Why People Are Drinking Charcoal

You are familiar with green juice, coconut water, and maybe even bone broth, but what about drinks made with activated charcoal — charcoal that is made from coal, wood, or other substances and becomes activated "when high temperatures combine with a gas or activating agent to expand its surface area," according to WebMD. It may be hard to believe that something you may use to grill your hamburgers is now turned into a super healthy beverage.

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Activated charcoal, it is claimed, will cure hangovers, detox the body, and improve digestive issues. The idea behind this belief is that the stickiness of charcoal can pull out the toxins in the body instead of allowing them to linger in the digestive tract. It is typically sold in combination with another liquid such as lemonade, green juice, or water. Activated charcoal is also made in supplement form so you can just wash it down, and used as an ingredient in skin-care products to draw out impurities. However, the scientific evidence to back up the claims is not conclusive. Activated charcoal has been used as a filtering agent to clean up chemicals in the environment, but that doesn't necessarily mean it works similarly in the body.

If you like the idea of this murky drink, there doesn't appear to be anything harmful about consuming it, but it won't necessarily boost your health, so you might want to save yourself the $10 a bottle it typically sells for until more evidence of its benefits is in.