A Hipster’s Fantasy: Charcoal in Food
While the medicinal benefits of activated charcoal are recognised on a greater scale, the claim that the use of activated charcoal on a regular basis will detoxify and cleanse the body as well as boost one's energy and brighten the skin may be chalked up to pseudoscience. However, this hasn’t stopped the trend of “black food” that has swept the world. It gives food an earthy, smoky taste and the black colouring gives the food an exotic, fashionable appearance.
Activated charcoal, as used in cleanses or detoxes, became popular around 2014 after it was brought to mainstream attention by actress and self-styled wellness guru Gwyneth Paltrow, where she described it to be “one of the best juice cleanses”. Proponents of charcoal detoxes claim that it cleanses the body by aiding in the removal of excess toxins that the body is unable to get rid of by itself, and also provides anti-ageing benefits, increases energy, brightens skin, decreases wind and bloating, and aids in weight loss.
As we live in an age of obsession when it comes to nutrition, health and the pursuit of “detoxing” the body, we spend staggering amounts of money on alternative medicines and “fad foods”, with little proof of their efficacy. However, there is no nutritional composition data available for activated charcoal so it’s unknown whether it has any nutritional value.
Some scientists have been highly critical of the use of activated charcoal in the wellness industry. For them, these fads found in magazines, and sold in pharmacies, juice bars, and health food stores are make-believe medicine. As such, the use of the term “toxin” in this context is deemed meaningless, for there are no toxins named because there’s no evidence that these treatments do anything at all.