Before sipping on that juice cleanse, sprinkle in some activated charcoal! Wait…what!?
It’s true! Juices with activated charcoal are super sellers and proponents say they come with all kinds of benefits like improved digestion and more energy. “From active people exercising, people who want to lose a few pounds, actually a lot of people who have a hangover come in and want to have a juice with activated charcoal to sort of get their groove back after drinking too much,” says Eric Helms, from Juice Generation.
It’s also in:
- over the counter supplements
- dog biscuits
- shampoo
- facial soap
You can even brush your teeth with it! But not everyone is praising this health craze. “Activated charcoal can bind a lot of things you don’t want to have bound, like vitamins and minerals. It can keep your body from absorbing those important nutrients. If somebody is on a medication that is helping stabilize their health, it can keep those things from being absorbed,” says Angela Lemond, RDN, LD, CSP, a spokesperson from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Speak to your physician before sprinkling this craze into your diet.
