Why Should We All Be Happy to Eat Charcoal?
There are two types of black food: those that admit they are full of charcoal as if this is what you should want, and those that don’t. (There is a third category, foods made with other ingredients like black sesame , but this is less common.)
I understand. Strangely colored things are far more attractive to Instagram than their beige cousins. But can we take a moment to question this trend?
Black drinks won’t rid you of toxins.
Charcoal lemonade lovers claim that this drink can flush out toxins , but your body never needs to detoxify , so this idea doesn’t fit. We have excellent organ systems that do all the detoxification work we need, even if we don’t think about it. But there is some truth to the detoxification claim: Charcoal is indeed used in emergency rooms as an antidote to certain types of poisoning.
The emergency dose of activated charcoal is quite large: 25 to 100 grams, or if your doctor knows how much poison you have ingested, he can give you 10 times more charcoal. UpToDate, a medical information site, notes that flavors such as juice or chocolate syrup can make charcoal easier to digest, but they reduce its effectiveness.
Typical DIY black lemonade recipes can use anywhere from a quarter teaspoon to a full teaspoon of activated charcoal. That’s three grams or less. The standard drink contains 14 grams of alcohol , so this cannot be a plausible antidote to a night of drinking, one of the “detoxifying” properties attributed to black drinks. (Never mind that charcoal binds poorly to alcohol, and that the whole point of drinking alcohol is to get the alcohol into your bloodstream so your brain can enjoy it.)
Black food can inactivate the medicine you just took.
On the other hand, tablets contain tiny amounts of active ingredients. If you drink the medicine with a black drink or eat some black ice cream before or after taking your medicine, the charcoal in your food can absorb the medicine . Most of us don’t eat black foods every day, so this is unlikely to be a serious problem, but consider asking your doctor or pharmacist about the situation if you are a fan of charcoal foods.
Coconut ash is still charcoal
Sometimes “activated carbon” does not appear on the ingredient list, but the term “coconut ash” is used instead. Charcoal is just a burnt material, and activated carbon is a burnt material that heats up, so it becomes more porous (the better it absorbs the chemicals it comes in contact with).
So coconut ash or coconut charcoal is just charcoal. But it sounds healthier , right? Coconut oil is so popular right now. Coconut charcoal borrows this trait. But … it’s still just burnt coal.
Thus, black food does not flush toxins from the body and can even become a problem if you are on medication. But if you’re not taking any important medications and just want to try some photogenic fancy food, enjoy it. But I warn you honestly: this will give you black poop .