A fine, black powder emergency room physicians sometimes use for treating patients with overdoses, has entered the health and beauty world in the form of shampoos and soaps to deodorants and toothpaste.
Activated charcoal, which the gut does not absorb, binds to toxins and particles and carries them away, leading to an influx of products with cleansing claims. Toothpastes with activated charcoal promising pearly whites have become a particularly popular trend fed by social media.
But do they work?
