein and RNA synthesis, and changes that cause hardening of the arteries as well as fibrosis in the organs. When all these positive changes occur at the same time, they contribute to longer life. The protocol used for extending your lifespan is to simply take about 10 grams three times a day on an empty stomach two days a week. The days should be consecutive.
Sources:
- Activated Charcoal Poultice. EMR Labs, LLC. Accessed Oct. 12, 2015. https://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/charcoal_poultice.htm
- http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/black-magic-the-benefits-and-uses-of-activated-charcoal
- https://www.dherbs.com/articles/wellness-prevention/benefits-of-carbon-aka-activated-charcoal/
- http://healthwyze.org/index.php/component/content/article/101-essential-first-aid-item-activated-carbon.html
- https://www.quantumbalancing.com/activatedcharcoal.htm
- https://www.quantumbalancing.com/news/charcoal_poultice.htm
- http://draxe.com/activated-charcoal-uses/
- http://www.charcoalremedies.com/burns
