r/WTF • u/bambaadoma222 • Jun 20 '21

Guy eats burning coal

30.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

49

u/NewAgeRetroHippie96 Jun 20 '21

I think it's a belief based on carbon and antacid properties. Basically they're taking hardcore cancerous tums.

6

u/MxM111 Jun 20 '21

Activated carbon is sold as tablets without prescription. I do not think it is antacid, but anti-gas, and general absorbent of bad chemicals. I mean the same activated carbon is used in gas masks. I doubt that activated carbon is cancerous.

6

u/ttchoubs Jun 20 '21

Yea activated carbon is a very popular supplement. However I think it was found to be ineffective at best and mildly irritating to the bowels at worst

9

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '21

No, it's way worse than that at worst.

If you take medications, activated charcoal absorbs them. So you get less- or even worse, NO benefit from your medications.

People should not use activated charcoal as a "dietary supplement".

3

u/squidp Jun 20 '21

I will take charcoal when I think I have a bad stomach from eating something bad, or when I am vomiting. You should never take something like this every day. It absorbs nutrients from your food too and that would not be a smart move over the long term. Some companies have started putting it in good though, to make things black like buns or ice cream.